Musk has for years identified that one of the major motivators for most of his endeavours is to ensure civilization is preserved.
From EA convincing Elon Musk to take existential threats from transformative AI seriously almost a decade ago, to his recent endorsement of longtermism and William MacAskill’s What We Owe the Future on Twitter for millions to see, the public will perceive a strong association him and EA.
He also continues to influence the public response to potential existential threats like unaligned AI and the climate crisis, among others. Even if Musk has more hits than misses, his track record is mixed enough that it’s worth trying to notice any real patterns across his mistakes so the negative impact could be mitigated. Given Musk’s enduring respect for EA, the community may be better able than most to inspire him to make better decisions in the future as it relates to having a positive social impact, i.e., become better at calibration.
Thanks for the response. I still do not think the post made it clear what its objective was, and I don’t think it’s really the venue for this kind of discussion.
I meant the initial question literally and sought an answer. I listed some general kinds of answers and clarified that I’m seeking answers to what potential factors may be shaping Musk’s approaches that would not be so obvious. I acknowledge I could have written that better and that the tone makes it ambiguous whether I was trying to slag him disguised as me asking sincere question.
Musk has for years identified that one of the major motivators for most of his endeavours is to ensure civilization is preserved.
From EA convincing Elon Musk to take existential threats from transformative AI seriously almost a decade ago, to his recent endorsement of longtermism and William MacAskill’s What We Owe the Future on Twitter for millions to see, the public will perceive a strong association him and EA.
He also continues to influence the public response to potential existential threats like unaligned AI and the climate crisis, among others. Even if Musk has more hits than misses, his track record is mixed enough that it’s worth trying to notice any real patterns across his mistakes so the negative impact could be mitigated. Given Musk’s enduring respect for EA, the community may be better able than most to inspire him to make better decisions in the future as it relates to having a positive social impact, i.e., become better at calibration.
Thanks for the response. I still do not think the post made it clear what its objective was, and I don’t think it’s really the venue for this kind of discussion.
I meant the initial question literally and sought an answer. I listed some general kinds of answers and clarified that I’m seeking answers to what potential factors may be shaping Musk’s approaches that would not be so obvious. I acknowledge I could have written that better and that the tone makes it ambiguous whether I was trying to slag him disguised as me asking sincere question.