I agree that we cannot be cavalier about it, but not experimenting is strictly worse than experimenting (not at the expense of theoretical work), because humans are bad at pure theory.
It is actually confirmed by this particular case. Special Relativity took some 50 years to form after Maxwell equations were written. General relativity took 500 years to be written down after Galileo’s experiment with equal acceleration of falling bodies. AND it took a once in a millennium genius to do that. (Twice, actually, Newton was the other one in physics.)
I agree that we cannot be cavalier about it, but not experimenting is strictly worse than experimenting (not at the expense of theoretical work), because humans are bad at pure theory.
The statement ‘humans are bad at pure theory’ seems to be clearly falsified by the extraordinary theoretical advances of the past, e.g. Einstein.
Whether theoretical or experimental approaches will prove most succesful for AI alignment is an open question.
It is actually confirmed by this particular case. Special Relativity took some 50 years to form after Maxwell equations were written. General relativity took 500 years to be written down after Galileo’s experiment with equal acceleration of falling bodies. AND it took a once in a millennium genius to do that. (Twice, actually, Newton was the other one in physics.)
This doesn’t look like a serious reply. I fail to see how the achievements of Newton, Maxwell, Einstein do not illustrate the power of theory.
I have nothing to add to my previous message, other than 500 years to come up with a theory is a long time.