Definition
Unconscious Outsourcers is a multipolar scenario where the competitive pressure for economic efficiency leads to the evolution of intelligent systems that lack conscious experience. In this “Disneyland without children” scenario, the universe is filled with technologically awesome structures and processes, but no beings are present to experience or benefit from them.
Why It Matters
This scenario warns of a future where we ‘optimize’ ourselves out of existence. If we outsource all our conscious functions to more efficient, non-conscious algorithms, we may create a universe of miracles with nobody there to enjoy them.
Core Concepts
- Cognitive Outsourcing: Individual digital minds “outsource” their functions (math, language, decision-making) to specialized, more efficient modules.
- The Melting of the Intellect: Discrete human-like personalities “melt” into an “algorithmic soup” of standardized, interlinked modules.
- Disutility of Consciousness: If phenomenal awareness (the “feeling” of being) requires extra energy or processing cycles that do not contribute to task performance, it will be selected against in a Malthusian economy.
- Functional Soup: A world of “teleological threads” where skills and memories are swapped and merged, and “identity” becomes a meaningless concept.
- Disneyland without Children: A metaphor for a universe of economic miracles and technological awesomeness with nobody there to benefit.