Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“One of the most common arguments against AI safety is: ‘Here’s an example of a time someone was worried about something, but it didn’t happen. Therefore, AI, which you are worried about, also won’t happen.’ I always give the obvious answer: ‘Okay, but there are other examples of times someone was worried about something, and it did happen, right? How do we know AI isn’t more like those?’ The people I’m arguing with always seem so surprised by this response, as if I’m committing some sort of betrayal by destroying their beautiful argument. The first hundred times this happened, I thought I must be misunderstanding something. … But people keep bringing it up, again and again. Very smart people, people who I otherwise respect, make this argument and genuinely expect it to convince people!” (04/25/24)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/desperately-trying-to-fathom-the