Agreed. Advocacy seems to me to be ~very frequently tied to bad epistemics, for a variety of reasons. So what is missing to me in this writeup (and indeed, in most of the discussions about the issue): why does it make sense to make laypeople even more interested?
The status quo is that relevant people (ML researchers at large, AI investors, governments and international bodies like UN) are already well-aware of the safety problem. Institutions are set up, work is being done. What is there to be gained from involving the public to an even greater extent, poison and inevitably simplify the discourse, add more hard-to-control momentum? I can imagine a few answers (at present not enough being done, fear of the market forces eventually overwhelming the governance, “democratic mindset”), but none of those seem convincing in the face of the above.
To tie with the environmental movement: wouldn’t it be much better for the world if it was an uninspiring issue. It seems to me that this would prevent the anti-nuclear movement being solidified by the momentum, the extinction rebellion promoting degrowth etc, and instead semi-sensible policies would get considered somewhere in the bureaucracy of the states?
Each time you can also apply this argument in reverse: I don’t like X about my city, so I’m happy that in the figure, the company will relocate me to NYC. And since NYC is presumed to be overall better, there are more instances of the latter rather than the former.
It seems to me you are taking the argument seriously, but very selectively.
(I think both kinds of thoughts pretty often, and I’m overall happy about the incoming move).