Imagine pondering creation of artificial life-force from combinations of mechanical parts; that sounds incredibly dangerous, and like a worthwhile area of study. One could spend a lot of time thinking in terms of life-force - how do we ensure that the life-force goo wont eat everything in it's path? Should we stop research into steam locomotive to avoid such scenario?
Would you want to know if you are thinking in terms of irrelevant abstraction? We humans have capability of abstract thought; we love abstract thinking; some concepts are just abstraction porn though, only useful for tickling our 'grand insights feel good' thing.
If people had reasoned that way in the 18th century, they would have correctly predicted the risks of nanotech and maybe biotech. So I guess you should conclude that unfriendly AI risk is real, though far in the future... Anyway, how do you tell which concepts are "abstraction porn" and which aren't?
It's just occurred to me that, giving all the cheerful risk stuff I work with, one of the most optimistic things people could say to me would be:
"You've wasted your life. Nothing of what you've done is relevant or useful."
That would make me very happy. Of course, that only works if it's credible.