Thanks Rohin. Yes I should perhaps have spelled this out more. I was thinking about two things—focussed on those two stages of advocacy and participation.
1. Don’t just get swept up in race rhetoric and join the advocacy: “oh there’s nothing we can do to prevent this, we may as well just join and be loud advocates so we have some chance to shape it”. Well no, whether a sprint occurs is not just in the hands of politicians and the military, but also to a large extent in the hands of scientists. Scientists have proven crucial to advocacy for, and participation in, sprints. Don’t give up your power too easily.
2. You don’t have to stay if it turns out you’re not actually in a race and you don’t have any influence on the sprint program. There were several times in 1945 when it seems to me that scientists gave up their power too easily—over when and how the bomb was used, and what information was given to the US public. Its striking that Rotblat was the only one to resign—and he was leant on to keep his real reasons secret.
One can also see this later in 1949 and the decision to go for the thermonuclear bomb. Oppenheimer, Conant, Fermi and Bethe all strongly opposed that second ‘sprint’ (“It is neccessarily an evil thing considerd in any light.”). They were overruled, and yet continued to actively participate in the program. The only person to leave the program (Ellsberg thinks, p.291-296) was Ellsberg’s own father, a factory designer—who also kept it secret.
Exit or the threat of exit can be a powerful way to shape outcomes—I discuss this further in Activism by the AI Community. Don’t give up your power too easily.
Thanks Rohin. Yes I should perhaps have spelled this out more. I was thinking about two things—focussed on those two stages of advocacy and participation.
1. Don’t just get swept up in race rhetoric and join the advocacy: “oh there’s nothing we can do to prevent this, we may as well just join and be loud advocates so we have some chance to shape it”. Well no, whether a sprint occurs is not just in the hands of politicians and the military, but also to a large extent in the hands of scientists. Scientists have proven crucial to advocacy for, and participation in, sprints. Don’t give up your power too easily.
2. You don’t have to stay if it turns out you’re not actually in a race and you don’t have any influence on the sprint program. There were several times in 1945 when it seems to me that scientists gave up their power too easily—over when and how the bomb was used, and what information was given to the US public. Its striking that Rotblat was the only one to resign—and he was leant on to keep his real reasons secret.
One can also see this later in 1949 and the decision to go for the thermonuclear bomb. Oppenheimer, Conant, Fermi and Bethe all strongly opposed that second ‘sprint’ (“It is neccessarily an evil thing considerd in any light.”). They were overruled, and yet continued to actively participate in the program. The only person to leave the program (Ellsberg thinks, p.291-296) was Ellsberg’s own father, a factory designer—who also kept it secret.
Exit or the threat of exit can be a powerful way to shape outcomes—I discuss this further in Activism by the AI Community. Don’t give up your power too easily.
Cool, that makes sense, thanks!