army1987 comments on Any existential risk angles to the US presidential election? - Less Wrong

-9 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 20 September 2012 09:44AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 21 September 2012 11:16:18AM *  2 points [-]

Yes, but scientific¹ progress would make both FAI and uFAI more likely.

  1. Actually you mean “technological” -- figuring out whether neutrinos are Majorana particles isn't going to be very relevant to existential risk in the short and middle term, but your arguments still apply (even more, because private enterprises are usually more interested in applied research than in pure research).
Comment author: JoshuaZ 20 November 2013 01:30:44PM -1 points [-]

I don't think that this is completely obvious to me. It wouldn't have been obvious in say 1930 that investigation of atoms would lead to a serious existential risk, or any substantial new technologies for that matter. If some aspect of basic physics presents a more efficient computing substrate, or a new source of energy, that could easily have an impact (albeit not necessarily directly).

Comment author: [deleted] 20 November 2013 09:38:30PM 0 points [-]

Well, I guess that depends on what I meant by “short and middle term”.

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