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I resigned from Anthropic today

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Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#701

Post by thomascountz »

camillomiller wrote: post #619
thomascountz wrote: post #417

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.

Eh, but as an overpaid engineered stuck in the SV bubble how would you get to see that? If everything around you confirms your psychosis, and nobody gives you a reality check, how are you supposed to snap out of it?

I'm not sure. There's a lot of incentive to not "snap out of it": money, peer pressure, etc. Removing these incentives take a long time. See other socially harmful behaviors with real incentives: anti-vaccination, air and water pollution, over-consumerism...

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#702

Post by Schlagbohrer »

tyrabound wrote: post #538
hypfer wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a way, that might also be driven by the huge ego (or really rather the very small ego) a _lot_ of people in tech have. Who doesn't want their work and what they're doing to matter? This is the ultimate mattering. And with that, you also get your own hero story. Same dysfunction as always. Our branch of the economy is funda-mentally unwell.

That is the crux. The big problem is not AGI, it is AGI controlled by, “raised” by the people that control the USA, the predominant psychology of the tech industry culture (“move fast, break things” ring a bell? How about all the “violate hundreds of laws, bribe the politicians to prevent consequences later” type of mentality?). Frankly, we, our culture, this fake America that is parasitized by psychologically narcis…

Capitalism will always promote such people into positions of power, because to be good at capitalism one must have zero empathy including empathy or concern for future generations. Capitalism cannot do otherwise.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#703

Post by asimovDev »

nullbio wrote: post #539
fidotron wrote: post #55

What's eternally confusing about these outbursts is what did these researchers think would happen if their research actually . . . worked? It's as if none of them actually believed any of it was possible and then were caught with their pants down.

AI can be harnessed for good and evil. His issue is with the company steering the AI, not the technology itself.

yeah the last message makes me think that the problem , to him, is that we are making this aritficial intelligence better without understanding how it works. Trillions of interacting parts, there's no way in our current state to comprehend it.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#704

Post by igleria »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #610
ytoawwhra92 wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The risks of nuclear weapons aren't theoretical. Nuclear weapons have killed people, destroyed infrastructure, and contaminated the environment. The Limited Test Ban Treaty was put in place after radioactive fallout from repeated nuclear weapons tests made people sick. So in fact we've done exactly what you suggest there's "no point" doing - used the things and then had a discussion after the fact about limiting futu…

FWIW, before any nuclear weapons had ever been tested, a risk was identified that the first one might trigger a self-sustaining reaction in atmospheric nitrogen and destroy the entire planet. Faced with such a scenario, is the prudent next move: a) blow one up and see what happens, or b) do whatever you can to be sure it won't happen before conducting the first test, and make sure the confidence in the calculation is…

It's funny that when faced with a weapon that could finish the war, option b was still selected (thanks Teller).

But the people faced with decisions close to IPO, well, we know what is happening.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#705

Post by fergie »

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…

It should be obvious that AI is already capable of inducing humans to think or do things, and that this power is only going to increase over time.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#706

Post by Mizza »

It's as if two private companies are each building increasingly large nuclear bombs, both saying they'd love to stop but it would be unsafe to let any one company be in control of the nukes.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#707

Post by eloisant »

Perseids wrote: post #655
thomascountz wrote: post #417

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.

Let me argue on a technicality first: None of these are extinction level events. If global warming disrupts 99% of all crop production, the remaining 1% is still plenty enough to sustain a stable, if miserable, population. In fact you just need about 5k people for a stable gene pool[1]. Of the classical threats, only bioweapons got a shot at extinction, but even that is hard, given the (few) remaining truly secluded…

I still have to read a compelling argument on how AI will "extinct" humanity.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#708

Post by ozozozd »

_puk wrote: post #386
dansquizsoft wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is complete fantasy, though I would be interested in reading a book about this.

It's the bobiverse by Dennis E Taylor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_E._Taylor

_It’s not just fantasy, it’s plagiarism._

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#709

Post by Aeolun »

Mizza wrote: post #706

It's as if two private companies are each building increasingly large nuclear bombs, both saying they'd love to stop but it would be unsafe to let any one company be in control of the nukes.

That's basically the reasoning behind MAD, and it checks out? See what happened to any nation that ever gave away their nukes.

Re: I resigned from Anthropic today

#710

Post by lumost »

Mizza wrote: post #706

It's as if two private companies are each building increasingly large nuclear bombs, both saying they'd love to stop but it would be unsafe to let any one company be in control of the nukes.

While simultaneously trying to own all economic activity derivable from labor... it's hard to see the argument as anything but disengenuous.
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