AI safety researcher Charles Foster argues human evolution of compassion for strangers is a positive signal for AI alignment

@xlr8harder It's not evolutionary selection. Read about the Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck. The male effective population plummeted by up to 95% between 7000 and 5000 years ago due to generations-long warfare between different clans.

@xlr8harder - compassion out of love. - compassion out of fear.

- compassion out of debt. - compassion out of surplus.

- compassion out of duty. - compassion out of vulnerability.

it's hard to pin the concept of compassion, since it's the fruit of many branches.

@xlr8harder Good news

@vaggelask clan warfare driving lineage extinction sounds like selection

@CarnivalHotdog i don't think there's a definition of compassion that i would see eastern philosophy broadly lacks, unless you mean this specific pathology?

@xlr8harder 2 ways to interpret this.

- the current "compassion" discourse circles around suicidal empathy. - the traditional western discourse is around the golden rule.

eastern philosophy lacks said compassions, but imposes filial piety and preaches doctrine of the mean (duality).

What would happen to our civilized society if we were to face extreme resource scarcity? Most people will fall back into survival mode, which is a zero-sum game. Laws of survival that govern instincts and, by extension, natural selection prioritize self-preservation over compassion and self-sacrifice.

@xlr8harder you could almost draw a parallel to oppressor/oppressed, if one wanted to kick sand at the emotionally vulnerable and open to psychological manipulation people.

@xlr8harder I feel like that could only happen if something evolved with both genetics and in a sandbox where it can interact with siblings and nonsiblings.

@xlr8harder It did that in humans and other species (although in a *very* weak form) and it very much did nothing of the sort in other species.

Natural selection gonna select naturally (or artificially, as the case may be).

@xlr8harder Why would it be bad?

@xlr8harder so i guess, i'm gonna go with "it's bad." because this is how you exploit it. and since it's systematic, and since it causes widespread rioting and contempt for neighbors... it's a psychology hack. many civil wars across the world demonstrate this exploit mode.

@xlr8harder Then the question is, if not selection, then from where do we find the power to resist this natural tendency and show love and compassion even to strangers?