What bothers me is that the real agenda of the LessWrong/Singularity Institute folks is being obscured by all these abstract philosophical discussions. I know that Peter Thiel and other billionaires are not funding these groups for academic reasons -- this is ultimately a quest for power.

I've been told by Michael Anissimov personally that they are working on real, practical AI designs behind the scenes, but how often is this discussed here? Am I supposed to feel secure knowing that these groups are seeking the One Ring of Power, but it's OK because they've written papers about "CEV" and are therefore the good guys? He who can save the world can control it. I don't trust anyone with this kind of power, and I am deeply suspicious of any small group of intelligent people that is seeking power in this way.

Am I paranoid? Absolutely. I know too much about recent human history and the horrific failures of other grandiose intellectual projects to be anything else. Call me crazy, but I firmly believe that building intelligent machines is all about power, and that everything else (i.e. most of this site) is conversation.