I am not myself particularly concerned with the Friendly AI problem. I think it’s good and necessary that others are working on it, and I’m glad at least one of them is as bright as Eliezer. That makes one less thing for me to worry about.
That doesn’t make much sense. It seems pretty obvious that, although he’s smart, Eliezer isn’t capable of solving Friendly AI single-handedly, and the amount of resources being devoted to it is much smaller than anyone who accepts that UFAI is a threat should want.
Edit: Ok, yes, there exist reasons for Eric Raymond not to devote attention to Friendly AI other than Friendly AI not needing more attention devoted to it.
See this article. At any given time there’s likely only one maximally efficient use of your time/energy/money resources on the margin. “Justifiable” sure (I don’t know what that word means), but don’t call it utility maximization.
Yes, but different people have different comparative advantages, and thus should focus on different things. Money is fungible, but individual effort is not.
He might share my opinion that it’s better that smart people work on things that fascinate them and are important than things that might be more important but they find uninteresting.
That doesn’t make much sense. It seems pretty obvious that, although he’s smart, Eliezer isn’t capable of solving Friendly AI single-handedly, and the amount of resources being devoted to it is much smaller than anyone who accepts that UFAI is a threat should want.
Edit: Ok, yes, there exist reasons for Eric Raymond not to devote attention to Friendly AI other than Friendly AI not needing more attention devoted to it.
I don’t think the quote you’ve chosen indicates the author believes EY is capable of solving FAI single-handedly.
Unless you think UFAI is a problem so large that all others are irrelevant, there’s room for people to work on other problems justifiably.
See this article. At any given time there’s likely only one maximally efficient use of your time/energy/money resources on the margin. “Justifiable” sure (I don’t know what that word means), but don’t call it utility maximization.
Yes, but different people have different comparative advantages, and thus should focus on different things. Money is fungible, but individual effort is not.
Agreed.
He might share my opinion that it’s better that smart people work on things that fascinate them and are important than things that might be more important but they find uninteresting.