For a great-if-imprecise response to #4, you can just read aloud the single page story at the beginning of Bostrom's book 'Superintelligence'. For a more precise response, you can make explicit the analogy.
And if they come back with an snake egg instead? Surely we need to have some idea of the nature of AI and it thus how exactly it is dangerous.
I'm giving a talk to the Boulder Future Salon in Boulder, Colorado in a few weeks on the Intelligence Explosion hypothesis. I've given it once before in Korea but I think the crowd I'm addressing will be more savvy than the last one (many of them have met Eliezer personally). It could end up being important, so I was wondering if anyone considers themselves especially capable of playing Devil's Advocate so I could shape up a bit before my talk? I'd like there to be no real surprises.
I'd be up for just messaging back and forth or skyping, whatever is convenient.