I am unsure how free the average Chinese person is, nor how to weigh freedom of speech with certain economic freedoms and competent local government, low crime, the tendency of modern democracies to rent seek from the young in favour of the old, zoning laws, restriction on industrial development, a student loan system that seems to be a weird form of indenture. I do come from a country with rather strict hate speech laws. And we do not, in fact, have freedom of speech by any strict definition. And this is a policy American elites in and out of government strongly approve of.
I ask out of relative ignorance of what life in China is like for the average Chinese person, but with a slight suspicion that we might be defining our western notion of ‘freedom’ in such a way that ignores the many ways we are restricted and extracted from, and ways in which the average Chinese may be more free.
It’s very clear the CCP has committed far larger crimes against its people in living memory. But it is also a very different organization than it was at its worst.
I think the question is still worth asking. And the argument worth justifying.
My experience interacting with Chinese people is that they have to constantly mind the censorship in a way that I would find abhorrent and mentally taxing if I had to live in their system. Though given there are many benefits to living in China (mostly quality of life and personal safety), I’m unconvinced that I prefer my own government all things considered.
But for the purpose of developing AGI, there’s a lot more variance in possible outcomes (higher likelihood of S-risk and benevolent singleton) from the CCP getting a lead rather than the US.
I am unsure how free the average Chinese person is, nor how to weigh freedom of speech with certain economic freedoms and competent local government, low crime, the tendency of modern democracies to rent seek from the young in favour of the old, zoning laws, restriction on industrial development, a student loan system that seems to be a weird form of indenture. I do come from a country with rather strict hate speech laws. And we do not, in fact, have freedom of speech by any strict definition. And this is a policy American elites in and out of government strongly approve of.
I ask out of relative ignorance of what life in China is like for the average Chinese person, but with a slight suspicion that we might be defining our western notion of ‘freedom’ in such a way that ignores the many ways we are restricted and extracted from, and ways in which the average Chinese may be more free.
It’s very clear the CCP has committed far larger crimes against its people in living memory. But it is also a very different organization than it was at its worst.
I think the question is still worth asking. And the argument worth justifying.
Makes sense. Those were real questions, to be clear.
My experience interacting with Chinese people is that they have to constantly mind the censorship in a way that I would find abhorrent and mentally taxing if I had to live in their system. Though given there are many benefits to living in China (mostly quality of life and personal safety), I’m unconvinced that I prefer my own government all things considered.
But for the purpose of developing AGI, there’s a lot more variance in possible outcomes (higher likelihood of S-risk and benevolent singleton) from the CCP getting a lead rather than the US.