I enjoyed listening to these two articulate & well-intentioned analysts of the subject. If it's any consolation, re the lack of engagement from Less Wrong - despite attending so-called leading universities and being reasonably online, I'd never heard of them, and presumably like 99+% of humanity, would be indifferent to whether they "upvoted" or "downvoted" the book and its message. (I agree though that the meta- or root cause analysis of the tepid response is relevant.)
I had some sympathy for the reluctance to sign up to the statement "I support "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies"". Holly was similarly reluctant to estimate the probability of "everyone dies" at the start - she eventually said 20%, which you could debate whether to classify as "Support" or not; and she explained that what she really supports is something more like ""If Anyone Builds It, Disaster (Which May or May Not Include Death)".
For a while I thought that I had mis-remembered the name of the co-author, due to the many references to Mary - but now I see that it was MIRI!
Re Will MacAskill, based on a limited sample of a few podcasts, he seems a lightweight relative to some of the lofty positions he has occupied. E.g. his one discussion with Sam Harris left me with the impression that Harris had a sharper analysis of the subject (ethics) than the Associate Professor at Oxford. (Despite this criticism, MacAskill's real-world impact is of course considerable)
I was on doom debates!
I enjoyed listening to these two articulate & well-intentioned analysts of the subject. If it's any consolation, re the lack of engagement from Less Wrong - despite attending so-called leading universities and being reasonably online, I'd never heard of them, and presumably like 99+% of humanity, would be indifferent to whether they "upvoted" or "downvoted" the book and its message. (I agree though that the meta- or root cause analysis of the tepid response is relevant.)
I had some sympathy for the reluctance to sign up to the statement "I support "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies"". Holly was similarly reluctant to estimate the probability of "everyone dies" at the start - she eventually said 20%, which you could debate whether to classify as "Support" or not; and she explained that what she really supports is something more like ""If Anyone Builds It, Disaster (Which May or May Not Include Death)".
For a while I thought that I had mis-remembered the name of the co-author, due to the many references to Mary - but now I see that it was MIRI!
Re Will MacAskill, based on a limited sample of a few podcasts, he seems a lightweight relative to some of the lofty positions he has occupied. E.g. his one discussion with Sam Harris left me with the impression that Harris had a sharper analysis of the subject (ethics) than the Associate Professor at Oxford. (Despite this criticism, MacAskill's real-world impact is of course considerable)