Artificial Intelligence / Values and Reflective Processes
How does it happen, if it happens? Some plausible stories:
Backwards causation: People who are “corrupted” by power always had a lust for power but deluded others and maybe even themselves about their integrity;
Being a good ruler (of any sort) is hard and at times very unpleasant, even the nicest people will try to cover up their faults, covering up causes more problems… and at some point it is very hard to admit that you were incompetent ruler all along.
Power changes your incentives so much that it corrupts all but the strongest. The difference with the last one is that value drift is almost immediate upon getting power.
A mix of the last two would be: you get more and more adverse incentives with every rise in power.
It might also be the case that most idealist people come into power under very stressful circumstances, which forces them to make decisions favouring consolidation of power (kinda instrumental convergence).
See also this on the personalities of US presidents and their darknesses.
Yes, that’s interesting and plausibly very useful to understand better. Might also affect some EAs at some point.
Power changes your incentives so much that it corrupts all but the strongest. The difference with the last one is that value drift is almost immediate upon getting power.
The hedonic treadmill might be part of it. You get used to the personal perks quickly, so you still feel motivated & justified to still put ~90% of your energy into problems that affect you personally → removing threats to your rule, marginal status-improvements, getting along with people close to you
And some discussion about the backwards causation idea is here in an oldie from Yudkowsky: Why Does Power Corrupt?
On malevolence: How exactly does power corrupt?
Artificial Intelligence / Values and Reflective Processes
How does it happen, if it happens? Some plausible stories:
Backwards causation: People who are “corrupted” by power always had a lust for power but deluded others and maybe even themselves about their integrity;
Being a good ruler (of any sort) is hard and at times very unpleasant, even the nicest people will try to cover up their faults, covering up causes more problems… and at some point it is very hard to admit that you were incompetent ruler all along.
Power changes your incentives so much that it corrupts all but the strongest. The difference with the last one is that value drift is almost immediate upon getting power.
A mix of the last two would be: you get more and more adverse incentives with every rise in power.
It might also be the case that most idealist people come into power under very stressful circumstances, which forces them to make decisions favouring consolidation of power (kinda instrumental convergence).
See also this on the personalities of US presidents and their darknesses.
Yes, that’s interesting and plausibly very useful to understand better. Might also affect some EAs at some point.
The hedonic treadmill might be part of it. You get used to the personal perks quickly, so you still feel motivated & justified to still put ~90% of your energy into problems that affect you personally → removing threats to your rule, marginal status-improvements, getting along with people close to you
And some discussion about the backwards causation idea is here in an oldie from Yudkowsky: Why Does Power Corrupt?