There is no extreme poverty or starvation in democratic countries
This seems like a strong claim to me. What’s your source for that?
and access to education and health care is one hundred percent, at least in older democracies. Younger ones are getting there fast.
Where do you draw the line between older and younger democracies? Isn’t the US pretty old compared to other democracies [1] - and does it provide “100% access to health care” to its citizens?
all countries and all people lived in democracies the major problems of humanity would be solved or be dramatically smaller.
Would you classify X-Risks like AI and pandemics as major problems? Do you think having more countries be democratic would reduce these risks—given that the existing democracies don’t do enough on either?
I’m not endorsing OP (I think democracy is a good cause, but not enough), but:
Would you classify X-Risks like AI and pandemics as major problems? Do you think having more countries be democratic would reduce these risks—given that the existing democracies don’t do enough on either?
I’m pretty sure it will. Democracies don’t do enough about these at all, but the question is what this stands as an alternative for.
Autocracies have two important characteristics which make them very dangerous in terms of human-created X-risks and AI in particular:
Leaders are much less accountable, and more prone to act violently or irresponsibly. Thus, they can drive existential risks higher using state-level resources.
Leaders have an incentive to consolidate their power and take away citizens’ autonomy—and AI gives excellent tools to do that. If a non-democratic government somehow manages to use its control to build an aligned, superintelligent AGI—it will be used to dominate the rest of the world and create an eternal totalitarian regime. This is as bad as extinction, or worse.
This seems like a strong claim to me. What’s your source for that?
Where do you draw the line between older and younger democracies? Isn’t the US pretty old compared to other democracies [1] - and does it provide “100% access to health care” to its citizens?
Would you classify X-Risks like AI and pandemics as major problems? Do you think having more countries be democratic would reduce these risks—given that the existing democracies don’t do enough on either?
[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-worlds-oldest-democracies
I’m not endorsing OP (I think democracy is a good cause, but not enough), but:
I’m pretty sure it will. Democracies don’t do enough about these at all, but the question is what this stands as an alternative for.
Autocracies have two important characteristics which make them very dangerous in terms of human-created X-risks and AI in particular:
Leaders are much less accountable, and more prone to act violently or irresponsibly. Thus, they can drive existential risks higher using state-level resources.
Leaders have an incentive to consolidate their power and take away citizens’ autonomy—and AI gives excellent tools to do that. If a non-democratic government somehow manages to use its control to build an aligned, superintelligent AGI—it will be used to dominate the rest of the world and create an eternal totalitarian regime. This is as bad as extinction, or worse.