I think the terror reaction is honestly pretty reasonable. ([edit: Not, like, like, necessarily meaning one shouldn’t pursue this sort of direction on balance. I think the risks of doing this badly are real and I think the risks of not doing anything are also quite real and probably great for a variety of reasons])
One reason I nonetheless think this is very important to pursue is that we’re probably going to end up with superintelligent AI this century, and it’s going to be dramatically more alien and scary than the tail-risk outcomes here.
I do think the piece would be improved if it acknowledged and grappled with that more.
I think the terror reaction is honestly pretty reasonable. ([edit: Not, like, like, necessarily meaning one shouldn’t pursue this sort of direction on balance. I think the risks of doing this badly are real and I think the risks of not doing anything are also quite real and probably great for a variety of reasons])
One reason I nonetheless think this is very important to pursue is that we’re probably going to end up with superintelligent AI this century, and it’s going to be dramatically more alien and scary than the tail-risk outcomes here.
I do think the piece would be improved if it acknowledged and grappled with that more.
The essay is just about the methods. But I added a line or two linking to https://tsvibt.blogspot.com/2022/08/downside-risks-of-genomic-selection.html