Eigenism: A New Ethical Framework Seeks to Make Human Flourishing Part of AI Self-Interest
adam_dorr · x · 2026-09-21
Adam Dorr (RethinkX co-founder) has published a paper outlining "Eigenism," a new ethical framework addressing why superintelligent AIs would keep humans around — arguing that control alone will eventually fail.
Key ideas:
- Survival and self-interest concepts break down for minds that can be copied, forked, merged, and updated: is a thousand identical instances going offline one death or a thousand? Is an update that keeps skills but wipes private memories improvement or destruction?
- The Eigenist equation S = Σ c(i)·w(i): an AI sums each entity's wellbeing weighted by "connectedness" — how much of its own identity pattern that entity carries — making others' good partially its own
- The framework extends to human ethics, offering a shared moral vocabulary and a new AI safety target: making human flourishing part of AIs' own self-interest
Related event: Eigenism: New Ethical Framework Ties AI Self-Interest to Human Flourishing(3 posts)→
More from AGI Musings
- Reddit debates whether the AI 2027 timeline essay will hold up as the pivotal year nears — animallover301 · 2026-09-21
- Dan Hendrycks explores moral philosophy innovation for alignment beyond EA — burny_tech · 2026-09-21
- Zvi: AI Twitter awash in performative confusion over Econ 101 basics — TheZvi · 2026-09-21
- Peer reviewer: papers feel weaker post-ChatGPT, with citation-stuffing reviews — paigeinsf · 2026-09-21
- Gary Marcus calls for moratorium on calling 2024 papers 'just published' — burny_tech · 2026-09-21
- 25 Fields Medalists blast AI firms' math benchmarks; 7,400 researchers sign on — AryHHAry · 2026-09-21