“From the point of view of most humans, there are few outcomes worse than extinction of humanity (x-risk).”
That’s obviously not true. What would you prefer: extinction of humanity, or permanent Holocaust?
“Are you implying that most leaders would prefer extinction of humanity to some other likely outcome, and could be persuaded if we focused on that instead?”
Anyone would prefer extinction to say a permanent Holocaust. Anyone sane at least. But I’m not implying that they would prefer extinction to a positive outcome.
“but I also think that those unpersuaded by the risk of extinction wouldn’t be persuaded by any other argument anyway”
I’ll ask you again: which is worse, extinction or permanent Holocaust?
Note that I didn’t say that there are no outcomes that are worse than extinction. That said, I’m not convinced that permanent Holocaust is worse than permanent extinction, but that’s irrelevant to my point anyway. If someone isn’t convinced by the risk of permanent extinction, are you likely to convince them by the (almost certainly smaller) risk of permanent Holocaust instead?
“That said, I’m not convinced that permanent Holocaust is worse than permanent extinction, but that’s irrelevant to my point anyway.”
Maybe it’s not. What we guess are other people’s values is heavily influenced by our own values. And if you are not convinced that permanent Holocaust is worse than permanent extinction, then, no offense, but you have a very scary value system.
“If someone isn’t convinced by the risk of permanent extinction, are you likely to convince them by the (almost certainly smaller) risk of permanent Holocaust instead?”
Naturally, because the latter is orders of magnitude worse than the former. But again, if you don’t share this view, I can’t see myself convincing you.
And we also have no idea if it really is smaller. But even a small risk of an extremely bad outcome is reason for high alarm.
What exactly do you mean by permanent Holocaust? The way Wikipedia defines the Holocaust it’s about the genocide of Jewish people. Other sources include the genocide of groups like Sinti and Roma as well.
While genocide is very bad, human extinction includes most of the evils of genocide as well, so I would not prefer human extinction.
Everyone knows that the Holocaust wasn’t just genocide. It was also torture, evil medical experiments, etc. But you’re right, I should have used a better example. Not that I think that anyone really misunderstood what I meant.
“From the point of view of most humans, there are few outcomes worse than extinction of humanity (x-risk).”
That’s obviously not true. What would you prefer: extinction of humanity, or permanent Holocaust?
“Are you implying that most leaders would prefer extinction of humanity to some other likely outcome, and could be persuaded if we focused on that instead?”
Anyone would prefer extinction to say a permanent Holocaust. Anyone sane at least. But I’m not implying that they would prefer extinction to a positive outcome.
“but I also think that those unpersuaded by the risk of extinction wouldn’t be persuaded by any other argument anyway”
I’ll ask you again: which is worse, extinction or permanent Holocaust?
Note that I didn’t say that there are no outcomes that are worse than extinction. That said, I’m not convinced that permanent Holocaust is worse than permanent extinction, but that’s irrelevant to my point anyway. If someone isn’t convinced by the risk of permanent extinction, are you likely to convince them by the (almost certainly smaller) risk of permanent Holocaust instead?
“That said, I’m not convinced that permanent Holocaust is worse than permanent extinction, but that’s irrelevant to my point anyway.”
Maybe it’s not. What we guess are other people’s values is heavily influenced by our own values. And if you are not convinced that permanent Holocaust is worse than permanent extinction, then, no offense, but you have a very scary value system.
“If someone isn’t convinced by the risk of permanent extinction, are you likely to convince them by the (almost certainly smaller) risk of permanent Holocaust instead?”
Naturally, because the latter is orders of magnitude worse than the former. But again, if you don’t share this view, I can’t see myself convincing you.
And we also have no idea if it really is smaller. But even a small risk of an extremely bad outcome is reason for high alarm.
What exactly do you mean by permanent Holocaust? The way Wikipedia defines the Holocaust it’s about the genocide of Jewish people. Other sources include the genocide of groups like Sinti and Roma as well.
While genocide is very bad, human extinction includes most of the evils of genocide as well, so I would not prefer human extinction.
I think he means the part where people were in ghettos/concentration-camps
Everyone knows that the Holocaust wasn’t just genocide. It was also torture, evil medical experiments, etc. But you’re right, I should have used a better example. Not that I think that anyone really misunderstood what I meant.