[dnnn]

> The thing we want to emphasize is that right now there are some mechanisms that steer our civilization towards keeping us alive, and free in some senses, that might stop operating.

I agree with this formulation. What I am emphasizing is that, insofar as mechanisms are steering, the system in which they are operating can be said to have largely decoupled from the human mind.

"Alive and free in some senses."

A society whose tagline is "alive and free in some senses" is already dystopian! Far scarier, to me, than its extinction or my own early death.

[duvenaud]

> A society whose tagline is "alive and free in some senses" is already dystopian!

Haha. Well we might agree about that - that description covers a wide range of possibilities. If you have ideas about what a plausible and good future looks like, please let me know. One of my next projects is trying to articulate "what is the best we can hope for?" and talk about which sets of goals are even possible to jointly fulfill. But certainly "everyone is free in all senses" is incoherent or at the very least, unstable.

[wfewras]

Not that it matters, but dnnn is another account I got logged into for some reason; dnnn is the same person as wfewras