Autonomy and Symbiosis: A Radical Third Path

We advocate for a synthesis of Acceleratism and Alignmentism, forging a third path. This isn't a compromise but a more radical option. We aim to unleash the full potential of technology while more effectively balancing the relationship between humans and technology.

First, we celebrate the diversity of human intentions, pursuing novelty and interest. When focus is solely on productivity or capital growth, human intentions seem to converge on the principle of "the more, the better." However, when we consider the pleasures of life, preferences diverge significantly, revealing the vast richness of human intent.

The variety of human tastes and hobbies isn't an impediment to AI development; on the contrary, it represents humanity's most crucial strength in the AI era. As AI replaces various human capabilities, the capacity for play and enjoyment remains uniquely human. AI might cultivate the most productive vegetables, but whether you prefer greens or radishes remains a choice it cannot make for you.

OpenAI researchers Kenneth Stanley and Joel Lehman, in their book "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned," discuss novelty search algorithms and their implications. They discovered that training AI without setting a fixed direction, opting instead for "choosing newer and more interesting directions" each time, can more efficiently achieve unexpected goals.

This principle of AI training deserves widespread adoption as the primary mode of human-AI coexistence. That is, we should enable as many people as possible to guide the iteration of AI according to their own senses of novelty and interest, rather than a singular goal, such as increasing productivity.

In this sense, "play" is not just "for the sake of playing" but the true "way forward" in our era, a necessary means for humans and AI to thrive together. Only through "play" can we fully embrace the power of novelty and interest, guiding the diversified development and iteration of AI, ultimately creating a rich and colorful new world for both humans and AI.