[NumberWangMan]

Hey, I was just this idea the other day. One can imagine a world in which all new tech has to go through a period of deliberation before it ever sees the light of day.

There would clearly be a lot of things that would be blocked. Some of them would be good. Even today, we have problems like new drugs being rejected due to risks, when people are dying due to lack of treatment. That kind of thing might get worse.

On the other hand, we might have stopped Thimerosal, leaded gasoline, social media addiction, high fructose corn syrup, CFCs, and perhaps been a lot more careful about fossil fuels before they did so much damage. There are probably more technologies I haven't thought of -- it's easy to forget the ones we don't use anymore.

I don't know if it would be a good thing on average. Delaying technology has costs. BUT, when it comes to technologies that carry existential risk, like fossil fuels (I believe) AGI, I think it's likely worth it. Gotta play it safe sometimes, so you can keep playing.