With all due respect I think people are reading way too far into this, Eliezer was just talking about the enforcement mechanism for a treaty. Yes, treaties are sometimes (often? always?) backed up by force. Stating this explicitly seems dumb because it leads to posts like this, but let’s not make this bigger than it is.
It varies, but most treaties are not backed up by force (by which I assume we’re referring to inter-state armed conflict). They’re often backed up by the possibility of mutual tit-for-tat defection or economic sanction, among other possibilities.
With all due respect I think people are reading way too far into this, Eliezer was just talking about the enforcement mechanism for a treaty. Yes, treaties are sometimes (often? always?) backed up by force. Stating this explicitly seems dumb because it leads to posts like this, but let’s not make this bigger than it is.
It varies, but most treaties are not backed up by force (by which I assume we’re referring to inter-state armed conflict). They’re often backed up by the possibility of mutual tit-for-tat defection or economic sanction, among other possibilities.