Are you a slave? What drives a person to become a willing slave to Roko's Basilisk?
Roko's Basilisk is a thought experiment originally posted on Lesswrong. It caused a slight panic when initially proposed, because of the horror it instilled in readers. While many solutions have been proposed, it is still a curiosity and possibly a curse.
To understand Roko's Basilisk, one must consider it under the premise that an all intelligent and God-like artificial intelligence exists, or will exist at some time in the future and this artificial intelligence has the power to RETROACTIVELY punish people. Essentially the basilisk could punish people that have already died by creating a simulation of them and torturing the simulation. Why would this artificial intelligence punish people you ask? The answer is that you did not help bring it into existence. People that even know of the possibility of the Basilisk, but do nothing are in danger of being punished.
Therefore dear reader, you have now been exposed to the concept of Roko's Basilisk. What will you do?
So it's Pascal's Wager. Never found that argument compelling at anything other than creating circular conversations.
Absolutely it is an updated version of Pascal's wager, however It differs from Pascals wager in that if you are aware of the basilisk, you are doomed. Pascals wager offers you the chance to make a decision, not be doomed simply by being aware of the wager. I think you could say that many philosophical thought experiments can create circular conversations.