You mention that some EAs oppose progress / think that it is bad. I might be wrong, but I think these people only “oppose” progress insofar as they think x-risk reduction from safety-based investment is even better value on the margin. So it’s not that they think progress is bad in itself, it’s just that they think that speeding up progress incurs a very large opportunitycost. Bostrom’s 2003 paper outlines the general reasoning why many EAs think x-risk reduction is more important than quick technological development.
Also, I think most EAs interested in x-risk reduction would say that they’re not really in a Pascal’s mugging as the reduction in probability of an existential catastrophe occurring that can be achieved isn’t astronomically small. This is partly because x-risk reduction is so neglected that there’s still a lot of low-hanging fruit.
I’m not super certain on either of the points above but it’s the sense I’ve gotten from the community.
You mention that some EAs oppose progress / think that it is bad. I might be wrong, but I think these people only “oppose” progress insofar as they think x-risk reduction from safety-based investment is even better value on the margin. So it’s not that they think progress is bad in itself, it’s just that they think that speeding up progress incurs a very large opportunity cost. Bostrom’s 2003 paper outlines the general reasoning why many EAs think x-risk reduction is more important than quick technological development.
Also, I think most EAs interested in x-risk reduction would say that they’re not really in a Pascal’s mugging as the reduction in probability of an existential catastrophe occurring that can be achieved isn’t astronomically small. This is partly because x-risk reduction is so neglected that there’s still a lot of low-hanging fruit.
I’m not super certain on either of the points above but it’s the sense I’ve gotten from the community.