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In search of a dynamist vision for safe superhuman AI

helentoner.substack.com · 2,547 words · saved by 1 readers

This post was cross-published on AI Frontiers, a new platform for expert dialogue and debate on the impacts of artificial intelligence, under the title “We’re Arguing About AI Safety Wrong.” Historically, the way we’ve dealt well with rapidly evolving uncertain processes is classical liberalism. -Dwarkesh Patel I wasn’t expecting a book from 1998 to explain the 2023-2024 AI safety wars, but Virginia Postrel’s The Future and Its Enemies—which I picked up at the recommendation of libertarian AI policy wonk Adam Thierer—does a surprisingly good job. Postrel’s book helped reframe something that had been bothering me. I think there’s plenty to critique about AI safety ideas and the AI safety community, but when they come under fire—as has happened a lot over the past couple of years—the critiques often miss the mark. One common theme is portraying AI safety advocates as anti-technology, which is totally out of step with the nerdy, early-adopter, industrial-revolution-enthusiast crowd I know

In search of a dynamist vision for safe superhuman AI Embracing creativity, risk-taking, and competition while staying clear-eyed about risks Helen Toner May 12, 2025 109 26 18 Share This post was cross-published on AI Frontiers, a new platform for expert dialogue and debate on the impacts of artificial intelligence, under the title “ We’re Arguing About AI Safety Wrong. ” Historically, the way we’ve dealt well with rapidly evolving uncertain processes is classical liberalism. - Dwarkesh Patel Subscribe I wasn’t expecting a book from 1998 to explain the 2023-2024 AI safety wars, but Virginia P

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