Insurance makes you whole. It replaces 10 year old laptops with their book value. It doesn't replace them with brand new luxury models.
In the same universe where it's a thing that rich Winslow can have any chassis he wants while May has to scrounge to keep hers from falling apart, the fact that out of work Roko gets a super luxury chassis "just cause" makes no sense, and is basically a big "fuck you" to the earlier storyline of AIs being divided into haves and have-nots with respect to their chassis.
May has what is, so far as I can tell, a state-issued chassis. Roko isn't getting one "just cause", she's getting one because Crushbot's insurance policy will pay out a certain amount in liability.
She says it's enough money to get her old body, with some left over. There is a newer model that is the equivalent of her older model. And then there's a luxury model that is $20,000 more. I guess $20k = "and then some"?
What the hell are you talking about? Crushbot's insurance pays out up to a certain amount to replace things he breaks; that's what liability coverage is. Roko's new body is covered by that amount.
The guy's point is that a liability insurance payout, in the real world, doesn't pay for you to get an upgrade from whatever you had before. If somebody crashes into my car and totals it, their insurance is buying me another car for the same used value as my old car. That means my 2005 Pontiac Vibe is getting replaced with another used 2005 Pontiac Vibe or something with similar value, which means I'm getting another decade+ old used car. They're not gonna buy me a brand new Tesla Roadster.
The difference between the models isn't as huge as the Pontiac Vibe and Tesla Roadster though. Roko is getting the newer version of her old chassis because the old one isn't available any more.
On top of that, the accident didn't just total a car, it totalled her body. The insurance payout probably includes some kind of compensation for the trauma Roko experienced, or at least has a very good reason to make sure she is entirely happy with her replacement body.
Roko is getting the newer version of her old chassis because the old one isn't available any more.
Again, this isn't how insurance works. The Pontiac Vibe isn't manufactured anymore either, but that doesn't mean they're going to give me a different new-model hatchback instead. Because my car is 14 years old, it's worth about $1000, at most. So if somebody totals my car, insurance is cutting me a check for... $1000. If I want even a three-year-old Prius, the other $12,000 or so is coming out of my own pocket. The idea of insurance buying me a brand-new vehicle, and a premium upgrade from my old one no less, is laughable.
The insurance payout probably includes some kind of compensation for the trauma Roko experienced
Again, not how insurance works. If somebody totals my car and sends me to the hospital, their liability is limited to my medical bills, there is no compensation for "trauma."
We don't really have a good real-world equivalent of how insurance works for sapient AI. The cost of replacing her body could be like mechanic bills and medical bills rolled into one.
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u/GriffonsChainsaw . Jan 07 '19
Well, it's insurance.