"Pedestal Cope": a 9-type taxonomy of humanity's false AGI "plot armor"
danfaggella · x · 2026-11-09
AI ethicist Daniel Faggella argues that humans blindly assume AGI won't disrupt the human condition — a "plot armor" delusion he calls Pedestal Cope: the unquestioned assumption that humans are the central locus of all value and agency, and that all future superintelligent minds will agree.
The essay (with a taxonomy chart) catalogs nine false assumptions in three flavors:
- Assumed eternally supreme moral value: AGI will know humans are precious and grant our wishes; AGI isn't a moral patient; it will keep the Earth for us
- Assumed eternally supreme agency: humans programmed it so we stay in charge; futures without human control are bad; we've survived everything so far
- Assumed continuity of modern values: AGI will hold bio-life sacred; everyone gets personal liberty once AGI is powerful; AGI will join an equal democracy of minds
Faggella argues these assumptions endanger not just humanity but the whole chain of posthuman life, and urges facing the challenge of creating minds 10,000x beyond our own more honestly.
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