Consider the choice: cause the world fo today to exist, or the world of tomorrow.
We often talk about whether X or Y is better when they are not alternatives in a straightforward decision problem, for example is it better to receive an A- or a B+ on a test, and how much? We don't choose between X or Y directly, but considering their comparison helps provide intuition about more complicated comparisons between possible outcomes. We don't choose between the world of today or the world of tomorrow, but we also don't choose between performing better or worse on a test.
Consider the choice: cause the world of today to exist, or the world of tomorrow.
What actual choice is informed by considering this decision problem, what motivates posing it? (I don't know, which is why I originally ruled that out as a possible interpretation, and suggested a less straightforward interpretation that involved an actual choice.)
We don't choose between the world of today or the world of tomorrow, but we also don't choose between performing better or worse on a test.
(I'm not appealing to the impossibility-in-practice of choosing today ...
Over the last few months I've started blogging about effective altruism more broadly, rather than focusing on AI risk. I'm still focusing on abstract considerations and methodological issues, but I hope it is of interest to others here. Going forward I intend to cross-post more often to LW, but I thought I would post the backlog here anyway. With luck, I'll also have the opportunity to post more than bi-weekly.
I welcome thoughts, criticisms, etc.