beforeword · English transcription of the sent letter Intended recipient: Nick Bostrom Author: Kirill Shebetov · beforeword Sent to: nick@nickbostrom.com Sending date in the supplied materials: The header shows only “Friday”; the calendar date is not shown. The sending timezone is not supplied. Status: shown in the Sent folder; no reply published. The published materials do not establish receipt or reading by the recipient. Record: https://beforeword.xyz/letters/researchers/bostrom/en/#record Record data: https://beforeword.xyz/letters/researchers/bostrom/record.json Russian translation: https://beforeword.xyz/letters/researchers/bostrom/#letter Transcribed from author-supplied screenshots. Screen line wraps are joined and overlaps included once; wording and punctuation are retained. beforeword’s context and links to discussed publications are separate on the letter page. --- BEGIN ENGLISH TRANSCRIPTION --- Subject: Virtual nociceptors: grounds for attributing pain 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 + --- END ENGLISH TRANSCRIPTION ---