The employees of the RAND corporation, in charge of nuclear strategic planning, famously did not contribute to their retirement accounts because they did not expect to live long enough to need them.
Any sources for this? I tried searching around without avail yet, which is surprising if this is indeed famously known.
In a not-too-fast and therefore requisitely stealthy ASI takeover scenario, if the intelligence explosion is not too steep, this could be a main meta-method by which the system gains increasing influence and power while fully remaining under the radar and avoiding detection until it is reasonably sure that it can no longer be opposed. This could be happening without anyone knowing or maybe even being able to know. Frightening.