I disagree with this. I would be happy to see more people freaking out about AI, especially mainstream medias. I would actually argue that getting more people to freak out as fast as possible is our best shot at lowering the odds of an extinction event.
Imagine you are the mainstream media and you see that on a website interested in ai people are sharing “calmness videos”. Would your takeaway be that everything is perfectly fine? :D
Heavily disagree, even under the premise that AI is probably going to doom humanity this century.
The problem with freaking out and your intuitive emotional reaction is that it doesn’t equip you with appropriate reactions or decisions to make sure humanity survives.
Also, we are much more uncertain over whether AI doom is real, which is another reason to stay calm.
In general, I think this is an area where people should treat their emotional reactions as no evidence at all about the problem’s difficulty, how optimistic we should be on alignment, and more.
I’m inclined to agree that it might be a good thing if the mainstream did freak out more, to shake them out of their current complacency. But there’s probably a sweet spot for how much to freak out, and I get the sense that a lot of LWers are way past that.
Also, I think that the ideal is for people to freak out once when they realize that AI is actually a big deal, in a way that gets them to shift more of their attention on the topic. But it would be good if they would then calm down so that they could think about the issue clearly. I think that an extended state of chronic freakout isn’t going to be conducive to solving the issue.
Strong downvote, mild agree: I don’t think freaking out is a very effective response; I appreciate that you are freaked out and I hope you can feel better biologically soon, for there is no need to panic in that way! all is well of that kind. but as a person who thinks we’re only going to win because we are, this moment, right now, going to sprint for it, I think we’re going to do so calmly. after all, the best way to panic productively is to calm down and think; and the best way to calm down and think is to take a walk in the field and play with toys of power while the sky falls and ponder how they can protect us. They just need to be the toys that the strength of your intuition tells you may have short paths to enjoyable insight about the problem~
Or perhaps there’s some other attitude. I admit to being rather “mad self taught half-baked buddhist” when working well under pressure—if you’re used to responding to immediate physical environment emergencies calmly it can help.
I disagree with this. I would be happy to see more people freaking out about AI, especially mainstream medias. I would actually argue that getting more people to freak out as fast as possible is our best shot at lowering the odds of an extinction event.
Imagine you are the mainstream media and you see that on a website interested in ai people are sharing “calmness videos”. Would your takeaway be that everything is perfectly fine? :D
Heavily disagree, even under the premise that AI is probably going to doom humanity this century.
The problem with freaking out and your intuitive emotional reaction is that it doesn’t equip you with appropriate reactions or decisions to make sure humanity survives.
Also, we are much more uncertain over whether AI doom is real, which is another reason to stay calm.
In general, I think this is an area where people should treat their emotional reactions as no evidence at all about the problem’s difficulty, how optimistic we should be on alignment, and more.
Have to disagree with you on this point. I’m in the camp of “If there’s a 1% chance that AI doom is real, we should be treating it like a 99% chance.”
I’m inclined to agree that it might be a good thing if the mainstream did freak out more, to shake them out of their current complacency. But there’s probably a sweet spot for how much to freak out, and I get the sense that a lot of LWers are way past that.
Also, I think that the ideal is for people to freak out once when they realize that AI is actually a big deal, in a way that gets them to shift more of their attention on the topic. But it would be good if they would then calm down so that they could think about the issue clearly. I think that an extended state of chronic freakout isn’t going to be conducive to solving the issue.
Strong downvote, mild agree: I don’t think freaking out is a very effective response; I appreciate that you are freaked out and I hope you can feel better biologically soon, for there is no need to panic in that way! all is well of that kind. but as a person who thinks we’re only going to win because we are, this moment, right now, going to sprint for it, I think we’re going to do so calmly. after all, the best way to panic productively is to calm down and think; and the best way to calm down and think is to take a walk in the field and play with toys of power while the sky falls and ponder how they can protect us. They just need to be the toys that the strength of your intuition tells you may have short paths to enjoyable insight about the problem~
Or perhaps there’s some other attitude. I admit to being rather “mad self taught half-baked buddhist” when working well under pressure—if you’re used to responding to immediate physical environment emergencies calmly it can help.