[ExI] The Race to AGI is inevitable

[Keith Henson]

On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 11:21 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On 11/06/2026 05:54, Samantha Atkins wrote:
> >
> > If humans cannot sufficiently overcome parts of our evolutionary
> psychology in order to act more rationally then I fear for our species.
> Environment change drives evolutionary change. Our environment via
> technology has changed so much that we must become different than we
> evolved to be in order to meet the current and coming challenges.  This is
> the Great Filter.
>
> That's probably the most convincing Great Filter I've ever heard of.
>
> The disparity between the constant speed of evolution and the accelerating
> speed of technological progress is something that will apply to any
> civilisation that arises from biology, no matter how alien.
>

Evolution isn't that constant. In recent historical times, the Industrial
revolution, there was a strong selection for accumulating wealth or rather
the psychological traits for wealth. The reason was that the wealthy had
far more surviving children than the poor. The children of the poor died in
the frequent famines or of disease that kills the undernourished. That
selection affected much of Europe though the best studied is the UK.

There was no upper limit on wealth, the more you had, the more likely your
kids survived. So we have a segment of the population who descended from
this segment who are never satisfied with how much wealth they accumulate.
The expectation that AI will make people wealthy is currently driving the
rapid advance.

Keith

>
> --
> Ben
>
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