uosɯɐS ’s Reviews > The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life When Robots Rule the Earth > Status Update

Is this a good or bad scenario? Would we want to encourage or discourage having this world replace our world? What small changes might make this world better?

Even though the universe is almost 13 billion years old, everything we've seen outside Earth looks completely dead. We continue to have great success in explaining what we see by assuming that everything outside Earth has always been completely dead. If there are any civilizations out there more advanced than us, they have not yet made a noticeable difference to anything we can see.

A recent study found that group intelligence is better predicted by individual social sensitivity, such as abilities to read internal attitudes from facial expressions and the ability to take turns in conversation, rather than by the average or maximum of individual intelligence as usually defined.

we often use a concept of "smart" intended to control for all of these effects.

Religions today often use a talk-to-God-in-your-head strategy to encourage trust in God.

In lower class cultures, people more often demonstrate physical strength and toughness via dangerous dares, fistfights, and excessive drinking. People in these cultures also tend to make more direct and aggressive verbal challenges, and to use more swearing, insults, teasing, and taunting.

Similarly, upper classes have often nurtured polite language, avoidance of direct insult, and a heightened sensitivity and squeamishness on topics such as sex or excrement.

Traditioanlly, lower classes did hard physical labor, and as a result tended to wear tough work clothes, and had skin that was callused, tanned, and wrinkled. The upper classes tended to show that they were too rich or skilled, for such work by wearing fragile clothes and having soft, smooth, untanned skin.

Rituals and religion have long been used to help people accept their social roles, and to mark key transitions between such roles. So religious-style rituals, perhaps with music and dance, may be especially useful in helping ems to copy, end and retire.

Further doctrinal clarifications may be required because ems on average are much smarter than ordinary humans, and may not tolerate blatantly illogical or contradictory religious doctrines.