Dr. Holly Elmore is the founder and executive director of PauseAI US and holds a Harvard PhD in evolutionary biology. She’s back, and this time she’s taking on none other than Eliezer Yudkowsky!
She argues his public behavior is alienating the people PauseAI US needs to reach, but I wonder if she’s asking too much of the man who laid the foundation for the AI safety movement.
We also clash over Yudkowsky’s coherent extrapolated volition. She thinks the theory doesn’t properly factor in humanity’s consent, but I argue that’s already embedded into the CEV framework.
Holly and I dive into the rationalists’ involvement in a controversial kink scene, John Wentworth’s defunding news, transhumanism, pacing the frontier, and “Holly’s Basilisk”—her case for sending AI lab employees to jail.
It’s another great episode with one of the most controversial—and thoughtful—thinkers in AI safety. Enjoy!
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn8mS3kC-SU
Timestamps
00:00:00 — Cold Open
00:01:09 — Holly Elmore and PauseAI’s Political Breakthrough
00:07:36 — Pause AI vs. “Pacing the Frontier”
00:14:17 — Holly’s Case Against Eliezer Yudkowsky
00:16:20 — Coherent Extrapolated Volition and Pivotal Acts
00:31:19 — Brain Copies, Consent, and Self-Determination
00:36:56 — Transhumanism, Dyson Swarms, and Humanity’s Future
00:45:36 — The Missing Democratic Checkpoint
00:51:04 — Yudkowsky’s Role in Accelerating AI
01:02:48 — Genius, Arrogance, and Rationalist Culture
01:10:14 — The Aella Photo and Holly’s Breaking Point
01:20:21 — John Wentworth’s Grant Controversy
01:28:17 — PauseAI US’s Rules and Red Lines
01:32:05 — Poe’s Law and the Cost of Sarcasm
01:36:18 — Holly’s Case for Jailing AI Developers
Links
Donate to PauseAI US
Holly on X
Holly’s Substack
Pacing the Frontier letter
Jacob Coxon’s resignation post
PauseAI leadership disendorsement letter, reproduced on LessWrong
Holly on movement infighting — No, the Judean People’s Front should not just get along with the People’s Front of Judea
Coherent Extrapolated Volition — Eliezer Yudkowsky (2004 PDF)
Pivotal act — Eliezer Yudkowsky (Arbital mirror)
Genes did misalignment first — Holly Elmore
Holly’s reaction to the Yudkowsky/Aella photo
On Kink & Status in the Rationalist Community — John Wentworth (October 8 response)
Holly’s basilisk
Are We a Circular Firing Squad? — previous Holly Elmore episode
Let’s Call Out the AI Doom Enablers — previous Holly Elmore episode
Join the Doom Debates Discord
Doom Debates’ Mission is to raise mainstream awareness of imminent extinction from AGI and build the social infrastructure for high-quality debate.
Support the mission by subscribing to my Substack at DoomDebates.com and to youtube.com/@DoomDebates, or to really take things to the next level: Donate 🙏
Get full access to Doom Debates at lironshapira.substack.com/subscribe
