Just as FAI research gets more time, so is AGI research expected to get more time, unless somehow FAI researchers outrun everyone else for WBE resources, what I called "dominating WBE" above, but that's an unlikely feat, I don't have reasons for seeing that as more likely than just solving FAI pre-WBE.
In order for FAI to win pre-WBE, FAI has to get more resources than AGI (e.g., more, smarter researchers, computing power), but because FAI is much harder than AGI, it needs a large advantage. The "race for WBE" is better because it's a fairer one and you may only need to win by a small margin.
Also, if someone (who isn't necessarily an FAI group to start with) dominates WBE, they have no strong reason to immediately aim for AGI. What does it buy them that they don't already have? They can take the (subjective) time to think over the situation, and perhaps decide that FAI would be the best way to move forward.
In order for FAI to win pre-WBE, FAI has to get more resources than AGI (e.g., more, smarter researchers, computing power), but because FAI is much harder than AGI, it needs a large advantage. The "race for WBE" is better because it's a fairer one and you may only need to win by a small margin.
If FAI is much harder, WBE race has more potential for winning than pre-WBE race, but still low probability (getting more resources than all AI efforts is unlikely, and by the time the WBE race even begins, a lot is already lost).
...Also, if someone (who
Here is a short new publication from the Singularity Institute, on the 2-day workshop that followed Singularity Summit 2011.
Note the new publication design. We are currently porting our earlier publications to this template, too.