# "Irretrievability; or, Murphy’s Curse of Oneshotness upon ASI" by Eliezer Yudkowsky

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lesswrong-curated-popular-5643401/irretrievability-or-murphy-s-curse-of-oneshotness-upon-asi-by-eliezer-yudkowsky
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lesswrong-curated-popular-5643401/irretrievability-or-murphy-s-curse-of-oneshotness-upon-asi-by-eliezer-yudkowsky.md
Podcast: [LessWrong (Curated & Popular)](https://stenobird.com/podcast/lesswrong-curated-popular-5643401)
Published: 2026-05-05T03:58:16+00:00
Episode link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2037297/episodes/19125929-irretrievability-or-murphy-s-curse-of-oneshotness-upon-asi-by-eliezer-yudkowsky.mp3
Audio file: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2037297/episodes/19125929-irretrievability-or-murphy-s-curse-of-oneshotness-upon-asi-by-eliezer-yudkowsky.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2257

## Resource

Example 1: The Viking 1 lander In the 1970s, NASA sent a pair of probes to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2 missions, at a total cost of 1 billion dollars[1970], equivalent to about 7 billion dollars[2025]. The Viking 1 probe operated on Mars's surface for six years, before its battery began to seriously degrade. One might have thought a battery problem like that would spell the irrevocable end of the mission. The probe had already launched and was now on Mars, very far away and out of reach ...

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