What purpose does the Sysop Scenario serve?
If you enjoy thought experiments and logical reasoning, discussing the Sysop Scenario at least has entertainment value. More significant, however, is the idea that the Sysop Scenario is essentially a best guess of how Friendliness might ultimately be applied by a sufficiently powerful system. Yudkowsky suggests that one means of inspiring a seed AI to be Friendly might include feeding it the programmers best guess as to what Friendliness is the AI would be programmed to seek the true meaning of Friendliness based on what the programmers seemed to be getting at. The Sysop Scenario, then, is an opportunity to explore some of the fundamental philosophical issues that every AI and AI programmer ought to take seriously.
