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Vladimir_Nesov comments on Asking Precise Questions - Less Wrong
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This is one of the issues where LW potentially disagrees with the rest of humanity, and I think the LW position (or at least the position you articulate) is actually wrong. I see many object-level ways to help the world once we have a magical optimizer: solve protein folding, model plasma containment, etc. And these are just the opportunities we can take advantage of with existing tech, but the optimizer can also help design new tech.
We can do lots of useful things, sure (this is not a point where we disagree), but they don't add up towards "saving the world". These are just short-term benefits. Technological progress makes it easier to screw stuff up irrecoverably, advanced tech is the enemy. One shouldn't generally advance the tech if distant end-of-the-world is considered important as compared to immediate benefits (this value judgment can well be a real point of disagreement).