Society of 8-year-olds thought experiment challenges whether intelligence alone guarantees power
Jess_Riedel · x · 2026-11-14
Physicist Jess Riedel poses a thought experiment to 'superintelligence believers': could a society of 8-year-olds placed in charge of a large adult population maintain power?
He observes that believers find 'yes' so obvious that anyone answering 'no' is assumed to have misunderstood the argument. Riedel's point: either the children lose power, or adults stay in control only because they're near the ceiling of intelligence advantage—suggesting raw intelligence doesn't automatically translate into power.
Related event: Debate Flares Over "Children Ruling Adults" Analogy for AI Risk(14 posts)→
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