Context by beforeword · separate from the sent text
Why this letter was written
What prompted the letter
The letter takes up a virtual-animal example described in Bostrom and Shulman’s work. It focuses on the move from a described response by the virtual animal to a claim that the system experiences pain.
Why this matters to readers
Readers need to distinguish the described behavior, its satisfaction of a chosen criterion, and the claim about experience. The connection between them should be open to examination.
What the letter asks
The letter asks for one premise supporting that move and an explanation of its role. The same examination applies to the criterion itself, human self-reports, and the wording of the letter.
Sent letter · English transcription
The letter
Transcribed from the supplied screenshots. Screen line breaks are joined into paragraphs; wording and punctuation are retained.
Dear Dr Bostrom,
In “Propositions Concerning Digital Minds and Society” (v. 1.21), with Carl Shulman, the virtual-animal example includes the phrase “behavioral criteria used to identify animal pain”.
The reading proposed here preserves the draft’s tentative status and its qualification that behavioural criteria may be met while key internal features are missing.
For the described avoidance of virtual nociceptor activation, please indicate one supporting premise and explain how it would support an attribution of experienced pain to the system.
beforeword proposes keeping the written scenario, the proposed experiential interpretation, and the supporting premises separately inspectable.
A written explanation adds another formulation. Its interpretation and its proposed evidential role also enter the examination; the label “evidence” leaves that role to be shown.
The same examination includes descriptions of algorithms and animal behaviour, human self-reports, stated criteria, the wording of beforeword’s own procedure, and this letter—including its terms “pain”, “evidence”, “writing” and “reading”.
The reading procedure and worked examples:
https://beforeword.xyz/model/en/
Kirill Shebetov
beforeword
+
Publications discussed in the letter
These links are provided for reading in context. They are separate from the sent letter; beforeword’s commentary is not a reply from the recipient.
Nick Bostrom & Carl Shulman — Propositions Concerning Digital Minds and Society, version 1.21
Status of Existing AI Systems, p. 18: virtual animal and nociceptors.
The author-hosted PDF is labeled version 1.21 (2023), first draft 2020; this matches the version named in the letter.
Sending record and files
The author supplied screenshots from the Sent folder. They show the message and the available sending details. These materials do not record the recipient reading it.
View screenshots · 2
Screenshot 1 · Open full size
Screenshot 2 · Open full size
Each TXT file begins with publication details, followed by the separately marked letter text. These are screenshot transcriptions and translations, not original email files. The purpose explanation and opening question are editorial summaries by beforeword.
Correspondence record
Sending shown in the author’s materials
The header shows “Friday”; the calendar date is not displayed.
Receipt by the intended recipient and a substantive reply are not separately recorded in the published materials.
Added to the public collection
The English transcription, Russian translation and screenshots are presented separately. No replies have been published yet.
The absence of a published reply does not establish agreement, rejection or an inability to object.