For New Year's 2016 Maria Popova put together a wonderful collection, 16 Elevating Resolutions for 2016 Inspired by Some of Humanity’s Greatest Minds , such as Adrienne Rich, Soren Kierkegaard, Bertrand Russell, and so on, following on her 2015 collection Self-Refinement Through the Wisdom of the Ages: 15 Resolutions from Some of Humanity’s Greatest Minds
Michael Witbrock made the interesting observation that these quotations are largely addressed specifically to the human conditions, with our strange characteristic strengths and weaknesses, i and would hardly apply to artificial general intelligences (AGI's).
In response, I've put together a few inspiring quotations by great thinkers, originally, of course, addressed to people, but I think equally valuable for AGI's, should any ever exist. I note that these tend to be more outwardly directed than the ones in Popova's collections, because what we care about in an AGI are largely its outward interaction, and not its internal self-development, assuming that an AGI would even have an internal self, which is by no means certain. As a consequence, they are perhaps be less deep and thought-provoking and more preachy. Also, I did this fast, so these are quotes that occured to me off the top of my head; therefore the quotations tend to be well-known and they are hugely biased toward what I happen to know well.
However, seriously, my feeling is that, if one wants to consider the question of ethics for AGI's, these quotes are a better starting point than a lot of what has been written on the subject e.g. Nick Bostrom's speculations on how we could build an superintelligence that can find its way to some superhuman ethical insights.
It may be objected that these quotations are hardly in a form to be operationalized in an AI. That is certainly true; but presumably a general AI would necessarily have to have such a large level of understanding that it also could understand what these quotations mean and how they would apply to itself.
If you have any to suggest, I'd be very interested to see. Email me at davise@cs.nyu.edu
A few editorial comments are marked in brackets, small font, and my initials ED. The quotations are in more or less chronological order. my head.
ואמרת
בלבבך
כחי
ועצם
ידי
עשה
לי
את
החיל
הזה
[Lest] you say in your heart, "My strength and the power of my hand has
made this wealth for me."
-- Deuteronomy 8:17
עשות משפט ואהבת חסד והצנע לכת עם אלקיך
Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your creator.
-- Micah 6:8
Hillel said, ``Be of the disciples of Aaron: Love peace and pursue peace; love your fellow creatures, and lead them toward truth.''
The quality of mercy is not strained;
O, it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant!
-- Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast --- man's
laws, not God's [and, I might add, not laws devised by a
superintelligence -- ED] --- and if you cut them down ... d'you
really think you could stand upright, in the wind that would blow then?
-- Robert Bolt, ``A Man for All Seasons''.