Is it worth thinking about not just a single AGI system, but technological development in general? Here is an outline for an argument - the actual argument requires a lot of filling in.
Definitions:
Someone creates an AGI. Then one of the following is true:
The AGI becomes a singleton. This isn't a job that we would trust to any current human, so for it to be safe the AGI would need not just human-level ethics but really amazing ethics. This is where arguments about the fragility of value and Kaj_Sotala's document come in.
The AGI doesn't become a singleton but it creates another AGI that does. This can be rolled into 1 (if we don't distinguish between "creates" and "becomes") or it can be rolled into 3 (if we don't make the distinction between humans and AGIs acting as programmers).
The AGI doesn't become a singleton and doesn't create one either. Then we just wait for someone to develop the next AGI.
Notes on point 3:
Here's my draft document Concepts are Difficult, and Unfriendliness is the Default. (Google Docs, commenting enabled.) Despite the name, it's still informal and would need a lot more references, but it could be written up to a proper paper if people felt that the reasoning was solid.
Here's my introduction:
And here's my conclusion:
For the actual argumentation defending the various premises, see the linked document. I have a feeling that there are still several conceptual distinctions that I should be making but am not, but I figured that the easiest way to find the problems would be to have people tell me what points they find unclear or disagreeable.