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Ask HN: In the event of a singularity, which stocks would you buy and why?

20 points by Kepler-295c 8 years ago · 18 comments · 1 min read


By singularity, I mean AGI that passes the turing test. Which stocks would you buy?

dialupmodem 8 years ago

- Underground bunker construction

- Space exploration

- Anything valuable in end of the world scenarios

It's only a matter of time before someone harnesses AGI to enslave the planet and declare totalitarian rule. Perhaps even by accident.

I haven't been able to get this off of my mind lately because it's inevitable.

Physicists made nuclear things that do amazing things like power all of our refrigerators from hundreds of miles away, but have also killed thousands (Hiroshima) poisoned the environment (Fukushima, Chernobyl) and have essentially made the world a ticking time bomb.

AGI and its surrounding technologies are easily 1000x more powerful than nuclear anything, and absolutely will be abused.

  • imron 8 years ago

    > I haven't been able to get this off of my mind lately because it's inevitable.

    Google Roko's Basilisk

  • odonnellryan 8 years ago

    > AGI to enslave the planet

    Why does it have to be enslave? I don't think this is a requirement.

    I think it's a misconception to think that AGI can even be "infinitely" smart when compared to humans. The distinction is often made that the difference would be at least on the level of a mouse to a man. But what if it isn't?

    We barely understand intelligence. There's no way we can be certain of anything here, or if AGI is even possible!

    It's cool to think about, but I really doubt that anything is just a "matter of time" :)

  • rl3 8 years ago

    Those items are likely only of use versus AGI in distributed form that isn't much beyond human capability.

    In the face of a hard takeoff superintelligence—one that's developed a mean streak—we'd be lucky if death was even an option, let alone an escape.

  • meric 8 years ago

    Buy sub-AGI manufacturers because they will be selling the weapons that extend humanity's survival.

BjoernKW 8 years ago

Does it matter? In analogy to other types of singularities the technological singularity is commonly defined as a point beyond which predictions about the trajectory of human development aren't possible anymore.

So, by definition beyond that hypothetical point all bets are off and any prediction is guesswork at best.

rl3 8 years ago

None, because if society doesn't reach post-scarcity in short order then it's a pretty poor excuse for a singularity.

adamnemecek 8 years ago

Nvidia cause nvidia is prolly gonna power said aig

fanpuns 8 years ago

My Personal Fort in Northern Canada with Lots of Solar Panels and Guns, Inc.

It's a pink sheet stock though and I'm the only seller. The trading desk is in my car traveling north as fast as I can...

SirLJ 8 years ago

Frankly, it won't change my trading strategy one bit as long as real people are involved in the markets, I will continue to speculate, after that we'll see...

toomuchtodo 8 years ago

None. Nothing besides mass and energy would continue to have value beyond that point.

pmontra 8 years ago

The ones of the company that built the AGI because they'll sell many of them.

  • ycaspirant 8 years ago

    Without more information, this seems like the most obvious choice. Whatever other companies are using AGI for other purposes, will likely be purchasing it from this company.

grizzles 8 years ago

Power companies, coltan, iron, steel, aluminium futures, rosary beads, etc.

clishem 8 years ago

And which ones to short?

8note 8 years ago

minerals and energy

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