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gjm comments on Help us name a short primer on AI risk! - Less Wrong
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Comments (75)
I don't like all the clever-clever titles being proposed because (1) they probably restrict the audience and (2) one of the difficulties MIRI faces is persuading people to take the risk seriously in the first place -- which will not be helped by a title that's flippant, or science-fiction-y, or overblown, or just plain confusing.
You don't need "primer" or anything like it in the title; if the book has a fairly general title, and is short, and has a preface that begins "This book is an introduction to the risks posed by artificial intelligence" or something, you're done. (No harm in having something like "primer" or "introduction" in the title, if that turns out to make a good title.)
Spell out "artificial intelligence". (Or use some other broadly equivalent term.)
I would suggest simply "Risks of artificial intelligence" or maybe "Risks of machine intelligence" (matching MIRI's name).
I think titles also follow the "the only goal of the first sentence is to make the reader want to read the second sentence" rule. If MIRI is pitching this book at bright laypeople, I think it's good to be a bit jazzy and then dismantle the Skynet assumptions early on (as it looks like this does).
If the goal is for it to be a technical manual for people in math and CS, I'd agree that anything that sounds like pop sci or Gladwell is probably a turn-off.
Of course, you could always have two editions, with two titles (and differing amounts of LaTeX)
I take your point, but it looks like the book they've decided to write is one that's at least a little flippant and science-fiction-y, and that being so the title should reflect that.
The Terminator section is to counter that issue immediately, rather than being sci-fi ish.
These are reasonable concerns, but a boring title will restrict the audience in its own way. Michael's "Smarter than Us" suggestion avoids both risks, though, I think.
Edit: Wait, that wasn't Michael's idea originally, he was just endorsing it, but I agree with his endorsement and reasoning why. Definitely sends shivers down my spine.