I think the book is saying less that it’s obvious that ASI will kill us all but that it is inevitable that ASI will kill us all, and so our only option is to make sure nobody builds it. I do think this is a pretty fair gloss
Crucial caveat that this is conditional on building it soon, rather than preparing to an unprecedented degree first. Probably you are tracking this, but when you say it like that someone without context might take the intended meaning as unconditional inevitable lethality of ASI, which is very different. Our only option is that nobody builds it soon, not that nobody builds it ever, is the claim.
it is trying to argue that future alignment techniques won’t be adequate, because the problem is just too hard
This is still future alignment techniques that can become available soon. Reasonable counterarguments to inevitability of ASI-caused extinction or takeover if it’s created soon seem to be mostly about AGIs developing meaningfully useful alignment techniques soon enough (and if not soon enough, an ASI Pause of some kind would help, but then AGIs themselves are almost as big of a problem).
Crucial caveat that this is conditional on building it soon, rather than preparing to an unprecedented degree first. Probably you are tracking this, but when you say it like that someone without context might take the intended meaning as unconditional inevitable lethality of ASI, which is very different. Our only option is that nobody builds it soon, not that nobody builds it ever, is the claim.
This is still future alignment techniques that can become available soon. Reasonable counterarguments to inevitability of ASI-caused extinction or takeover if it’s created soon seem to be mostly about AGIs developing meaningfully useful alignment techniques soon enough (and if not soon enough, an ASI Pause of some kind would help, but then AGIs themselves are almost as big of a problem).