I think there are good arguments why those actions might have indeed been horrible mistakes. But I’m also quite uncertain about what would have been the best course of action at the time. Eg, there’s a reasonable case that the best we might hope for is steering the development of AI. I unfortunately don’t know.
Let me give a non AI example: I find it reasonable that some EAs try to steer how factory farming works (most animal advocacy), despite I preferring no animal died or was tortured for food.
But on the other hand I believe people at leadership positions failed to detect and flag the FTX scandal ahead of time. And that’s a shame.
There’s no need for a group like yours to be implicated in AI company wheeling and dealing. Being connected to EA’s decisions has probably made the issue much more confusing for you than it should be— PauseAI is suited for local groups and only involves talking about the danger and giving grassroots support to AI Safety bills. That should obviously have been the sort of thing local EA groups did for AI Safety, but the AI Safety part of EA has always been this weird elitist conspiracy to have stake in the Singularity.
I think there are good arguments why those actions might have indeed been horrible mistakes. But I’m also quite uncertain about what would have been the best course of action at the time. Eg, there’s a reasonable case that the best we might hope for is steering the development of AI. I unfortunately don’t know.
Let me give a non AI example: I find it reasonable that some EAs try to steer how factory farming works (most animal advocacy), despite I preferring no animal died or was tortured for food.
But on the other hand I believe people at leadership positions failed to detect and flag the FTX scandal ahead of time. And that’s a shame.
There’s no need for a group like yours to be implicated in AI company wheeling and dealing. Being connected to EA’s decisions has probably made the issue much more confusing for you than it should be— PauseAI is suited for local groups and only involves talking about the danger and giving grassroots support to AI Safety bills. That should obviously have been the sort of thing local EA groups did for AI Safety, but the AI Safety part of EA has always been this weird elitist conspiracy to have stake in the Singularity.