Effective Accelerationism and the AI Safety Debate with Bayeslord, Beff Jezoz, and Nathan Labenz
"Moment of Zen"
Introduction
Moment of Zen is a weekly podcast from John Defterios. This week, we talk about the founders effect of effective accelerationism. We also have an AI safety debate joined by my co-host of the Cognitive Revolution, Nathan LeBett.
Anonymous founders of the Effective Accelerationist (e/acc) movement @Bayeslord and Beff Jezoz (@BasedBeff) join Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, and Nathan Labenz to debate views on AI safety.
We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Episode preview
(03:00) Intro to effective accelerationism
(08:00) Differences between effective accelerationism and effective altruism
(23:00) Effective accelerationism is bottoms-up
(42:00) Transhumanism
(46:00) "Equanimity amidst the singularity"
(48:30) Why AI safety is the wrong frame
(56:00) Pushing back against effective accelerationism
(01:06:00) The case for AI safety
(01:24:00) Upgrading civilizational infrastructure
(01:33:00) Effective accelerationism is anti-fragile
(01:39:00) Will we botch AI like we botched nuclear?
(01:46:00) Hidden costs of emphasizing downsides
(2:00:00) Are we in the same position as neanderthals, before humans?
(2:09:00) "Doomerism has an unpriced opportunity cost of upside"
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