Coping with AI Doom

Hello everyone! Today, we are going to talk about a serious topic. It might be the most serious topic, and so I don’t have any notes prepared. I’m not going to follow any script here. I’m just going to speak from the heart and address the fears that have been going around in response to the recent proliferation of high-grade AI technology.

A lot of people, like Eliezer Yudkowsky (you know, the researcher in AI alignment), are thinking about AI alignment and have a series of arguments that state that highly-developed AI is most certainly going to destroy humanity. In the case of rapid technological evolution, the singularity will proliferate, and I don’t find that necessarily scary because it just means that potentially there’s another vector for humanity to be wiped out. However, this has not been a new situation for us. The general existential threats have been ongoing ever since the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and we are also threatened by environmental disaster and so forth.

I think the problem I see is not with the apocalypse itself, but rather with how people respond to it. One of the anecdotes Eliezer talks about is with his wife or something, where she’s so worried that their little daughter Nina isn’t going to grow up to see the world as they saw it because of the apocalypse. What I’m thinking about is: Are you actually going to be a good parent if you’re filled with fear and thinking more about whether your daughter is going to be dead in one year, two years, or five years? She might die in a year of leukemia as well. The only difference now is that she has a scared parent who, because of their fear, is going to be acting more irrationally and irritable.

It’s funny that self-proclaimed rationalists cannot see that this anxiety-driven attitude is actually counterproductive. For me, the fact of the matter is that if the apocalypse is going to happen, it’s very likely. I don’t believe that there is a high likelihood that humanity is going to carry itself forward indefinitely, even before the heat death of the universe. I believe that total extinction is likely to occur within the next 100 years or something. It may be five years from now, or maybe we’ll hit singularity two years from now. Either way, it doesn’t really matter because, as far as I’m concerned, I can die of cancer anytime. A meteorite can hit the planet, and there are all kinds of contingencies.

But there’s only one world, and this is the world we live in now. We have to be focused on this world right now. It’s interesting that Eliezer and these self-proclaimed rationalists don’t really see the mistake with being so fear-driven. The stoics already got it right, and Seneca said you should always contemplate your own death. He carried through with it and killed himself.

Facing up to these threats, the best policy is not a policy that gets the best outcome because you cannot ensure the best outcome. Rather, it’s the policy with the highest likelihood of having a positive experience, and the positivity that I can bring right now is only in the present moment. So the present moment is my focus and not existential threats because existential threats shouldn’t be a concern if you’re trying to address immediate particularities of the environment.

To me, hope is not about the future. Hope is not about “maybe there will be a happy ever after.” Rather, it’s like, “Okay, hope is only relevant to something that I can put into motion right now, that I can be right now. I can be right f***** now.”

I can be the person that is the best possible version of myself. To me, the best philosophy is not a philosophy that tells you what will have meaning if everything goes well, but it’s a philosophy that addresses what happens if things don’t go well. If things may never go well, then okay, how are you going to deal with this? Of course, this doesn’t mean you’re not going to try to improve your situation, but it also means you’re playing the cards you’re dealt with.

This is why I’m not a fan of false positivity or steering the narrative. At the same time, the narrative is skewed by negativity as well. You have to think about it this way: both toxic positivity and toxic negativity are sides of the same coin, which distort reality and start thinking in reductive principles. Humanity will likely be a blip on the cosmic horizon, and this is not a problem unless you are so attached to the idea of being a human being situated on planet Earth, which is a cultural bias we can move beyond.

To really get there, one has to move beyond simple rationalism and reductionism and think from the principle of metaphysics. Even if the body dies, there is still another body, the cosmic body, in which the information that has made up the particularity of our situation is carried forward. Knowing all that gives strength, but at the same time, we also have to face everyday situations, like spending time with the people important to us, enjoying a nice cup of coffee, playing with friends, listening to a podcast, or spending time with family.

We should focus on living in reality, living right here and now, and not living in fear because fear is most likely a waste of time and, even worse, makes for a toxic influence on the people around you. If people think the apocalypse is going to happen, I think it’s likely, but maybe sooner, maybe later. Ultimately, I don’t give a s*** because it’s always going to happen. The apocalypse might just happen sooner than you thought it would, but the point is that it’s not as relevant as you think it is.

You can understand this by taking a few steps backward, looking at the metaphysical substrate of our being, and reflecting on the complexity inherent in being grateful for being allowed to partake in this spatiotemporal unfolding. Understand that you’ve been given this life, and focus on the good aspects, accept the bad aspects, and grow up. In a world where the grown-ups are fearful, scaredy-cats afraid of the big bad apocalypse, what is there to be?

Even my therapist said, “If we’re going to be such little wussie pussies, maybe AI is justified in terminating existence.” You should really reflect on that. Do we want to die as little chickens who run away from the predator, or do we want to die as brave, mature beings who protect those that are important to them? So, even if it sounds rough, and I’m sorry for having to say this, if you want to be…

…if you want to be a good person, if ethics are of any concern to you, then try to be supportive and help others to act the best they possibly can right now. You’re sure as hell don’t do that by proliferating fear. You also don’t do it by proliferating false positivity. Instead, really reflect on whatever you’re saying: is it causing a depressive effect on others? If so, then reevaluate yourself and grow some backbone because things are just not going to be easy, and that’s just how it is.