Though, given my doomerism, I think the natsec framing of the AGI race is likely wrongheaded, let me accept the Dario/Leopold/Altman frame that AGI will be aligned with the national interest of a great power. These people seem to take as an axiom that a USG AGI will be better in some way than a CCP AGI. Has anyone written a justification for this assumption?
I am neither an American citizen nor a Chinese citizen.
What would it mean for an AGI to be aligned with "Democracy," or "Confucianism," or "Marxism with Chinese characteristics," or "the American Constitution"? Contingent on a world where such an entity exists and is compatible with my existence, what would my life be like in a weird transhuman future as a non-citizen in each system? Why should I expect a USG AGI to be better than a CCP AGI? It does not seem to me super obvious that I should cheer for either party over the other. And if the intelligence of the governing class is of any relevance to the likelihood of a positive outcome, um, CCP seems to have USG beat hands down.
Well its quite simple. If you believe that ASI is the most powerful weapon we can develop, akin to nukes, you would not want your enemy to poses that. If CCP reaches ASI before we do, they could just run it forever in reasoning analysis mode until it discovers and makes a plan to completely take down America (maybe the grid, cybersecurity, all the embedded spy technology they already have in America, or targetted misiles/drones). It could completely once and for all decapitate America in a single shot and solidify China as the undisputed global power. China is already very powerful. Arguably, one of the only real global competition we have.
I would also add that this isn't what "everyone" is worried about. It's really people from the Karp, Thiel, Summers, and Schmidt circles that fear this as prominently. Most people are fearful of existential risk first and foremost. The gov-heads are thinking of it as a national security risk, and to be fair, they're not wrong either. It’s just technological warfare. Instead of nuclear weapons, it’s ASI. It can be confusing since they disguise it as “Protecting Western Ideals” and faux claims about how America respects privacy, individualism, and free speech more than China for some reasons unclear to me, but really its about national power.
Though, given my doomerism, I think the natsec framing of the AGI race is likely wrongheaded, let me accept the Dario/Leopold/Altman frame that AGI will be aligned with the national interest of a great power. These people seem to take as an axiom that a USG AGI will be better in some way than a CCP AGI. Has anyone written a justification for this assumption?
I am neither an American citizen nor a Chinese citizen.
What would it mean for an AGI to be aligned with "Democracy," or "Confucianism," or "Marxism with Chinese characteristics," or "the American Constitution"? Contingent on a world where such an entity exists and is compatible with my existence, what would my life be like in a weird transhuman future as a non-citizen in each system? Why should I expect a USG AGI to be better than a CCP AGI? It does not seem to me super obvious that I should cheer for either party over the other. And if the intelligence of the governing class is of any relevance to the likelihood of a positive outcome, um, CCP seems to have USG beat hands down.