I think it’s good to want to have moderating impulses on people doing extreme things to fit in. But insofar as you’re saying that believing ‘AI is an existential threat to our civilization’ is ‘crazy town’, I don’t really know what to say. I don’t believe it’s crazy town, and I don’t think that thinking it’s crazy town is a reasonable position. Civilization is investing billions of dollars into growing AI systems that we don’t understand and they’re getting more capable by the month. They talk and beat us at Go and speed up our code significantly. This is just the start, companies are raising massive amounts of money to scale these systems.
I worry you’re caught up worrying what people might’ve thought about you thinking that ten years ago. Not only is this idea now well within the overton window, my sense is that people saying it’s ‘crazy town’ either haven’t engaged with the arguments (e.g.) or are somehow throwing their own ability to do basic reasoning out of the window.
Added: I recognize it’s rude to suggest any psychologizing here but I read the thing you wrote as saying that the thing I expect to kill me and everyone I love doesn’t exist and I’m crazy for thinking it, and so I’m naturally a bit scared by you asserting it as though it’s the default and correct position.
(Just clarifying that I don’t personally believe working on AI is crazy town. I’m quoting a thing that made an impact on me awhile back and I still think is relevant culturally for the EA movement.)
I think it’s good to want to have moderating impulses on people doing extreme things to fit in. But insofar as you’re saying that believing ‘AI is an existential threat to our civilization’ is ‘crazy town’, I don’t really know what to say. I don’t believe it’s crazy town, and I don’t think that thinking it’s crazy town is a reasonable position. Civilization is investing billions of dollars into growing AI systems that we don’t understand and they’re getting more capable by the month. They talk and beat us at Go and speed up our code significantly. This is just the start, companies are raising massive amounts of money to scale these systems.
I worry you’re caught up worrying what people might’ve thought about you thinking that ten years ago. Not only is this idea now well within the overton window, my sense is that people saying it’s ‘crazy town’ either haven’t engaged with the arguments (e.g.) or are somehow throwing their own ability to do basic reasoning out of the window.
Added: I recognize it’s rude to suggest any psychologizing here but I read the thing you wrote as saying that the thing I expect to kill me and everyone I love doesn’t exist and I’m crazy for thinking it, and so I’m naturally a bit scared by you asserting it as though it’s the default and correct position.
(Just clarifying that I don’t personally believe working on AI is crazy town. I’m quoting a thing that made an impact on me awhile back and I still think is relevant culturally for the EA movement.)