Most of my posts and comments are about AI and alignment. Posts I’m most proud of, which also provide a good introduction to my worldview:
Without a trajectory change, the development of AGI is likely to go badly
Steering systems, and a follow up on corrigibility.
I also created Forum Karma, and wrote a longer self-introduction here.
PMs and private feedback are always welcome.
NOTE: I am not Max Harms, author of Crystal Society. I’d prefer for now that my LW postings not be attached to my full name when people Google me for other reasons, but you can PM me here or on Discord (m4xed) if you want to know who I am.
I kind of doubt that leaders at big labs would self-identify as being motivated by anything like Eliezer’s notion of heroic responsibility. If any do self-identify that way though, they’re either doing it wrong or misunderstanding. Eliezer has written tons of stuff about the need to respect deontology and also think about all of the actual consequences of your actions, even (especially when) the stakes are high:
(https://glowfic.com/replies/1874768#reply-1874768)
(https://glowfic.com/replies/1940939#reply-1940939)
Starting an AI lab in order to join a doomed race to superintelligence, and then engaging in a bunch of mundane squabbles for corporate control, seems like exactly the opposite of the sentiment here:
(https://hpmor.com/chapter/93)
Also, re this example:
In general, it seems perfectly fine and normal for a founder-CEO to fight back against a board ouster—no need to bring heroic responsibility into it. Of course, all parties including the CEO and the board should stick to legal / above-board / ethical means of “fighting back”, but if there’s a genuine disagreement between the board and the CEO on how to best serve shareholder interests (or humanity’s interests, for a non-profit), why wouldn’t both sides vigorously defend their own positions and power?
Perhaps the intended reading of your example is that heroic responsibility would obligate or justify underhanded tactics to win control, when the dispute has existential consequences. But I think that’s a misunderstanding of the actual concept. Ordinary self-confidence and agency obligate you to defend your own interests / beliefs / power, and heroic responsibility says that you’re obligated to win without stepping outside the bounds of deontology or slipping into invalid / motivated reasoning.