I haven’t watched a recording of the debate yet and I intend to, though I feel like I’m familiar enough with arguments on both sides that I may not learn much. This review was informative. It helped me notice that understanding the nature of public dialogue and understanding of AGI risk may be the greatest learning value from the debate.
I agree with all the lessons you’ve drawn from this debate and laid out at the end of this post. I’ve got other reactions lengthy enough I may make them into their own top-level posts, though here’s some quicker feedback.
In Bengio and Tegmark were always respectful and polite, even when Tegmark challenged Mitchell. This may have further increased LeCun’s credibility, since there were no attacks on him and he didn’t attack anyone himself.
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It seems like a good idea to have a mix of differing opinions on your side, even somewhat extreme (though grounded in rationality) positions – these will strengthen the more moderate stances. In this specific case, a combination of Bengio and e.g. Yudkowsky may have been more effective.
I’d distinguish here between how extreme the real positions someone takes are, and how extreme their rhetoric is. For example, even if Yudkowsky were to take more moderate positions, I expect he’d still come across as an extremist based on the rhetoric he often invokes.
While my impression is that Yudkowsky is not as hyperbolic in direct conversations, like on podcasts, his reputation as among the more disrespectful and impolite proponents of AGI risk persists. I expect he’d conduct himself in a debate like this much the way Mitchell conducted herself, except in the opposite direction.
To be fair, there are probably some more bombastic than Yudkowsky. Yet I’d trust neither them nor him to do better in a debate like this.
I haven’t watched a recording of the debate yet and I intend to, though I feel like I’m familiar enough with arguments on both sides that I may not learn much. This review was informative. It helped me notice that understanding the nature of public dialogue and understanding of AGI risk may be the greatest learning value from the debate.
I agree with all the lessons you’ve drawn from this debate and laid out at the end of this post. I’ve got other reactions lengthy enough I may make them into their own top-level posts, though here’s some quicker feedback.
I’d distinguish here between how extreme the real positions someone takes are, and how extreme their rhetoric is. For example, even if Yudkowsky were to take more moderate positions, I expect he’d still come across as an extremist based on the rhetoric he often invokes.
While my impression is that Yudkowsky is not as hyperbolic in direct conversations, like on podcasts, his reputation as among the more disrespectful and impolite proponents of AGI risk persists. I expect he’d conduct himself in a debate like this much the way Mitchell conducted herself, except in the opposite direction.
To be fair, there are probably some more bombastic than Yudkowsky. Yet I’d trust neither them nor him to do better in a debate like this.