Jiro comments on Allegory On AI Risk, Game Theory, and Mithril

Jiro 17 Feb 2017 22:03 UTC
4 points
I don’t believe for one moment that using a Balrog analogy actually makes people understand the argument when they otherwise wouldn’t.

It is a fallacy to think of AI risk as like Balrogs because someone has written a plausible-sounding story comparing it to Balrogs. And that seems to be the main effect of the Balrog analogy.
- The_Jaded_One 18 Feb 2017 10:24 UTC
  2 points
  Parent
  
  I don’t believe for one moment that using a Balrog analogy actually makes people understand the argument when they otherwise wouldn’t.
  
  I disagree, I think there is value in analogies when used carefully.
  
  It is a fallacy to think of AI risk as like Balrogs because someone has written a plausible-sounding story comparing it to Balrogs.
  
  Yes, I also agree with this; you have to be careful of implicitly using fiction as evidence.