Some people could definitely do something. I would not delude myself into thinking that I am one of those people, no matter how seriously I take AI safety.
Could be. I’ll concede that the probability that the average person couldn’t effectively do anything is much higher than the opposite. But imo some of the probable outcomes are so nefarious that doing nothing is just not an option, regardless. After all, if plenty of average people effectively decided to do something, something could get done. A bit like voting—one vote achieves nothing, many can achieve something.
If only it were a bit like voting, where everyone’s vote would add equally or at least close to it. Right now there is basically nothing you can do to help alignment research, unless you are a researcher. They have money, they have talent… It’s not even like voting blue in a deep red state, or vice versa. There you are at least adding to the statistics of votes, something that might some day change the outcome of another election down the road. Here you are past the event horizon, given the setup, and there will be no reprieve. You may die in the singularity, or emerge into another universe, but there is no going back.
Some people could definitely do something. I would not delude myself into thinking that I am one of those people, no matter how seriously I take AI safety.
Could be. I’ll concede that the probability that the average person couldn’t effectively do anything is much higher than the opposite. But imo some of the probable outcomes are so nefarious that doing nothing is just not an option, regardless. After all, if plenty of average people effectively decided to do something, something could get done. A bit like voting—one vote achieves nothing, many can achieve something.
If only it were a bit like voting, where everyone’s vote would add equally or at least close to it. Right now there is basically nothing you can do to help alignment research, unless you are a researcher. They have money, they have talent… It’s not even like voting blue in a deep red state, or vice versa. There you are at least adding to the statistics of votes, something that might some day change the outcome of another election down the road. Here you are past the event horizon, given the setup, and there will be no reprieve. You may die in the singularity, or emerge into another universe, but there is no going back.