I wonder if you can (or should) make “power-seeking” a multidimensional factor—seeking power over some aspects of action and not needing it for others. To the extent that an agent is aligned with another, the power relationship is irrelevant—they’re working together to seek the same states of the universe anyway.
In other words, “power” is really just the ability to enforce some amount of behavioral alignment on others. Power-seeking is obviously useful in a sea of unaligned humans, as you can force them to act more like how they would if they were aligned with you.
Edit: Thanks for pointing out my misunderstanding, Pattern. I mistakenly took “power-seeking” to mean mostly social power, rather than general prediction/optimization power.
Depending on how people operate, (more) alignment could have the same effect.
really just the ability to enforce some amount of behavioral alignment on others.
No, it’s not. If you have a watch, that might give you more power (like the ability to know synchronize your actions with schedules (like when trains are)) if you don’t already have a watch. But the power of the watch is not “really just the ability to [control] others”. It’s just a watch.
In my reading about the various usages of ‘power’, there are indeed definitions which focus on exerting control through other agents. I think in many situations, this is a useful frame, but I find “ability to achieve goals in general” to be both broader and also upstream of “ability to control others to achieve your goals.”
(also—upvoted for asking a question and then editing to acknowledge a misunderstanding!)
I wonder if you can (or should) make “power-seeking” a multidimensional factor—seeking power over some aspects of action and not needing it for others. To the extent that an agent is aligned with another, the power relationship is irrelevant—they’re working together to seek the same states of the universe anyway.
In other words, “power” is really just the ability to enforce some amount of behavioral alignment on others. Power-seeking is obviously useful in a sea of unaligned humans, as you can force them to act more like how they would if they were aligned with you.
Edit: Thanks for pointing out my misunderstanding, Pattern. I mistakenly took “power-seeking” to mean mostly social power, rather than general prediction/optimization power.
Depending on how people operate, (more) alignment could have the same effect.
No, it’s not. If you have a watch, that might give you more power (like the ability to know synchronize your actions with schedules (like when trains are)) if you don’t already have a watch. But the power of the watch is not “really just the ability to [control] others”. It’s just a watch.
In my reading about the various usages of ‘power’, there are indeed definitions which focus on exerting control through other agents. I think in many situations, this is a useful frame, but I find “ability to achieve goals in general” to be both broader and also upstream of “ability to control others to achieve your goals.”
(also—upvoted for asking a question and then editing to acknowledge a misunderstanding!)