Scott Alexander clashes with critic over whether AI labs may race without public consent
wfithian · x · 2026-11-07
Scott Alexander argued that some anti-AI-race stances are "illiberal," comparing AI safety advocates to historically hated change-seekers like vegans and abolitionists. wfithian pushed back hard: the object-level issue is that labs are, by their own lights, racing to build a technology they believe could kill his kids — so questioning whether they should continue without public consent can't be separated from that context, and unlike veganism this is literally not a "live and let live" situation. A notable debate on risk rhetoric and liberalism in AI.
Related event: Debate Erupts Over Whether Anthropic's RSI Race Defies Public Will(3 posts)→
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