That doesn’t follow. It’s more like saying “password systems help protect accounts” even though you know those systems are imperfect. Sure, people keep reusing the same passwords and using passwords that are guessable, but that doesn’t mean not using passwords at all and taking people at their word for who they are is superior (in most systems that need accounts)
The minimal standard is “using this system / heuristic is better than not using it”, not “this system / heuristic is flawless and solves all problems ever”.
In a general discussion of ethics your replies are very sensible. When discussing AI safety, and, in particular P(doom), they are not. Your analogy does not work. It is effectively saying trying to prevent AI from killing us all by blocking its access to the internet with a password is better than not using a password, but an AI that is a threat to us will not be stopped by a password and neither will it be stopped by an imperfect heuristic. If we don’t have 100% certainty, we should not build it.
That doesn’t follow. It’s more like saying “password systems help protect accounts” even though you know those systems are imperfect. Sure, people keep reusing the same passwords and using passwords that are guessable, but that doesn’t mean not using passwords at all and taking people at their word for who they are is superior (in most systems that need accounts)
The minimal standard is “using this system / heuristic is better than not using it”, not “this system / heuristic is flawless and solves all problems ever”.
In a general discussion of ethics your replies are very sensible. When discussing AI safety, and, in particular P(doom), they are not. Your analogy does not work. It is effectively saying trying to prevent AI from killing us all by blocking its access to the internet with a password is better than not using a password, but an AI that is a threat to us will not be stopped by a password and neither will it be stopped by an imperfect heuristic. If we don’t have 100% certainty, we should not build it.