[aero-deck]

It doesn't matter who wrote it, it got picked up, had a good argument and affected market opinion. The execs now need to respond to it.

Humans also don't grasp that things can improve exponentially until they stop improving exponentially. This belief that AGI is just over the hill is sugar-water for extracting more hours from developers.

The nuclear bomb was also supposed to change everything. But in the end nothing changed, we just got more of the same.

[munificent]

> The nuclear bomb was also supposed to change everything. But in the end nothing changed, we just got more of the same.

It is hard for me to imagine a statement more out of touch with history than this. All geopolitical history from WWII forward is profoundly affected by the development of the bomb.

I don't even know where to begin to argue against this. Off the top of my head:

1. What would have happened between Japan and the US in WWII without Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

2. Would the USSR have fallen without the financial drain of the nuclear arms race?

3. Would Isreal still exist if it didn't have nuclear weapons?

4. If neither the US nor Russia had nuclear weapons, how many proxy wars would have been avoided in favor of direct conflict?

The whole trajectory of history would be different if we'd never split the atom.

[NumberWangMan]

Not to mention how close the USA and Soviet Union were to a nuclear exchange: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alar...

[aero-deck]

The whole trajectory of history would have been different if a butterfly didn't flap it's wings.

The bomb had effects, but it didn't change anything. We still go to war, eat, sleep and get afraid about things we can't control.

For a moment, stop thinking about whether bombs, AI or the printing press do or do not affect history. Ask yourself what the motivations are for thinking that they do?

[munificent]

> We still go to war, eat, sleep and get afraid about things we can't control.

If that is your criteria, then nothing has ever changed anything.

[aero-deck]

you're ignoring religion.

[munificent]

Before religion: We still go to war, eat, sleep and get afraid about things we can't control.

After religion: We still go to war, eat, sleep and get afraid about things we can't control.

So, no change.

[kalkin]

"nuclear weapons are no big deal actually" is just a wild place to get as a result of arguing against AI risk. Although I guess Eliezer Yudkowsky would agree! (On grounds that nukes won't kill literally everyone while AI will, but still.)

[Der_Einzige]

Nuclear weapons are uniquely good. Turns out you have to put guns to the collective temples of humanity for them to realize that pulling the trigger is a bad idea.

[candiddevmike]

Past performance is no guarantee of future results

[pixl97]

hell, the biggest risk with nukes is not that we decide to pull the trigger, but that we make a mistake that causes us to pull the trigger.

[olddustytrail]

Please Google "Blackadder how did the war start video" and watch.

[api]

It's too early to say definitively but it's possible that the atomic bomb dramatically reduced the number of people killed in war by making great power conflicts too damaging to undertake:

https://kagi.com/proxy/battle_deaths_chart.png?c=qmSKsRSwhgA...

The USA and USSR would almost certainly have fought a conventional WWIII without the bomb. Can you imagine the casualty rates for that...

[TheCaptain4815]

I'd actually guess those casualties would be quite less than WW2. As tech advanced, more sophisticated targeting systems also advanced. No need to waste shells and missiles on civilian buildings, plus food and healthcare tech would continue to advance.

Meanwhile, a single nuclear bomb hitting a major city could cause more casualties' than all American deaths in ww2 (400k).

[snickerbockers]

That's really only true for the Americans, the Russians still don't seem to care about limiting collateral damage and undoubtedly the Americans wouldn't either if their cities were getting carpet bombed by soviet aircraft.

[aero-deck]

cool - so AI is gonna dramatically reduce the number of emails that get misunderstood... still gonna still be sending those emails tho.

[wrycoder]

So far.