Scott’s argument depends more than I’m comfortable with on expectations that the wealthy will be as altruistic toward distant strangers. I expect that such altruism depends strongly on cultural forces that we’re poor at predicting. I expect that ASI will trigger large cultural changes. Support for such altruism seems fragile enough that it seems like a crap-shoot whether it will endure. I find it easy to imagine that such altruism is a relatively accidental byproduct of WEIRD culture, rather than an enduring feature of affluent society.
I’ve mostly agreed with the ideas in Rudolph’s post since before it was written, but I wouldn’t have found time to articulate them as clearly as this post does.
The post somewhat overstates the likely decrease in social mobility. I expect some social interactions will continue to affect social status, maybe mostly via games.
I wish there were more ideas about how to avoid extreme inequality in political power, but I don’t have good suggestions there.
Scott Alexander has an argument (You Have Only X Years To Escape Permanent Moon Ownership) which seems partly directed against this post. I’m still siding with Rudolf.
Scott’s argument depends more than I’m comfortable with on expectations that the wealthy will be as altruistic toward distant strangers. I expect that such altruism depends strongly on cultural forces that we’re poor at predicting. I expect that ASI will trigger large cultural changes. Support for such altruism seems fragile enough that it seems like a crap-shoot whether it will endure. I find it easy to imagine that such altruism is a relatively accidental byproduct of WEIRD culture, rather than an enduring feature of affluent society.
I’ve mostly agreed with the ideas in Rudolph’s post since before it was written, but I wouldn’t have found time to articulate them as clearly as this post does.
The post somewhat overstates the likely decrease in social mobility. I expect some social interactions will continue to affect social status, maybe mostly via games.
I wish there were more ideas about how to avoid extreme inequality in political power, but I don’t have good suggestions there.