I overall think that I come out looking somewhat better than other researchers working in AI alignment, though again I don’t think my views were extreme outliers
I agree, your past views do look somewhat better. I painted alignment researchers with a fairly broad brush in my original comment, which admittedly might have been unfair to many people who departed from the standard arguments (alternatively, it gives those researchers a chance to step up and receive credit for having been in the minority who weren’t wrong). Partly I portrayed the situation like this because I have the sense that the crucial elements of your worldview that led you to be more optimistic were not disseminated anywhere close to as widely as the opposite views (e.g. “complexity of wishes”-type arguments), at least on LessWrong, which is where I was having most of these discussions.
My general impression is that it sounds like you agree with my overall take although you think I might have come off too strong. Perhaps let me know if I’m wrong about that impression.
I agree, your past views do look somewhat better. I painted alignment researchers with a fairly broad brush in my original comment, which admittedly might have been unfair to many people who departed from the standard arguments (alternatively, it gives those researchers a chance to step up and receive credit for having been in the minority who weren’t wrong). Partly I portrayed the situation like this because I have the sense that the crucial elements of your worldview that led you to be more optimistic were not disseminated anywhere close to as widely as the opposite views (e.g. “complexity of wishes”-type arguments), at least on LessWrong, which is where I was having most of these discussions.
My general impression is that it sounds like you agree with my overall take although you think I might have come off too strong. Perhaps let me know if I’m wrong about that impression.