"We try to take existential risk seriously around these parts. Each marginal new user that reads anything on Less Wrong has a real chance of being the one that tips us from existential Loss to existential Win." This seemed to me to carry the connotation of ascribing extremely high significance to Less Wrong and I (quite possibly incorrectly) interpreted the fact that nobody questioned the statement or asked for clarification as an indication that the rest of the community is in agreement with the idea that Less Wrong is extremely significant.
Would you respond differently if someone else talked about every single person who becomes an amateur astronomer and searches for dangerous asteroids? There are lots of ways of potential existential threats. Unfriendly or rogue AIs are certainly one of them. Nuclear war is another. And I think a lot of people would agree that most humans don't pay nearly enough attention to existential threats. So one aspect of improving rational thinking should be a net reduction in existential threats of all types, not just those associated with AI. Kevin's statement thus isn't intrinsically connected to SIAI at all (although I'd be inclined to argue that even given that Kevin's statement is possibly a tad hyperbolic).
improving rational thinking should be a net reduction in existential threats of all types
Two points:
(1) It's not clear that improving rational thinking matters much. The factors limiting human ability to reduce existential risk seem to me to have more to do with politics, marketing and culture rather than rationality proper. Devoting oneself to refining rationality may come at the cost of increasing one's ability to engage in politics and marketing and influence culture. I guess what I'm saying is that rationalists should win and consciously aspiring to...
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