I’m fine with other phrasings and am also concerned about value lock-in and s-risks though I think these can be thought of as a class of x-risks
I’m not keen on classifying s-risks as x-risks because, for better or worse, most people really just seem to mean “extinction or permanent human disempowerment” when they talk about “x-risks.” I worry that a motte-and-bailey can happen here, where (1) people include s-risks within x-risks when trying to get people on board with focusing on x-risks, but then (2) their further discussion of x-risks basically equates them with non-s-x-risks. The fact that the “dictionary definition” of x-risks would include s-risks doesn’t solve this problem.
I think this is a valid concern. Separately, it’s not clear that all s-risks are x-risks, depending on how “astronomical suffering” and “human potential” are understood.
What do you think about the concept of a hellish existential catastrophe? It highlights both that (some) s-risks fall under the category of existential risk and that they have an additional important property absent from typical x-risks. The concept isolates a risk the reduction of which should arguably be prioritized by EAs with different moral perspectives.
I’m not keen on classifying s-risks as x-risks because, for better or worse, most people really just seem to mean “extinction or permanent human disempowerment” when they talk about “x-risks.” I worry that a motte-and-bailey can happen here, where (1) people include s-risks within x-risks when trying to get people on board with focusing on x-risks, but then (2) their further discussion of x-risks basically equates them with non-s-x-risks. The fact that the “dictionary definition” of x-risks would include s-risks doesn’t solve this problem.
I think this is a valid concern. Separately, it’s not clear that all s-risks are x-risks, depending on how “astronomical suffering” and “human potential” are understood.
What do you think about the concept of a hellish existential catastrophe? It highlights both that (some) s-risks fall under the category of existential risk and that they have an additional important property absent from typical x-risks. The concept isolates a risk the reduction of which should arguably be prioritized by EAs with different moral perspectives.