> For many outside the US, and undoubtedly some within it, the term SI is a source of embarrassment.

Speaking as one of those in the US, we have so much to be embarrassed about that the "super intelligence" thing barely registers on the scale.

I mean, yeah, it is stupid, but it is relatively quaint when compared to:

the stupidest war we've ever gotten ourselves into (high bar), the random murderous boat strikes, the immigration debacle and continued state-sanctioned murdering of both innocent immigrants and American citizens, the concentration camps (yes, we have concentration camps), the abandonment of the previous rules-based world order, the constant threatening of our own allies, the ongoing religification, loyalty purge and subsequent weakening of the US military, the quadrupling down on a fossil fuel economy in the face of very real climate change impacts globally, the very real and IMO likely possibility the current administration will attempt to nullify our upcoming election if it doesn't go their way, etc, etc.