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I resigned from Anthropic today

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Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#521

Post by XorNot »

icepush wrote: post #421
thomascountz wrote: post #415

No other human activity poses this level of danger. I do heed the warnings, but this comes across as detached hyperbole. See: global warming, nuclear weapon development, wealth inequality, war, technology dependence, etc. Also, this has nothing to do with LLMs or computers. Like all things, this is about humans.

Those are things that pose potential harm to great fractions of humanity (multiple billions of people) but none of them poses any threat to the actual extinction of all humanity.

Arguing whether "all" or just "most" of humans dying is certainly a choice.

Survival of the species isn't enough.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#522

Post by andai »

foogazi wrote: post #233
aogaili wrote: post #122

HN crowed need to make up their minds.. Are LLMs about to be a god that will annihilate humanity? Or are they statistical parrots? Are they proofing or stealing math?

It doesn’t need to be all of them And it depends on the prompt

Do not annihilate mankind. (Make no mistakes!)

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#523

Post by Dylan16807 »

King-Aaron wrote: post #474
pingou wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is global warning gonna kill all of humanity? Even a full scale nuclear war wouldn't manage that. They could destroy most civilisations, culture and scientific achievements though.

In the exact same way major sudden changes in the climate have lead to the extinction of the majority of plants an animals over this planets history. We are not special.

We have a massive survival range and we're on every continent. That kind of sudden climate change is not nearly enough to wipe us out. Some other climate scenarios might. Nuclear war definitely could.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#524

Post by nurumaik »

pingou wrote: post #468
thomascountz wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not correct. Please go through each one again, taking special note of global warming and nuclear weapon development .

How is global warning gonna kill all of humanity? Even a full scale nuclear war wouldn't manage that. They could destroy most civilisations, culture and scientific achievements though.

Because nuclear war balances itself: more nuclear bombings = less nuclear weapons, less people to send them. It will naturally stop at some fraction of humanity left which is incapable of making and launching more nukes

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#525

Post by mofeien »

matherial wrote: post #40

Unlike most other commenters, I applaud him for acting on his principles. If you sincerely believe that, of course you should act. You might not succeed, but your voice might be the one that tips the scales and starts a broader movement. This doesn't mean I agree with him. The fears of doomsday caused by rapid takeoff have been with us since day 1 and the mechanism is always basically "AI invents magic that sets it f…

How about sandbox escape + cyber security collapse + 50 (or 500) deadly and highly contagious novel pathogens with long incubation period that humans can't possibly roll out vaccines for simultaneously.

At least the first two should seem like a near-term worry after the past five months.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#526

Post by khafra »

artemisart wrote: post #332
khafra wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your ability to separate sharing the belief itself from approval of acting on sincerely-held principle. However, I think the danger is much more plausible than you do. First, and least important, consider that self-replicating, solar-powered factories aren't magic; they're algae. Second, and more important, consider this fully non-magic route to doom: - We continue putting AI in charge of more things - I…

> First, and least important, consider that self-replicating, solar-powered factories aren't magic; they're algae. But what is that supposed to mean? Because humanity is not facing existential threat from algae.

That's why that was the least important objection, independent from the second, and only intended to address the "magic" claim, by showing that microscopic self-replicators already exist.

By analogy, consider how you might respond if someone claimed that there's no possible danger from pocket-sized projectile launchers, because they would require some magic means of propulsion that didn't depend on a taut string attached to a long, flexible arm:

You could reply that atlatls can launch projectiles without using a taut string. Atlatls are not pocket-sized, but they are sufficient to establish that projectiles can be non-magically launched without a full bow. You could then go on to describe a sling, or derringer; and these would not be invalidated by your initial objection to the "magic" part.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#527

Post by jarek83 »

thomascountz wrote: post #415

No other human activity poses this level of danger. I do heed the warnings, but this comes across as detached hyperbole. See: global warming, nuclear weapon development, wealth inequality, war, technology dependence, etc. Also, this has nothing to do with LLMs or computers. Like all things, this is about humans.

Well, it is about LLMs and humans I believe. Don't forget that the first nuclear bomb tests were let go despite some of the scientists' concerns about possibility of dooming the world as they were not sure about all reactions that would happen.

With LLMs we don't even hesitate to call it black box while still pushing its capabilities.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#528

Post by andai »

jbritton wrote: post #77

I think a big break through is needed for AGI so I haven’t been worried about it. I do think that AGI would imply sentience and a will to live and that leads to The Terminator story line.

Does a virus need sentience and will? Or does it need replication and selection?

Similarly, does my fridge need consciousness to have goals? (Keep temperature in target range.)

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#529

Post by toilet »

icepush wrote: post #500
thomascountz wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not correct. Please go through each one again, taking special note of global warming and nuclear weapon development .

Global warming is happening at a slow enough pace that there is plenty of time for people to move to the poles/into caves/beneath the ocean/whatever. Nuclear war would be much more destructive in a much shorter range of time but you will have pockets.

Climate change isn't real because we can just move under the oceans hahahaha

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#530

Post by lf88 »

thomascountz wrote: post #415

No other human activity poses this level of danger. I do heed the warnings, but this comes across as detached hyperbole. See: global warming, nuclear weapon development, wealth inequality, war, technology dependence, etc. Also, this has nothing to do with LLMs or computers. Like all things, this is about humans.

AI progress is linked to most of these dangers, actually: - it will likely cause massive unemployment, leading to rampant wealth inequality - we are now seeing some use of autonomous weapons in real conflicts - increasingly relying on LLMs is arguably a form of technology dependence (and cognitive dependence) - datacenters have a non negligible environmental impact
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