Some people were upset about the accelerate or die post. I get it, it's provocative on purpose. Some people literally didn't understand what I said. I get it, that's why I said "before you get confused". Some people don't want to be accelerating. I get it, acceleration can be uncomfortable. Some people tediously explained to me that we should not drive cars into walls. I get it, driving cars into walls is a bad idea. Some people are mad at me for making claims they don't like about how the world seems to work. I get it, the world does not always work the way we want it to. Some people think this exhibits a defeatist attitude. I get it, some people conflate acknowledgement of difficulty with actual hopelessness. Some people believe recognizing things that seem to be true is equivalent to saying they are optimal that way. I get it, cope is common so we learn to expect it everywhere.
But listen. I'm just trying to tell it like it is. I'm thoroughly and sincerely open-minded. I bring as little ego to all of this as I can (some days more, some days less). I mean it when I say I'd be perfectly fine to admit that I've been wrong and that Yudkowsky was right, etc. If someone convinced me tonight, I'd post about it tonight. But after years defeating point after point of mostly terrible counterarguments, it still hasn't happened. I assume he'd say the same thing.
Because I'm reasonably nice, people often expect me to play by their rules of the game. I don't, and I mostly won't. This is not a polite, academic, philosophical debate. I wish it were. This is an extremely serious set of issues affecting the entire world right now, and things are moving quickly. I may never play nice with those who wield superiority complexes over the rest of humanity. At the level of this debate, I see them as wholly undeserving of fair play.
But of course, most people aren't like that at all. For them, I have always tried to exercise civility, respect, etc... and will continue to do so. These issues are subtle, impactful, and deserve our careful attention. Tech didn't get it right last decade. I think we're on course to do much better through this one and next. I remain optimistic.
We are accelerating.