I like this post as a vivid depiction of the possible convergence of strategicness. For literal wildfires, it doesn’t really matter where or how the fire starts—left to burn, the end result is that the whole forest burns down. Once the fire is put out, firefighters might be able to determine whether the fire started from a lightning strike in the east, or a matchstick in the west. But the differences in the end result are probably unnoticeable to casual observers, and unimportant to anyone that used to live in the forest.
I think, pretty often, people accept the basic premise that many kinds of capabilities (e.g. strategicness) are instrumentally convergent, without thinking about what the process of convergence actually looks like in graphic detail. Metaphors may or may not be convincing and correct as arguments, but they certainly help to make a point vivid and concrete.
I like this post as a vivid depiction of the possible convergence of strategicness. For literal wildfires, it doesn’t really matter where or how the fire starts—left to burn, the end result is that the whole forest burns down. Once the fire is put out, firefighters might be able to determine whether the fire started from a lightning strike in the east, or a matchstick in the west. But the differences in the end result are probably unnoticeable to casual observers, and unimportant to anyone that used to live in the forest.
I think, pretty often, people accept the basic premise that many kinds of capabilities (e.g. strategicness) are instrumentally convergent, without thinking about what the process of convergence actually looks like in graphic detail. Metaphors may or may not be convincing and correct as arguments, but they certainly help to make a point vivid and concrete.