We're not ants: language and communication may change the ASI thought experiment
lAmBenAffleck · reddit · 2026-09-16
The author revisits the popular "ASI would see humans as ants" analogy, highlighting an overlooked difference: humans have structured language and abstract reasoning, making them the only species that could plausibly communicate with a superintelligence.
His thought experiment: if we could talk to ants, we'd treat them entirely differently. While not claiming ASI would therefore treat humans well, he argues that the possible existence of communication bridges meaningfully undermines the ants analogy.
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