I think it’s not a fluke at all. Decision theory gave us a formal-seeming way of thinking about the behaviour of artificial agents long in advance of having anything like them, you have to believe you can do math about AI in order to think that it’s possible to arrest the problem before it arrives, and also drawing this analogy between AI and idealised decision theory agents smuggles in a sorcerers apprentice frame (where the automaton arrives already strong, and follows instructions in an explosively energetic and literal way) that makes AI seem inherently dangerous.
So to be the most strident and compelling advocate of AI safety you had to be into decision theory. Eliezer exists in every timeline.
I think it’s not a fluke at all. Decision theory gave us a formal-seeming way of thinking about the behaviour of artificial agents long in advance of having anything like them, you have to believe you can do math about AI in order to think that it’s possible to arrest the problem before it arrives, and also drawing this analogy between AI and idealised decision theory agents smuggles in a sorcerers apprentice frame (where the automaton arrives already strong, and follows instructions in an explosively energetic and literal way) that makes AI seem inherently dangerous.
So to be the most strident and compelling advocate of AI safety you had to be into decision theory. Eliezer exists in every timeline.