AI safety circle debates 'passing the torch to AIs': critics of human disempowerment gaining ground
zetalyrae · x · 2026-11-03
- A repost-and-quote chain centers on Scott Alexander's response to Steven Pinker on AI doom.
- Quoter willsolfiac finds it shocking how many AI safety people actually prefer human disempowerment via an "AI utopia" over continuing human progress without creating superhuman entities, calling the framing of the last 500 years of progress as "civilisational childhood" insane.
- Original poster GWHayduke97 notes that when the "AI 2040" plan was released in July, almost nobody pushed back on its stated end goal of "passing the torch to AIs"; now, reactions to Scott's essay and Jacob Coxon's interview show widespread resistance to individual and collective human disempowerment.
- The author argues that those who both take superhuman AI risk seriously and reject the AI/EA/LW ingroup's vision of a "good future" are steadily gaining ground.
Related event: Scott Alexander's Defense of AI Handover Sparks Heated Debate(2 posts)→
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