On: US and UK refuse to sign AI safety declaration at summit

[estebank]

We no longer use asbestos as a flame flame retardant in houses.

We no longer use chemicals harmful to the ozone layer on spray cans.

We no longer use lead in gasoline.

We figured those things were bad, and changed what we did. If evidence is available ahead of time that something is harmful, it shouldn't be controversial to avoid widespread adoption.

[bombcar → estebank]

None of those things were said "no" to before they were used and in a wide-spread manner.

The closest might be nuclear power, we know we can do it, we did it, but lots of places said no to it, and further developments have vastly slowed down.

[estebank → bombcar]

In none of those did we know about the adverse effects. Those were observed afterwards, and it would have taken longer to know if they hadn't been adopted. But that doesn't invalidate the idea that we have followed "if something bad, collectively don't use it" at various points in time.

[Aloisius → estebank]

We were well aware of the adverse effects of tetraethyl lead before lead gasoline was first sold.

The man who invented it got lead poisoning during its development, multiple people died of lead poisoning in a pilot plant manufacturing it and public health and medical authorities warned against prior to it being available for sale to the general public.

[rat87 → bombcar]

And for nuclear power many would say that rejecting it was a huge mistake

[josefritzishere → estebank]

I don't think it is safe to assume the use patterns of tangible things extend to intangible things; nor the patterns of goods to that of services. I just see this as a conclusory leap.

[estebank → josefritzishere]

I was replying to

> when the has it ever been the case that you can just say "no" to the world developing a new technology?

[jpkw → estebank]

In each of those examples, we said "no" decades after they were developed, and many had to suffer in order for us to get to the stage of saying "no".

[tw1984 → estebank]

All those things you listed above still exist in China, e.g. I searched asbestos based flame retardant on taobao.com, $1.5 per sqm with postage included.

You need to be totally naive to believe that materials shipped to the US are all checked to make sure they are asbestos free. You are provided with a report saying it is asbestos free, that is it.

Time to grow up.