Re:Effective Altruism Has a Toxic Culture of Sexual Harassme...
by naasking on Saturday February 04, 2023 @01:35AM
(#34652172)
> We have no idea how likely "existential risks" are.
We absolutely do. We have quantified the risks of supervolcanoes, asteroid impacts and coronal mass ejections. We continue to quantify the ongoing risk of climate change and nuclear war (how many minutes to midnight?). The real open questions are the likelihood of a biological agent (natural or engineered), and AI.
The fact that we don't know the risks should make you more worried about those. Unknown unknowns can bite you in the ass hard with no warning. Maybe we should figure out some warning signs.
> We have no idea what, if anything, can be done about them.
That's what research is for. Sounds like we maybe we should fund some research into these issues.
We absolutely do. We have quantified the risks of supervolcanoes, asteroid impacts and coronal mass ejections. We continue to quantify the ongoing risk of climate change and nuclear war (how many minutes to midnight?). The real open questions are the likelihood of a biological agent (natural or engineered), and AI.
The fact that we don't know the risks should make you more worried about those. Unknown unknowns can bite you in the ass hard with no warning. Maybe we should figure out some warning signs.
> We have no idea what, if anything, can be done about them.
That's what research is for. Sounds like we maybe we should fund some research into these issues.