Category: Exaggerating the risks
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 10: Biorisk: More grounds for doubt)
Continuing my treatment of existential biorisk, I give four further reasons to suspect that existential biorisk may be lower than many claim it to be.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 9: Biorisk – Grounds for doubt)
Effective altruists often argue that biological phenomena pose a significant near-term existential risk. In this post, I give some preliminary reasons to doubt that claim.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 8: Carlsmith wrap-up)
I take a final look at the Carlsmith report on risks from power-seeking artificial intelligence, focusing on AI timelines as well as the argument from practical PS-misalignment to disempowerment of humanity.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 7: Carlsmith on instrumental convergence)
I take a second look at the Carlsmith report on risks from power-seeking artificial intelligence, focusing on Carlsmith’s argument for instrumental convergence.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 6: Introducing the Carlsmith report)
Many effective altruists believe that artificial intelligence poses a significant existential risk in this century. Let’s look at how a recent report by Joe Carlsmith makes this point.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 5: Climate wrap-up)
In a last look at climate risk, I examine two final mechanisms by which climate change could lead to existential catastrophe: moist and runaway greenhouse effects, and interstate conflict. Then I draw lessons from the discussion of climate risk in Parts 2-5 of this series.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 4: Halstead continued)
I continue to make the case that estimates of existential risk from climate change have been exaggerated, looking deeper into the Halstead report discussed in Part 3 of this series.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 3: Climate change, lessons from Halstead)
I continue to make the case that estimates of existential risk from climate change have been exaggerated, drawing on a new report about climate risk by John Halstead.
-
Exaggerating the risks (Part 2: Ord on climate risk)
Toby Ord predicts a one in a thousand chance that climate change will lead by 2100 to irreversible existential catastrophe. But what does the evidence say? Here we begin to get a different story.