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Comment by upwardbound | Hacker News Reader

Upvoted for the honesty, and yikes

I was being lighthearted, but I've seen a partner through chemo. Sell state secrets, assassinate a president, bring on the AI apocalypse... it all gets a big thumbs up from me if you can guarantee she'll die quietly in her sleep at the age of 103.

I guess everyone's got a deal with the devil in them, which is why I think 70% might be a bit low.

I'm so sorry your partner went through that.

That is why I believe that this debate is pointless.

If AGI is possible, it will be made. There is no feasible way to stop it being developed, because the perceivable gains are so huge.

On the contrary, all we have to do is educate business leaders to show them that the gains are illusory because AGI will wipe us out. Working on AGI is like the story of the recent DOOM games where the foolish Union Aerospace Corporation is researching how to permanently open a gate to Hell through which to summon powerful entities and seemingly unlimited free "clean" energy. Obviously, this turns out to be stupid when Hell's forces rip the portal wide open into a full-fledged dimensional rift and attempt to drag our entire world into Hell. Working on AGI has the exact same level of perceived gains vs actual gains..

My friend, business leaders have partners going through chemo too. Seriously, you need a new plan because that one's not stable long-term.

It's obscure, but I'd recommend Asimov's "The Dead Past". It's about the difficulties of suppressing one application of progress without suppressing all progress.

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