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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 9, 2024

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Isn’t that just social signaling with extra steps? If I really truly believe that something is an existential threat to humans, I’m not going to let petty politics on other subjects get in the way of fixing it. If I believe that AGI is going to kill humanity, I’ll throw everything else aside to deal with that threat. Work with fascists and communists, give up on other goals for a time — or even be willing to have some progress rolled back, even democracy might be on the table. If the choice is an absolute nightmare government— no human rights, open racism, the environment gets destroyed— but we avoid extinction, then it might well be worth it. You can clean up those other problems if you survive, and if you don’t survive none of those other things actually matter.

If I really truly believe that something is an existential threat to humans, I’m not going to let petty politics on other subjects get in the way of fixing it.

That is the correct response, given that you are all of: rational, consequentialist, and not convinced that success will occur regardless.

However, most people are not consequentialists, and many people are not rational.