I think you’re right about the problem, but wrong about the solution. Doing all of the additional things you mention, but with the same communication strategy, is going to produce polarization. As it happens, I just wrote a post about this yesterday.
If we get half the experts on board but cause the other half to dig in their heels and talk nonsense out of sheer irritation, the public and public policy will be gridlocked, like they are on climate change and pretty much every other red vs. blue issue. We need faster action, and the case is strong enough to get it.
Eliezer’s approach on those podcasts was so bad that it’s doing much more harm than good. Every reaction I’ve heard from outside the rationalist community has been somewhere from bad to actively irritated with the whole topic and the whole community.
Yudkowsky needs to step aside as the public face of AGI alignment, or he needs to get much better at it, quickly. I love Eliezar and value his work tremendously, but this is not his area, and he’s using an approach that is basically known to produce polarization. And I can’t imagine where he’d find the emotional energy to get good at this, given his current state of despair.
On the other hand, somebody needs to do it, and he’s being given opportunities. I don’t know if he can hand those interview requests off to someone else.
I think you’re right about the problem, but wrong about the solution. Doing all of the additional things you mention, but with the same communication strategy, is going to produce polarization. As it happens, I just wrote a post about this yesterday.
If we get half the experts on board but cause the other half to dig in their heels and talk nonsense out of sheer irritation, the public and public policy will be gridlocked, like they are on climate change and pretty much every other red vs. blue issue. We need faster action, and the case is strong enough to get it.
Eliezer’s approach on those podcasts was so bad that it’s doing much more harm than good. Every reaction I’ve heard from outside the rationalist community has been somewhere from bad to actively irritated with the whole topic and the whole community.
Yudkowsky needs to step aside as the public face of AGI alignment, or he needs to get much better at it, quickly. I love Eliezar and value his work tremendously, but this is not his area, and he’s using an approach that is basically known to produce polarization. And I can’t imagine where he’d find the emotional energy to get good at this, given his current state of despair.
On the other hand, somebody needs to do it, and he’s being given opportunities. I don’t know if he can hand those interview requests off to someone else.