I'm James, an existential safety advocate

All moral agents ought to work as best they can to help all other moral patients flourish, insofar as there is a need to do so.

If we have any descendants, they will look upon most modern humans with their equivalent of abhorrence, as we might look upon slaveowners of the past.

We face likely extinction as a species in the near-term due to the rapidly developing capabilities of artificial intelligence. We’ve known this since 1863 and still haven’t taken sufficient precautions. 

Humanity is emergently insane. We spend more on candy than on preventing our own extinction. 

There is no winning the “race” to artificial general intelligence (AGI) or artificial superintelligence (ASI). It is a literal suicide race. We need an immediate global pause on all frontier AI development. This is not an “AI doomer” position; this is an “AI realist” position.  

We need a global organization capable of managing the risks and rewards of artificial intelligence. It is better for us all to cooperate rather than defect and likely die. Both egoists and altruists can only win by choosing caution.

We may need millions of existential safety advocates, all unified in our collective fight for survival. (If you’re reading this and haven’t joined the fight, please consider doing so immediately.) 

Many types of utopias or dystopias may be realized very soon. Far sooner than 99% of humanity realizes. Money, status, and much of what we instrumentally value now would become useless in those scenarios.

Transhumanism is directionally correct. An extraordinary future awaits us if we survive this tumultuous transition to our post-human state.

LessWrong-style rationality is directionally correct, but flawed as a movement.

Effective altruism is directionally correct, but flawed as a movement. 

Engineering an optimal human life is possible, although extremely hard for most. It will become extremely easy for aligned AIs to help humans flourish.

Evolutionary psychology is incredibly insightful. Humans evolved for an ancestral environment where hunting and gathering and living in small tribes was the norm. Many of us who suffer today would do just fine if our biology wasn’t mismatched for our modern environment. We all deserve compassion. Harsh judgement is unwarranted. 

Conscious capitalism should replace unbridled capitalism. All stakeholders ought to benefit from capitalism. Shareholders do not intrinsically matter more than other moral patients. 

We could solve many of the world’s problems if no one could legally be more than 100x richer than the least richest decile of society. Individuals and companies would still compete to maximize the amount of money they automatically invest in the less fortunate. Everyone would win; no one would be left behind. Society would be transformed very quickly.  

Time is the most important thing we have. Most people waste their present and future self’s time. And they waste other people’s time, which is roughly tantamount to micro-murder. You’re denying someone the desired use of their finite life. 1 hour out of 700,000 hours is 0.000142857% of a life.