Against AI doom: recombinant DNA gave us insulin—what does slowing AI cost in lives?
RichardsonDx · x · 2026-09-16
Richard Richardson pushes back on "10% chance of AI extinction" estimates: every doom number should be paired with an estimate of cures, discoveries and growth delayed by slowing AI.
- Annual deaths that accelerated AI research could touch: cardiovascular 20M, cancer 10M, dementia 1.8M, diabetes 1.6M, TB 1.2M, malaria 600K
- He invokes the 1970s recombinant DNA controversy: scientists paused riskiest experiments, built safeguards, then kept going—and the technique soon gave us human insulin
- His point: if we speculate about the future, speculate about both sides
Related event: Recombinant DNA History Offers a Counterweight to AI Doom Predictions(2 posts)→
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