What is the "Less Wrong" approved acronym for 1984-risk?

post by Logan Zoellner (logan-zoellner) · 2022-09-10T14:38:39.006Z · LW · GW · No comments

This is a question post.

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  Answers
    20 Yoav Ravid
    15 中文房间
    10 Nate Showell
    6 interstice
    4 Martin Randall
    1 Mateusz Bagiński
    1 Capybasilisk
None
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I suspect the terminology we use shapes the discussions we have.

We have X-Risk for extinction, and S-risk for Roko's basilisk torturing us all.

What is the common way of referring to the thing we were all terrified of in the late 20th century, namely that corporations and government would finally get together and work out a way to oppress everyone for all of time.

I want a universally comprehensible way of writing sentences like "Stable Diffusion increases X-risk by accelerating AI development, but decreases 1984-Risk by making it less likely that AI will be centrally controlled".

Answers

answer by Yoav Ravid · 2022-09-10T17:36:37.254Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Totalitarianism seems to work just fine. If you want a shorthand for that, perhaps you can write T-risk.

answer by Chinese Room (中文房间) · 2022-09-10T15:00:13.953Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Perhaps U+1984 or ᦄ-Risk

answer by Nate Showell · 2022-09-10T22:44:29.283Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

"Risk of stable totalitarianism" is the term I've seen.

answer by interstice · 2022-09-10T14:51:20.192Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Nick Bostrom has a taxonomy of different existential risks which would refer to this class of things as 'shrieks'

comment by Logan Zoellner (logan-zoellner) · 2022-09-10T16:17:21.859Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

It certainly seems like it fits in that category.

answer by Martin Randall · 2022-09-11T12:45:25.301Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

1984-Risk is clear and concise, I don't think we'll do better.

answer by Mateusz Bagiński · 2023-01-04T16:39:53.637Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Caplan called it the "totalitarian threat"

answer by Capybasilisk · 2022-09-11T10:29:17.739Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

O-risk, in deference to Orwell.

I do believe Huxley's Brave New World is a far more likely future dystopia than Orwell's. 1984 is too tied to its time of writing.

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