[MIRI] would seem to an intelligent observer as jumping on the bandwagon attention whoring
You say that like its a bad thing.
I imagine after the release there will be a flurry of PopSci type of articles, at which point weighing it might be appropriate and well received.
That has to be prepared for (in advance -- that is what preparation is). If a journalist asks MIRI for comment, they need to have a comment ready.
You say that like its a bad thing.
Ha! Me and my sister always say that! I think it was her canonical answer to "You always have an answer, don't you?"
There's a big Hollywood movie coming out with an apocalyptic Singularity-like story, called Transcendence. (IMDB, Wiki, official site) With an A-list cast and big budget, I contend this movie is the front-runner to be 2014's most significant influence on discussions of superintelligence outside specialist circles. Anyone hoping to influence those discussions should start preparing some talking points.
I don't see anybody here agree with me on this. The movie has been briefly discussed on LW when it was first announced in March 2013, but since then, only the trailer (out since December) has been mentioned. MIRI hasn't published a word about it. This amazes me. We have three months till millions of people who never considered superintelligence are going to start thinking about it - is nobody bothering to craft a response to the movie yet? Shouldn't there be something that lazy journalists, given the job to write about this movie, can find?
Because if there isn't, they'll dismiss the danger of AI like Erik Sofge already did in an early piece about the movie for Popular Science, and nudge their readers to do so too. And that'd be a shame, wouldn't it?