Eliezer Yudkowsky periodically complains about people coming up with questionable plans with questionable assumptions to deal with AI, and then either:
Saying "well, if this assumption doesn't hold, we're doomed, so we might as well assume it's true."
Worse: coming up with cope-y reasons to assume that the assumption isn't even questionable at all. It's just a pretty reasonable worldview.
Sometimes the questionable plan is "an alignment scheme, which Eliezer thinks avoids the hard part of the problem." Sometimes it's a sketchy reckless plan that's probably going to blow up and make things worse.Some people complain about Eliezer being a doomy Negative Nancy who's overly pessimistic.I had an interesting experience a few months ago when I ran some beta-tests of my Planmaking and Surprise Anticipation workshop, that I think are illustrative.** i. Slipping into a more Convenient World**I have an exercise where I give people [...] ---Outline:(00:59) i. Slipping into a more Convenient World(04:26) ii. Finding traction in the wrong direction.(06:47) Takeaways--- First published: July 17th, 2024 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8ZR3xsWb6TdvmL8kx/optimistic-assumptions-longterm-planning-and-cope) --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO).
