| Today’s society can’t exist without mass exploitation. AI at least gives us a chance at a true utopia, where we don’t need a large fraction of the population working long hours in farms and factories doing physical labor for low wages. It also makes it possible that a few can effectively rule over many without risking a revolution. But there’s a solid argument we are morally obligated to take that risk due to the state of today’s society. Analogy: if a lot of people are held hostage in a building, do you attempt to breach the building, risking more casualties, or do you give up and let those people die? You do option c, evacuate the surroundings, form a plan to minimize risk, and then breach the building. Translating into AI, it means we need to minimize the risk of a few taking control and then move forward. Obviously if we achieved AGI today, the risk of a few taking control is still very present However, you also move fast, because waiting costs lives. If the risk of a few taking control isn’t going away, then we need to move forward. It’s only worth waiting if there’s a good chance that society will fundamentally change in a way that reduces this risk, but if we move forward now, AGI would precede that shift. Oddly, I feel society is becoming a lot more liberal and anti-capitalist. Maybe it’s just the echo-chamber from the people I surround myself with and online places like HN. So the above could be true. But lastly, we’re nowhere near AGI, and I’m certain the steps we need to take will cause massive societal shifts before AGI is reached, revealing more about how great the risk of a few taking control really is. |