[IgorPartola]

Thanks for explaining. So it sounds like it's not exactly a rational fear. To me, the concept of Roko's Basilisk seems too binary. I guess I am also too skeptical about the idea of a malevolent AI or benevolent AI.

What really got me was Eliezer's reaction:

> Listen to me very closely, you idiot. YOU DO NOT THINK IN SUFFICIENT DETAIL ABOUT SUPERINTELLIGENCES CONSIDERING WHETHER OR NOT TO BLACKMAIL YOU. THAT IS THE ONLY POSSIBLE THING WHICH GIVES THEM A MOTIVE TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON THE BLACKMAIL. You have to be really clever to come up with a genuinely dangerous thought. I am disheartened that people can be clever enough to do that and not clever enough to do the obvious thing and KEEP THEIR IDIOT MOUTHS SHUT about it, because it is much more important to sound intelligent when talking to your friends. This post was STUPID.

Roko's Basilisk is a fun paradox, but this type of reaction treats it like a real thing, which it is not.