Alex Bores is a generationally strong AI regulation candidate who needs our help to win the NY-12 congressional election next week.
PLEASE DO THIS:
Vote. If you live in Midtown Manhattan, click here to check whether you’re in NY-12. If so, vote for Alex Bores on Tuesday, June 23rd.
Spread the word. Tell anyone you know in the district to vote for Bores — the race against Micah Lasher is neck and neck.
Donate now. If you can’t vote in NY-12, donate to the campaign ASAP — donations lose value after ~June 18th because ads must be booked ~5 days in advance.
Transcript
Liron Shapira (00:00) Hey there, Doom Debates listener. I’m here with two-time returning champion of the show, Bentham’s Bulldog, also known as Matthew Adelstein. Hey, Matthew — how’s it going?
Bentham’s Bulldog (Matthew Adelstein) (00:11) Yeah, it’s going well, and thanks for having me back.
Liron (00:14) Well, the first thing I’m noticing is, uh, this fashion upgrade is incredible. You look stunning today.
Matthew (00:20) Yeah. Thank you, thank you. I’m wearing a Doom Debates shirt.
Liron (00:23) So, Bentham, today we’re breaking the usual Doom Debates format and schedule because we think this is such an urgent message. In 10 seconds, what is the urgent message people need to hear right now?
Matthew (00:34) Alex Bores, who sponsored the most effective piece of AI safety legislation, is running for Congress in New York’s 12th district — and the AI companies spent $10 million trying to defeat him. So donating to him is really high impact.
Liron (00:47) Okay, so we have viewers everywhere in the world. We’re a huge show. And as a matter of statistics, there’s probably, like, 10 different people right now who are located in New York’s 12th district — which is Manhattan, correct?
Matthew (00:58) Yes.
Liron (00:58) We have an urgent message about the New York 12th District congressional election that’s happening Tuesday, June 23rd — so in, uh, a little over a week. The race is Alex Bores, the ultimate AI safety candidate, versus a person named Micah Lasher, who’s currently tied with him. And they’re both Democrats. So it’s basically Bores versus Lasher. Lasher, I think, is like a tiny bit ahead in the polls.
And you may have heard a16z and friends, OpenAI, have been spending a ton of money against Alex Bores, trying to get somebody else to win. And we really need Alex Bores to win. You’re really excited about Bores, right?
Matthew (01:40) Yes, I think he’s a really great candidate.
Liron (01:42) And you urged me to do this episode because you think this election is extremely high expected value to push Bores over the edge, correct? Explain why.
Matthew (01:51) Yeah. So I think this is an important election for two reasons.
First, Bores is the best candidate on AI safety of any candidate in the country.
Second, this election sets an important precedent. Given that the tech companies are spending ten million dollars trying to defeat him — if you stand up for AI safety, you won’t just get automatically crushed by the tech companies. If Bores wins, then it’ll send a signal to other politicians that they can stand up for AI safety without having their political careers crushed.
Liron (02:20) That’s right. Now, before we say anything else, we wanna really get down to brass tacks here. If you’re watching Doom Debates, the most relevant people that this message is for is people who live in Midtown Manhattan, right? Because that’s where the NY 12 congressional district is.
Matthew (02:35) That’s right. If you’re in New York’s 12th District, I think voting for Bores is an extremely valuable use of your time.
Liron (02:41) Yeah. If you’ve ever heard of the name Jerry Nadler, that’s your current representative — because you live in much of Midtown Manhattan, or the Upper West Side of Manhattan, or the Upper East Side.
If you live in Lower Manhattan, this doesn’t apply to you so much — you’re in New York’s 10th district. If you live in Upper Manhattan, you’re in New York’s 13th district. But if you live in Midtown Manhattan, or you’re anywhere near that area, go look up if you’re in this NY 12 congressional district — because we really need you to go and vote on Tuesday, June 23rd. We really need to tick that ballot for Alex Bores.
And it’s kind of funny — there’s probably, like, less than 1% of the people who are listening to this who probably qualify as people who could go vote for Alex Bores right now. But I bet there’s at least 5 or 10 of you who can. And if you go do that, that’ll actually make a difference.
Matthew (02:26) That’s right. And even if you’re not in Alex Bores’s district, you should tell your friends who might be in the district to vote for Alex Bores.
And then you can also donate to the campaign. So if you’re donating, you should try to donate in the next few days — given that after the 18th, campaign donations go down massively in value, because you have to book ads five days in advance.
Liron (03:47) Okay, raise your hand if you have already donated to Bores.
Matthew (03:53) I’ve donated the maximum legal amount to Bores.
