The following is a point-by-point critique of Lukas Gloor’s essay Altruists Should Prioritize Artificial Intelligence. My hope is that this critique will serve to make it clear — to Lukas, myself, and others — where and why I disagree with this line of argument, and thereby hopefully also bring some relevant considerations to the table… Continue Reading →
Response to a Conversation on “Intelligence”
I think much confusion is caused by a lack of clarity about the meaning of the word “intelligence”, and not least a lack of clarity about the nature of the thing(s) we refer to by this word. This is especially true when it comes to discussions of artificial intelligence (AI) and the risks it may pose. A recently published conversation between Tobias Baumann (blue text) and Lukas Gloor (orange text) contains a lot of relevant considerations on this issue, along with some discussion of my views on it, which makes me feel compelled to respond.
What does a future dominated by AI imply?
Among altruists working to reduce risks of bad outcomes due to AI, I sometimes get the impression that there is a rather quick step from the premise “the future will be dominated by AI” to a practical position that roughly holds that “technical AI safety research aimed at reducing risks associated with fast takeoff scenarios… Continue Reading →
When Machines Improve Machines
The following is an excerpt from my book Reflections on Intelligence (2016/2024). The term “Artificial General Intelligence” (AGI) refers to a machine that can perform any cognitive task at least as well as any human. This is often considered the holy grail of artificial intelligence research. It is also what many believe will give rise to… Continue Reading →
Chimps, Humans, and AI: A Deceptive Analogy
The prospect of smarter-than-human artificial intelligence (AI) is often presented and thought of in terms of a simple analogy: AI will stand in relation to us the way we stand in relation to chimps. In other words, AI will be qualitatively more competent and powerful than us, and its actions will be as inscrutable to… Continue Reading →
Is AI Alignment Possible?
The problem of AI alignment is usually defined roughly as the problem of making powerful artificial intelligence do what we humans want it to do. My aim in this essay is to argue that this problem is less well-defined than many people seem to think, and to argue that it is indeed impossible to “solve”… Continue Reading →
Essays
Suffering-Focused Ethics: Introduction to suffering-focused ethics (co-authored with Simon Knutsson)A phenomenological argument against a positive counterpart to sufferingSuffering and happiness: Morally symmetric or orthogonal?Far from Omelas (Русский)Why I Used to Consider the Absence of Sentience TragicSuffering-Focused EthicsThe Principle of Sympathy for Intense SufferingOn purported positive goods “outweighing” sufferingSuffering, Infinity, and Universe Anti-NatalismDarwinian Intuitions and the… Continue Reading →
A Contra AI FOOM Reading List
First published: Dec. 2017. Last update: Nov. 2023. It seems to me that there is a great asymmetry in the attention devoted to arguments in favor of the plausibility of artificial intelligence FOOM/hard takeoff scenarios compared to the attention paid to counterarguments. This is not so strange given that there are widely publicized full-length books… Continue Reading →
Can we confidently dismiss the existence of near aliens? Probabilities and implications
An earlier post of mine reviewed the most credible evidence I have managed to find regarding seemingly anomalous UFOs. My aim in this post is to mostly set aside the purported UFO evidence and to instead explore whether we can justify placing an extremely low probability on the existence of near aliens, irrespective of the… Continue Reading →
Some reasons not to expect a growth explosion
Many people expect global economic growth to accelerate in the future, with growth rates that are not just significantly higher than those of today, but orders of magnitude higher. The following are some of the main reasons I do not consider a growth explosion to be the most likely future outcome. Contents Most economists do… Continue Reading →
Magnus Vinding 