It’s not a sane argument in favor of advancing now vs. later when it’s less likely to kill everyone (because there was more time to figure out how to advance safely). The same holds for any argument in the “think of the enormous upside” reference class, the upside isn’t going anywhere, it’s still there in 20 years.
Oh, I mean, I do agree. Unless you apply some really severe discount rate to those upsides, there’s no way they can outweigh a major risk of extinction (and if you are applying a really severe discount rate because you think you, personally, will die before seeing them, then that’s again just being really selfish). But I’m saying it is at least an argument we should try to reckon with at the societal level. Petty private desire for immortality should not even be entertained instead. If you want to risk humanity for the sake of your own life, you’re literally taking the sort of insane bet you’d expect a villainous fantasy video game necromancer to. Not only it’s evil, it’s not even particularly well written evil.
Oh, I mean, I do agree. Unless you apply some really severe discount rate to those upsides, there’s no way they can outweigh a major risk of extinction (and if you are applying a really severe discount rate because you think you, personally, will die before seeing them, then that’s again just being really selfish). But I’m saying it is at least an argument we should try to reckon with at the societal level. Petty private desire for immortality should not even be entertained instead. If you want to risk humanity for the sake of your own life, you’re literally taking the sort of insane bet you’d expect a villainous fantasy video game necromancer to. Not only it’s evil, it’s not even particularly well written evil.