A different analogy would be that MIRI is looking at the map and the compass to figure out what’s the right way to go, while others are just running in any random direction.
Not quite. The others are not running around in random directions, they are all running in a particular direction and MIRI is saying “Hold on, guys, there may be bears and tigers and pits of hell at your destination”. Which is all fine, but it still is not running.
Sure. I wasn’t objecting to the “MIRI isn’t competing in the AGI race” point, but to the negative connotations that one might read into your original analogy.
A different analogy would be that MIRI is looking at the map and the compass to figure out what’s the right way to go, while others are just running in any random direction.
Not quite. The others are not running around in random directions, they are all running in a particular direction and MIRI is saying “Hold on, guys, there may be bears and tigers and pits of hell at your destination”. Which is all fine, but it still is not running.
Still better than running into all the bears and tigers and getting eaten, particularly if it lets you figure out the correct route eventually.
The question was not what is better, the question was whether MIRI is competing in the AGI race.
Sure. I wasn’t objecting to the “MIRI isn’t competing in the AGI race” point, but to the negative connotations that one might read into your original analogy.