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by toomuchtodo 2985 days ago
You can have a competitive environment without a profit motive. You judge on results, not profitability.
3 comments

This. Bothered to login to say what you said.

We talk about AI optimized to create paper clips accidentally running amok and turning the world into paper clips. Why isn't profit a similar problem? Government agencies are just AI running on meat. Give them success parameters different than raw profits.

Honestly, why can't we see this as just a variant of the instrumental convergence problem?

OTOH, academia is supposed to be this type of meritocratic, results-driven ideal, and look where we are there. I suppose this a consequence of the measure that we use to "judge results". Do we start assigning healthcare R&D companies an "impact factor"? I know the journal impact factor is a bad example since it is criticized for being gameable, but I'm just using it to convey what I mean.
↑ ... instrumental convergence problem sounds sexy! drool