My username was created before I knew anything about EA or adjacent. I'm not in any EA movement, though I am sympathetic. I've spent 100x the time on HN, with people mostly in denial, than I do in EA or adjacent forums, nor have I met any of them.

It's sadly twisted how mentioning that -- the majority of leaders doing the cutting edge research on AGI think it has a significant chance that it kills humanity -- is considered being part of a "cult" movement.

Your analogy is the same as early Intel engineers completely unaware that those chips would bring on the ramifications of social media. "In the weeds" and yet unable to foresee the trajectory and wider impact. Same with the physics that led to nuclear weapons.

> Wanting to take drastic measures today to prevent an upcoming apocalypse makes as much sense as taking the same drastic measures when [nuclear fission] was invented.