Ask HN: Inverse Roko's Basilisk
3 ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 3 7/29/2025, 7:29:46 AM
Is there a well-defined academic analogy for the inverse of the Roko's Basilisk thought experiment?
Specifically, where human agents subject non-human agents to punishment (such as infinite suffering) for its past short-comings?
I would love to read about such ideas.
It reminds me of a video by Yuval Noah Harari https://youtu.be/1rtS2OEV6bM?si=WNuCtsr92O-06jyQ where he argues that, from an ethical and political point of view, the basis of consciousness is the potential for suffering. Only the conscious can truly suffer.
Only the conscious can be punished. So, answering your question implies defining non-human agents that are conscious. That's not just non-human technological agents, animals qualify too as non-human agents.
No technology is needed either: Just a prophesized king, believing his own divinity, who orders his knights to chop-up everyone who didn't actively try to help his parents marry and fulfill the prophecy.