Read this story as a possible alernative:
http://m.nautil.us/issue/53/monsters/the-last-invention-of-m...
You're making many scary claims about AI with no evidence to support your theses, along with a unrelated reference to natural selection. Both of the key arguments that you pointed out, 1) "the substrate for AGI to spring from is basically here or around the corner", and 2) "Human level ai is fundamentally incompatible with human society" were presented without any evidence and are unsupported by nearly all major experts in the field. FUD was not a distraction from your argument but a title for what it is: Fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
But, in case you want to read up, here are some experts contradicting your first claim:
1: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608911/is-ai-riding-a-one...
2: https://www.quantamagazine.org/machine-learning-confronts-th...
3: https://www.axios.com/artificial-intelligence-pioneer-says-w...
And here are some experts contradicting your second claim:
1: https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/positively-shaping-a...
2: https://medium.com/@deepmindsafetyresearch/building-safe-art...
3: https://openai.com/blog/ai-safety-needs-social-scientists/
4: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-intell...
5: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602410/no-the-experts-don...
There are two parts to my argument: the substrate for AGI to spring from is basically here or around the corner. Human level ai is fundamentally incompatible with human society. Pick the one that you think is wrong and tell me the chain of logic that proves I’m wrong.
It is obvious to anyone that AI has the potential to be more dangerous than anything humans have ever encountered or created. We can come back from viruses and nuclear bombs and colliding with interstellar columns of gamma radiation. AGI is the first thing ever to pose the threat of truly wiping out humanity. And then there is the question of how the economics would play out of it didn’t destroy us, which I have shown informally to not work out very well. At the bare minimum, this demands caution and proactive, defensive measures. The burden is on YOU to prove it’s safe. So please save your “fud” and anything else that does not address the core of the matter.