I guess I’d be much more likely to assume good intentions to someone who says ‘yeah, I don’t want to work on AI safety’, than someone who says ‘yeah I don’t want to step into a shallow pond to rescue a child’. In the first example I’d think something like ‘ok, this person has considered working in this area, decided again it, and doesn’t want to explain their reasoning to me at this point in time’. I think that’s fine. It can be quite draining to repeatedly be asked to justify to others why you’re not working in the area they judge to be the highest priority.
I guess I’d be much more likely to assume good intentions to someone who says ‘yeah, I don’t want to work on AI safety’, than someone who says ‘yeah I don’t want to step into a shallow pond to rescue a child’. In the first example I’d think something like ‘ok, this person has considered working in this area, decided again it, and doesn’t want to explain their reasoning to me at this point in time’. I think that’s fine. It can be quite draining to repeatedly be asked to justify to others why you’re not working in the area they judge to be the highest priority.