The concrete example I usually use here is nanotech, because there’s been pretty detailed analysis of what definitely look like physically attainable lower bounds on what should be possible with nanotech, and those lower bounds are sufficient to carry the point.
It sounds like this is well-traveled ground here, but I’d appreciate a pointer to this analysis.
Interesting, thanks. I read Nanosystems as establishing a high upper bound. I don’t see any of its specific proposals as plausibly workable enough to use as a lower bound in the sense that, say, a ribosome is a lower bound, but perhaps that’s not what Eliezer means.
It sounds like this is well-traveled ground here, but I’d appreciate a pointer to this analysis.
I assume Eliezer means Eric Drexler’s book Nanosystems.
Interesting, thanks. I read Nanosystems as establishing a high upper bound. I don’t see any of its specific proposals as plausibly workable enough to use as a lower bound in the sense that, say, a ribosome is a lower bound, but perhaps that’s not what Eliezer means.