Re: your first point: I agree people have inside view reasons for believing in risk from AGI. My point was just that it’s quite remarkable to believe that, sure, all those other times the god-like figure didn’t show up, but that this time we’re right. I realize this argument will probably sound unsatisfactory to many people. My main goal was not to try to persuade people away from focusing on AI risks, it was to point out that the claims being made are very messianic and that that is kind of interesting sociologically.
Re: your second point: I should perhaps have been clearer: I am not making a parallel to religion as a way of criticizing EA. I think religions are kind of amazing. They’re one of the few human institutions that have been able to reproduce themselves and shape human behaviour in fairly consistent ways over thousands of years. That’s an incredible accomplishment. We could learn from them.
I have come to see the term ‘religion’ (as well as ‘ideology’) as unhelpful in these discussions. It might be helpful to taboo these words and start talking in terms of ‘motivating world-views’ instead.
Thanks for the kind words Richard.
Re: your first point: I agree people have inside view reasons for believing in risk from AGI. My point was just that it’s quite remarkable to believe that, sure, all those other times the god-like figure didn’t show up, but that this time we’re right. I realize this argument will probably sound unsatisfactory to many people. My main goal was not to try to persuade people away from focusing on AI risks, it was to point out that the claims being made are very messianic and that that is kind of interesting sociologically.
Re: your second point: I should perhaps have been clearer: I am not making a parallel to religion as a way of criticizing EA. I think religions are kind of amazing. They’re one of the few human institutions that have been able to reproduce themselves and shape human behaviour in fairly consistent ways over thousands of years. That’s an incredible accomplishment. We could learn from them.
I have come to see the term ‘religion’ (as well as ‘ideology’) as unhelpful in these discussions. It might be helpful to taboo these words and start talking in terms of ‘motivating world-views’ instead.