Zero HP Lovecraft (@0x49fa98)

An information hazard is a piece of true information that causes some harm to the person who learns it. Bostrom identifies six types hazardous information transfer: data, ideas, templates, signals, attention, and evocations. A data hazard is a specific, empirical piece of information that poses a risk. For example, the exact genetic sequence of a deadly virus, or a schematic of a nuclear bomb. An idea hazard is a data hazard without specific data. Communism is an idea hazard, because if you implement it, it destroys your economy and causes famines and holiness spirals. A template hazard is a bad example that you decide to follow. e.g. China instituting a full lockdown was a template hazard for the rest of the world, who followed their example and rekt their economies. A signaling hazard is when knowing a piece of information sends a signal that causes others to treat you badly. Crime statistics and IQ research are signaling hazards. An attention hazard is when a true but relatively unimportant piece of information distracts you from another, critical piece of information. Most of twitter is an attention hazard (everything on twitter is true) An evocation hazard is when a true piece of information is presented in such a way that causes psychological harm. A video of starving 3rd world children is an evocation hazard. In addition to the infohazard typology by information transfer, we can also classify infohazards by the type of risk they present: adversarial risks, market risk, error risk, psychological risk, information system risk, and development risk Adversarial and market risks are the types of infohazards identified by Schelling in his essay "On Bargaining". Information system risk is when data causes harm because it precipitates a dangerous state in a computer system (e.g., a robot, an AI, or even an email program) This could be as innocuous as a UI bug or as imposing as an automated MAD nuclear missile launcher. Development risk is when information could lead to the production of a new technology that poses an existential risk. Nanotechnology is an infohazard with respect to gray goo, neuralink is a development risk for wireheading as the great filter. Psychological risk is when your reaction to true information harms your ability to enact your intentions. Disappointment, embarrassment, and loss of motivation or "mindset" are forms of psych risk. Learning biographical details about your friends can destroy social capital. When we evolved the power to understand and propagate arbitrary information, we became vulnerable to information hazards. This was a novel danger; only humans can be hurt by true information. Finally, error risk is when true information can cause an agent to make dangerous mistakes. Bostrom also includes neuropsychological hazards such as the one in the story BLIT, a perception that exploits human brain architecture to kill anyone who sees it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLIT_(short_story)