Liron (03:55) Wow. Yeah, he’s the man, right? One reason you like Bores — it’s not just because we want to fight a16z and all the people trying to slap down any AI regulation candidate. It’s also because we think Bores is a generational talent, right?
Matthew (04:08) That’s right. He was the most effective incoming legislator in New York’s 12th District, and he co-sponsored one of the most comprehensive pieces of AI safety legislation in the entire country.
Liron (04:19) Exactly. So look, it’s just a quality candidate, and he’s by far the person who’s talking sense about AI regulation — which is the number one issue affecting the whole human species that everybody else seems to be sleeping on.
I guess, like, Bernie’s on it, right? But in your opinion, do you think he’s, like, more coherent than the Bernie–AOC wing of the party?
Matthew (04:40) Yeah, I think Bores has his eye more on the ball with respect to the biggest risks. And he’s pushing for more specific regulation, rather than Bernie, who’s trying to pause it — which I think is less likely to work.
Liron (04:52) What makes you so passionate about Bores compared to other candidates who are, like, pause-friendly? Because there is kind of a groundswell against AI emerging these days, right? And against data centers.
Matthew (05:01) I think Bores specifically has his eye on the ball with respect to AI. So it’s not just like one political position that he has — it’s something that he will be uniquely effective in pushing for, given that it’s one of his big issues.
One way to see this is just: if he wasn’t better than the other candidates on AI, then the people who are opposed to AI regulations wouldn’t be spending ten million dollars trying to defeat him.
Liron (05:25) That’s right, yeah. So if you just want to stick it to Marc Andreessen and Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, there’s really no better way than to have Alex Bores get elected.
Matthew (05:35) I think most of America would like to stick it to those people.
Liron (05:39) That’s right.
Matthew (05:41) I think you could get broad bipartisan majorities for him.
Liron (05:44) Right — but in all seriousness, I think he is highly intelligent. I heard an interview with him a few months ago on John Sherman’s channel, uh, For Humanity, and he actually has a computer science background, right?
Matthew (05:55) Yeah, he has a background in computer science. And if you just listen to him talk, he’s obviously extremely intelligent.
Liron (06:01) Yes — he has a Master of Science in Computer Science from Georgia Tech, and he also earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. And he’s only 35, so, you know, his brain, his neurons are still firing. He can think about computation.
It’s… look, it’s either him or, like, an old lawyer or, like, a radical socialist as a general rule.
Matthew (06:23) Yeah.
Liron (06:24) All right, we’re gonna peace out in a minute, but just to recap these urgent action items:
#1 — if you live in Midtown Manhattan, go check what your district is. If it’s NY 12, show up on June 23rd and tick that Alex Bores mark on your ballot. If you wanna stick it to all of these highly funded campaigns, that is how to do it.
#2 — if you know anybody who lives in Midtown Manhattan, or you’re a member of, like, a WhatsApp group or something — you have some sort of social connection to somebody who lives in Midtown Manhattan — just tell them to go vote for Alex Bores. Because again, he’s neck and neck with this Lasher guy, Michael Lasher. So he’s gotta beat Michael Lasher. Your vote actually matters — or, like, your friend’s vote actually matters.
#3 — if you have money to throw at this and you don’t know anybody who lives in NY 12, just search for Alex Bores, click on that donation link, and send him money immediately. Because in a couple days, the money’s gonna be worthless — you have to book ads four or five days in advance, and the election is June 23rd.
So send him money ASAP — but more importantly, go tell your friends, get out the vote, because again, he’s neck and neck. Last I checked, he’s like slightly behind, but he absolutely could win. He could win. So that’s why it’s actually worth doing a random episode talking to you guys and getting a few more votes out there.
Matthew (07:38) Yeah, hugely agree. I think this is a generationally important election. Bores is a generationally good candidate, and this has generationally important precedent-setting effects. So anything you can do to help Bores win, I think is really important.
Liron (07:49) All right — drop a comment on this YouTube video. Tell us how you guys are helping. And let’s win this election. Let’s seize on this generational opportunity. Godspeed.
Matthew (08:00) Let’s do it. Thanks for having me.
Those Action Items Again
Vote. If you live in Midtown Manhattan, click here to check whether you’re in NY-12. If so, vote for Alex Bores on Tuesday, June 23rd.
Spread the word. Tell anyone you know in the district to vote for Bores — the race against Micah Lasher is neck and neck.
Donate now. If you can’t vote in NY-12, donate to the campaign ASAP — donations lose value after ~June 18th because ads must be booked ~5 days in advance.
