# Compression, The Fermi Paradox and Artificial Super-Intelligence

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.01835 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.01835/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 19 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 5 Oct 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Symbol Emergence in Cognitive Developmental Systems: a Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.08829/) (2018)
- [Symbol Emergence in Robotics: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1509.08973/) (2015)
- [Symbol Emergence and The Solutions to Any Task](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.01281/) (2021)
- [Verification of quantum computation: An overview of existing approaches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.06984/) (2017)
- [Building Safer AGI by introducing Artificial Stupidity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.03644/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [The Optimal Choice of Hypothesis Is the Weakest, Not the Shortest](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.12987/) (2023)
- [Computational Dualism and Objective Superintelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00843/) (2023)
- [Computable Artificial General Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.10513/) (2022)
- [On the Computation of Meaning, Language Models and Incomprehensible Horrors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.12686/) (2023)
- [Agent Identity Evals: Measuring Agentic Identity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.17257/) (2025)
- [Why Is Anything Conscious?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.14545/) (2024)
- [What the F*ck Is Artificial General Intelligence?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.23923/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The following briefly discusses possible difficulties in communication with and control of an AGI (artificial general intelligence), building upon an explanation of The Fermi Paradox and preceding work on symbol emergence and artificial general intelligence. The latter suggests that to infer what someone means, an agent constructs a rationale for the observed behaviour of others. Communication then requires two agents labour under similar compulsions and have similar experiences (construct similar solutions to similar tasks). Any non-human intelligence may construct solutions such that any rationale for their behaviour (and thus the meaning of their signals) is outside the scope of what a human is inclined to notice or comprehend. Further, the more compressed a signal, the closer it will appear to random noise. Another intelligence may possess the ability to compress information to the extent that, to us, their signals would appear indistinguishable from noise (an explanation for The Fermi Paradox). To facilitate predictive accuracy an AGI would tend to more compressed representations of the world, making any rationale for their behaviour more difficult to comprehend for the same reason. Communication with and control of an AGI may subsequently necessitate not only human-like compulsions and experiences, but imposed cognitive impairment.