Prediction is hard and reading the debate from the vantage point of 14 years in the future it’s clear that in many ways the science and the argument has moved on, but it’s also clear that Eliezer made better predictions than Robin Hanson did, in a way that inclines me to try and learn as much of his worldview as possible so I can analyze other arguments through that frame.
Essentially, Yudkowsky is very worried about AGI (‘we’re dead in 20-30 years’ worried) because he thinks that progress on AI overall will rapidly accelerate as AI helps us make further progress. Hanson was (is?) less worried.
There was a prominent debate between Eliezer Yudkowsky and Robin Hanson back in 2008 which is a part of the EA/rationalist communities’ origin story, link here: https://wiki.lesswrong.com/index.php?title=The_Hanson-Yudkowsky_AI-Foom_Debate
Prediction is hard and reading the debate from the vantage point of 14 years in the future it’s clear that in many ways the science and the argument has moved on, but it’s also clear that Eliezer made better predictions than Robin Hanson did, in a way that inclines me to try and learn as much of his worldview as possible so I can analyze other arguments through that frame.
This link could also be useful for learning how Yudkowsky & Hanson think about the issue: https://intelligence.org/ai-foom-debate
Essentially, Yudkowsky is very worried about AGI (‘we’re dead in 20-30 years’ worried) because he thinks that progress on AI overall will rapidly accelerate as AI helps us make further progress. Hanson was (is?) less worried.