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Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 7, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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plus my concern about the people using an "Aligned" ASI (aligned to who, whom?) in a manner not conducive to my interests or continued survival.

Oh, certainly. One of the easiest ways that humanity could end up utterly wiped out is once some large military (especially U.S.) is sufficiently automated, is to have it kill everyone, after being taken control of by some hostile agent. Pandemics are probably the other most likely possibility.

And of course, there's the far broader problem of totalitarianism becoming significantly easier (you can watch everyone, and have armies that don't rely on some level of popular cooperation), and automation of labor making humans obsolete for many tasks, which both seem far more likely and worrisome.

I'm more optimistic overall, but also more pessimistic that "alignment" will accomplish anything of substance than I would have been a few years ago.