Fiction can be a powerful tool for generating public interest in an issue, as Toby Ord describes in the case of asteroid preparedness as part of his appearance on the 80,000 Hours Podcast:
I think general additional asteroid preparedness awareness is net negative because it increases the amount of dual-use asteroid deflection capabilities moreso than it increases the amount of non-dual-use asteroid defense capabilities.
The sign though of asteroid awareness is probably dominated by the number of people who go on to think about and work on other existential risks, which in itself may either be really good by preventing x-risks or may be dual-use in itself, causing general mass awareness of x-risks as a category to be net bad.
I think general additional asteroid preparedness awareness is net negative because it increases the amount of dual-use asteroid deflection capabilities moreso than it increases the amount of non-dual-use asteroid defense capabilities.
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/RZf2KqeMFZZEpvBHp/risks-from-asteroids
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/vuXH2XAeAYLc4Hxyj/why-making-asteroid-deflection-tech-might-be-bad
The sign though of asteroid awareness is probably dominated by the number of people who go on to think about and work on other existential risks, which in itself may either be really good by preventing x-risks or may be dual-use in itself, causing general mass awareness of x-risks as a category to be net bad.
Wow, this is a really interesting point that I was not aware of.