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It's about the dangers of unrestrained escalation. It's a failure of humanity that we even got to the point where a few people's small and difficult decisions decided the fate of so much. This post is a friendly reminder to... * Please avoid escalating socio-economic disagreements to nuclear levels. * Please avoid escalating market competitions to Moloch levels. * Please avoid escalating paperclippers to superintelligent levels. Learn to recognize signs of unrestrained escalation. You may be participating in unrestrained escalation... * If your information landscape becomes increasingly narrowed by a centralized source or by recommender algorithms. * If you attempt to fight over-escalated issues in a way that encourages opposing parties to fight back. For example, if you try to overtly starve the object of escalation of its resources and ability to act. * If your actions become increasingly coordinated with large and powerful groups. * If your judgment becomes increasingly dictated by stories told from a single point of view or single optimization criterion. When you do recognize signs of unrestrained escalation, please take actions to de-escalate. You may do this... * By learning and teaching others to recognize unrestrained escalations. * By refusing to participate in group actions that encourage further escalation. * By starving the participants of their motivation (rather than of their resources and ability to act). * By using every escalation as a teaching opportunity for how to recognize and reduce future escalations. And, of course, when considering whether a contentious situation warrants escalation, please do not divorce your opinions from the nuances of the current situation. In high-energy, high-pressure scenarios, small-scale effects often have large-scale consequences, and dually large-scale consequences are often driven by small-scale effects. Thank you for your attention. Escalate responsibly.