That makes sense. You may as well be right. And I agree that the nuclear arms race was probably scarier in practice.

I think my main concern is the sheer velocity of this revolution. Between yesterday and today, we’re now seeing the news that an OpenAI internal model that’s “a step-function improvement” over Astra (!) on several benchmarks has solved the Navier-Stokes Millenium Prize Problem.

At this rate, I fear governments (slow as they are) might not even see it coming before it’s far too late. I also fear that AI researchers, despite being well-intentioned, might turn reckless under the pressures of the frontier labs that employ them to accelerate at all costs.

But following your logic, I agree, it’s probably not hopeless yet. And I do believe there are highly smart people with more power and influence than me that are keeping a close eye on this as well, and they won’t stand there with arms crossed if they believe doom is impending (so I hope).

Good reminder about worrying about what we can control, and thanks for sharing your perspective on this topic.