and yet you do not identify any of these, supposed “other useful properties”.
I did it in the second paragraph.
How can you reconcile a prediction of algorithmic breakthroughs with reality? When would that reconciliation take place. Nobody is ever going to look back and say “I predicted algorithmic breakthroughs and there were none”
Maybe many people would do that, but I think at least some would be able to acnowledge the mistake and not rationalize away their prediction. To reconcile their prediction with reality, one, as an option, can make the prediction very concrete and narrow in the beginning. And that’s what people here generally try to do, as I see it.
What about the enhancement of human intelligence that was discussed here? (For example How to make superkids—LessWrong).
They probably have more than a 1% chance of success and could accelerate anti-aging research. Even if you consider the current research situation critically stalled.