My understanding is that even though advocating a pause or massive slowdown in the development of superintelligence think we should get there eventually[1]. Something something this is necessary for humanity to reach its potential.

Perhaps so, but I'll be sad about it. Humanity has a lot of unsolved problems right now. Aging, death, disease, poverty, environmental degradation, abuse and oppression of the less powerful, conflicts, and insufficient resources such as energy and materials.

Even solving all the things that feel "negative", the active suffering, there's all this potential for us and the seemingly barren universe that could be filled with flourishing life. Reaching that potential will require a lot of engineering puzzles to be solved. Fusion reactors would be neat. Nanotechnology would be neat. Better gene editing and reproductive technology would be neat.

Superintelligence, with its superness, could solve these problems faster than humanity is on track to. Plausibly way way faster. With people dying every day, I see the case for it. Yet it also feels like the cheat code to solving all our problems. It's building an adult to take care of us, handing over the keys and steering wheel, and after that point our efforts [...]

The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

November 23rd, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6tEXnTp7fcs2KhXMk/i-ll-be-sad-to-lose-the-puzzles

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.