Thank you for this deep and thought-provoking post! The concept of the “power-ethics gap” truly resonates and seems critically important for understanding current and future challenges, especially in the context of AI.
The analogy with the car, where power is speed and ethics is the driver’s skill, is simply brilliant. It illustrates the core of the problem very clearly. I would even venture to add that, in my view, the “driver’s skill” today isn’t just lagging behind, but perhaps even degrading in some aspects due to the growing complexity of the world, information noise, and polarization. Our collective ability to make wise decisions seems increasingly fragile, despite the growth of individual knowledge.
Your emphasis on the need to shift the focus in AI safety from purely technical aspects of control (power) to deep ethical questions and “value selection” seems absolutely timely and necessary. This truly is an area that appears to receive disproportionately little attention compared to its significance.
The concepts you’ve introduced, especially the distinction between Human-Centric and Sentientkind Alignment, as well as the idea of “Human Alignment,” are very interesting. The latter seems particularly provocative and important. Although you mention that this might fall outside the scope of traditional AI safety, don’t you think that without significant progress here, attempts to “align AI” might end up being built on very shaky ground? Can we really expect to create ethical AI if we, as a species, are struggling with our own “power-ethics gap”?
It would be interesting to hear more thoughts on how the concept of “Moral Alignment” relates to existing frameworks and whether it could help integrate these disparate but interconnected problems under one umbrella.
The post raises many important questions and introduces useful conceptual distinctions. Looking forward to hearing the opinions of other participants! Thanks again for the food for thought!
Thank you for this deep and thought-provoking post! The concept of the “power-ethics gap” truly resonates and seems critically important for understanding current and future challenges, especially in the context of AI.
The analogy with the car, where power is speed and ethics is the driver’s skill, is simply brilliant. It illustrates the core of the problem very clearly. I would even venture to add that, in my view, the “driver’s skill” today isn’t just lagging behind, but perhaps even degrading in some aspects due to the growing complexity of the world, information noise, and polarization. Our collective ability to make wise decisions seems increasingly fragile, despite the growth of individual knowledge.
Your emphasis on the need to shift the focus in AI safety from purely technical aspects of control (power) to deep ethical questions and “value selection” seems absolutely timely and necessary. This truly is an area that appears to receive disproportionately little attention compared to its significance.
The concepts you’ve introduced, especially the distinction between Human-Centric and Sentientkind Alignment, as well as the idea of “Human Alignment,” are very interesting. The latter seems particularly provocative and important. Although you mention that this might fall outside the scope of traditional AI safety, don’t you think that without significant progress here, attempts to “align AI” might end up being built on very shaky ground? Can we really expect to create ethical AI if we, as a species, are struggling with our own “power-ethics gap”?
It would be interesting to hear more thoughts on how the concept of “Moral Alignment” relates to existing frameworks and whether it could help integrate these disparate but interconnected problems under one umbrella.
The post raises many important questions and introduces useful conceptual distinctions. Looking forward to hearing the opinions of other participants! Thanks again for the food for thought!