Hope to live or fear to die?

post by Knight Lee (Max Lee) · 2024-11-27T10:42:37.070Z · LW · GW · 0 comments

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When fate is uncertain, be hopeful. Life is an insane gift and death is merely its absence. Look at the little bear cubs play-wrestling in the meadow, ever so carefree. You ask them, "do you not know 5/6 bear cubs will die before adulthood? Why are you taking life so lightheartedly?"

"Do you not know your futures are riddled with adversity? That you might not be strong enough? Why are you treating life so playfully?"

The bear cubs will ignore you. But if you could speak, they will explain. They'll explain that they are rugged little machines. Built exactly for this harsh game of life, where the outlook is so uncertain and perhaps bleak. But as it turns out, the optimal strategy to survive in such a harsh game of life... is actually... surprisingly... when there is so little you know and so little you can do about the frightening prospects. You should just be carefree. And happy. And silly. And play. And freaking love the game. And as natural selection has found, that is actually your best long term strategy.

(Credits to Patrice Schoefolt for bear photo)

PS: I'm sort of referring to AI risk. Some people think it is very high and are a little bit unhappy about it. This can affect the smartest/most rational people—just search for "Nina lost a tooth" in this post by Eliezer Yudkowsky [LW(p) · GW(p)].

If you aren't Eliezer Yudkowsky—in which case you're unlikely to convince anybody with your fears—but you also feel the risk is very high. Remember the bear cubs :)!

I'm not saying that there's nothing we can do about AI risk—I have a lot of hope that my idea [LW · GW] can help a lot haha. I just feel that people who aren't not working on reducing the risk, don't need to bad about it. Even if you are, don't feel bad about it :)

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