I don't, but it is evidence that people disagree with the SIAI and think that there are more effective ways towards a positive Singularity.
Did you think that many LWers weren't aware of this fact? I would have thought that everyone already knew...
Don't forget that he once worked for the SIAI. If Michael Vassar was to leave the SIAI and start his own project, wouldn't that be evidence about the SIAI?
I'm curious if you've seen this discussion, which occurred while Ben was still Research Director of SIAI.
ETA: I see that you commented in that thread several months after the initial discussion, so you must have read it. I suppose the problem from your perspective is that you can't really distinguish between Eliezer and Ben. They each think their own approach to a positive Singularity is the best one, and think the other one is incompetent/harmless. You don't know enough to judge the arguments on the object level. LW mostly favors Eliezer, but that might just be groupthink. I'm not really sure how to solve this problem, actually... anyone else have ideas?
Unfortunately, there are only a few types of situations where it's possible to operate successfully without an object level understanding—situations where you have a trustworthy authority to rely on, where you can apply trial and error, where you can use evolved instincts, or where the environment has already been made safe and predictable by someone who did have an object level understanding.
None of those would apply except relying on a trustworthy authority, but since no one has yet been able to demonstrate their ability to bring about a positive Singularity, XiXiDu is again stuck with difficult object level questions in deciding what basis he can use to decide who to trust.
Artificial general intelligence researcher Ben Goertzel answered my question on charitable giving and gave his permission to publish it here. I think the opinion of highly educated experts who have read most of the available material is important to estimate the public and academic perception of risks from AI and the effectiveness with which the risks are communicated by LessWrong and the SIAI.
Alexander Kruel asked:
Ben Goertzel replied:
What can one learn from this?
I'm planning to contact and ask various experts, who are aware of risks from AI, the same question.