If we have WBEs that can run very fast, then who you upload may have a significant impact on the outcome. For instance, if we care to upload researchers that are very very careful about friendliness, we probably stand a better chance.
Whether people who understand this point will have enough control over the tech to choose who to upload and enough time for the headstart to matter is a component of the uncertainty about the outcome of getting the WBE tech. For example, with early WBE tech the headstart might not help much, as computing won’t yet be powerful enough to make WBEs globally important players, and so other people will also become WBEs by the time significant speedup slowly kicks in (assuming the scenario holds, e.g. no neuromorphic AGI in the meantime etc.).
If we have WBEs that can run very fast, then who you upload may have a significant impact on the outcome. For instance, if we care to upload researchers that are very very careful about friendliness, we probably stand a better chance.
Whether people who understand this point will have enough control over the tech to choose who to upload and enough time for the headstart to matter is a component of the uncertainty about the outcome of getting the WBE tech. For example, with early WBE tech the headstart might not help much, as computing won’t yet be powerful enough to make WBEs globally important players, and so other people will also become WBEs by the time significant speedup slowly kicks in (assuming the scenario holds, e.g. no neuromorphic AGI in the meantime etc.).