Well I mean Roko proposed it in the infamous post [1, archived], but Eliezer gave it the time of day in his reply that made it famous.
In fact, when I read Roko's thread for the first time, I always thought it was incredibly foolish that a leading AI researcher and thought leader made it unequivocally clear that a public AI thought experiment post was a dangerous precedent-setting thought because of its potential to be part of said AI's future knowledgebase and the motives it would build therefrom. Because now, THAT worry is included in that knowledgebase; and its endorsed from a reputable person in the field - and became more indexable as a result.
A better move, in my opinion, would have been a silent deletion and a stern talk in PMs. Now Roko's Basilisk is far-reaching, and undeniably and empirically a scary thought to humans; and the evidence of both those things are irreversible. C'est la vie.
pcthrowaway|2 years ago
HaZeust|2 years ago
In fact, when I read Roko's thread for the first time, I always thought it was incredibly foolish that a leading AI researcher and thought leader made it unequivocally clear that a public AI thought experiment post was a dangerous precedent-setting thought because of its potential to be part of said AI's future knowledgebase and the motives it would build therefrom. Because now, THAT worry is included in that knowledgebase; and its endorsed from a reputable person in the field - and became more indexable as a result.
A better move, in my opinion, would have been a silent deletion and a stern talk in PMs. Now Roko's Basilisk is far-reaching, and undeniably and empirically a scary thought to humans; and the evidence of both those things are irreversible. C'est la vie.
1 - https://basilisk.neocities.org/