It might be the case that the US has higher protections for freedom of expression, in terms of spoken or written text. I would certainly agree that some of the restrictions in central Europe are rather onerous. However, as someone who has lived in central Europe, it seems that central Europe allows for considerably higher freedom of political expression for the average person where it counts: at the polls. We have various voting systems that favor a plurality of parties instead of first-past-the-post systems like in the UK or the US.
Therefore I would call the statement from the OP by Richard Ngo “unresponsiveness to public opinion that we see today in England, France, and Germany.” factually incorrect.
Kamil
Karma: 26
It is my opinion as an aging researcher, for what it is worth, that the chances of living 200 years by anyone currently alive round to 0% if we do not develop AGI. We may get away with not developing strong superintelligence, but I consider the development of AGI a necessity. Knowing this, you may proceed accordingly and do your EV calculations. Maybe it is worth the risk or maybe it is not.