The Case Against Eliezer Yudkowsky — with Holly Elmore, PauseAI US

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

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