[estearum]

"Why don't they just not participate in the arms race?!" - guy who's never heard of arms races

If they believe they're creating "a machine god" and that it's better it's their machine god than someone else's (which, given the other contenders, I tend to agree with), then all the corollaries you mention are mostly irrelevant.

Whether you believe they're creating a machine god is irrelevant. They believe that they are. It would be helpful if you could create an actually good argument for why they cannot or are not creating a machine god, but it turns out there are no good arguments for why it's impossible to do so. And so... they shall try.

[paulhebert]

A lot of people would prefer nuclear deproliferation over building more nukes.

Arms races always work out great for arms dealers. Less so for the average Joe.

[shimman]

Oh okay, they're all just legit crazy and are allowed to poison the environment, murder teenagers, and ruin the material lives of millions for fantasy level delusions.

Good to know.