Founder, The Roots of Progress (rootsofprogress.org)
jasoncrawford
Karma: 513
Yes, certainly! But that point isn’t relevant to the point I’m making here. And emphasizing that point as a way of arguing against AI risk itself is one of the things I’m discouraging. It would be like responding to concerns about drug safety by saying “but drugs save lives!” Yes, of course they do, but that isn’t relevant to the question of whether drugs also pose risks, and what we should do about those risks.
Not just “safety is good”, but: (1) safety is a part of progress, rather than something opposed to it and (2) optimists should confront risks and seek solutions, rather than downplaying or dismissing them.
A plea for solutionism on AI safety
Jason’s links and tweets, 2023-06-07
What I’ve been reading, June 2023
Jason’s links and tweets, 2023-06-01
Podcast: Infinite Loops with Jim O’Shaughnessy
The American Information Revolution in Global Perspective
Jason’s links and tweets, 2023-05-23
I think what Allen probably added was a more quantitative investigation of this idea. He gathered the price data for fuel, labor, capital, etc. and did the analysis of rates of profit and return on investment.
Added a little bit in the revised version to try to clarify this. Thanks again for the feedback
What if they gave an Industrial Revolution and nobody came?
Not sure if this is quite what you are looking for, but I’ve been keeping a list of progress-related museums that I have visited or want to visit, large or small, including:
Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in Vista, CA
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham, MA
Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI
Davistown Museum in Maine
Museum of Craft & Design in San Francisco
History of Science museum in Harvard (one room)
Jenner Museum, Gloucestershire; also a statue of Edward Jenner in Kensington Gardens?
Bibliotheque de la Faculte de Medecine in Paris, which houses The Jubilee of Louis Pasteur, by Jean-André Rixens
Fleming’s original Petri dish in the British Museum
Institute of Making, part of University College London
Jason’s links and tweets, 2023-05-16
Video: Intro to progress studies at Learning Night Boston
Thanks! Yes, this is definitely part of Allen’s argument (maybe I should make that more clear).
I’ve been meaning to read that Devereaux post/series for a while, thanks for reminding me of it.
However, I don’t you think can argue from “the Industrial Revolution got started in this very specific way” to “that is the only way any kind of an IR could ever have gotten started.” If it hadn’t been flooded coal mines in Britain, there would have been some other need for energy in some other application.
I see it more as: you develop mechanization and energy technology once you reach that frontier—once your economy hits the point where that is the best marginal investment in development. Britain was one of the most advanced economies, so it hit that frontier first.
Jason’s links and tweets, 2023-05-09
Quote quiz answer
Was supposed to be “before products are launched”. Fixed, thanks
This essay was written not written for the doomers. It was written for the anti-doomers who are inclined to dismiss any concerns about AI safety at all.
I may write something later about where I agree/disagree with the doom argument and what I think we should actually do.