The Smart Person's Trap: Why Does Vitalik Want Us to Stick to "Dumb Rules"?
Original Author: Zhixiong Pan, Co-founder of ChainFeeds
Vitalik's article "Galaxy Brain Resistance," published a few weeks ago, was quite abstruse and not very well interpreted. So, I'll give it a try.
After all, since the creator of the term Vibe Coding, Karpathy, also read this article and took notes, there must be something special about it.
First, let's talk about what the title "Galaxy Brain" and "Resistance" mean. After interpreting this title, you will have a rough understanding of what this article is about.
1. The Chinese translation of Galaxy Brain is "银河大脑" (Galactic Brain), but it actually comes from an Internet meme, similar to an image where the galaxy and a brain are merged together, which you have definitely seen.
Initially, this term was certainly positive, used to praise that someone's idea is extremely ingenious, meaning smart. However, as its usage became widespread, it gradually turned into a kind of sarcasm, roughly meaning "overthinking, reasoning too far-fetched."
When Vitalik mentions Galaxy Brain here, he specifically refers to that kind of behavior where one "uses high intelligence to engage in mental gymnastics and forcibly turns illogical things into seemingly profound truths." For example:
- Clearly a massive layoff to save money, but insisting it is "contributing high-quality talent to society."
- Obviously issuing airdrop tokens for a rug pull, but claiming it is "empowering the global economy through decentralized governance."
All of these can be considered examples of "Galaxy Brain" thinking.
2. So, what does Resistance mean? This concept can easily be confusing. Using a popular saying, it can be likened to "the ability to resist being misled" or "the ability to resist being hoodwinked."
Therefore, Galaxy Brain Resistance should be Resistance to [becoming] Galaxy Brain, that is, "the ability to resist (evolving into) Galaxy Brain (nonsense)."
More precisely, it is used to describe the difficulty of a certain thinking/argumentation style being misused to "prove any conclusion you want."
So, this "resistance" can be targeted at a particular "theory," for example,
- Theory of Low Resistance: Upon a little scrutiny, it can evolve into the extremely outlandish "Galaxy Brain" logic.
- Theory of High Resistance: No matter how much you scrutinize it, it remains unchanged, making it difficult to develop into outlandish logic.
For example, Vitalik has mentioned that his ideal societal law should have a red line: only when one can clearly explain how a certain behavior harms or poses a risk to a specific victim can it be prohibited. This standard exhibits a high level of Galaxy Brain resistance because it does not accept vague reasons like "I subjectively dislike it" or "it is morally corrupting" that can be infinitely stretched or blurred.
3. In the article, Vitalik also provides many examples, even using commonly heard theories such as "longtermism" and "inevitabilism" as illustrations.
It's hard for "longtermism" to resist the erosion of Galaxy Brain thinking because its resistance is extremely low, akin to a "blank check." This is because the "future" is too distant and too vague.
- Statement with high resistance: "This tree will grow 5 meters taller in 10 years." This is verifiable and not easily fabricated.
- Statement with low resistance in "longtermism": "Even though I am about to commit an extremely unethical act now (such as eliminating a group of people or starting a war), it is for the sake of humanity living in a utopia in 500 years. Through my calculations, the future happiness is infinite, so the sacrifices now are negligible."
As you can see, as long as you stretch the timeline far enough, you can justify any present wrongdoing. Just as Vitalik said, "If your argument can prove anything is justified, then your argument proves nothing."
However, Vitalik also acknowledges the importance of the long term; what he criticizes is "using overly vague and unverifiable long-term benefits to overshadow clear present harm."
Another critical area is "inevitabilism."
This is also a favorite self-defense technique in Silicon Valley and the tech industry.
The rhetoric goes like this: "The replacement of human jobs by AI is an inevitable part of history, even if I don't do it, someone else will. So, my radical development of AI now is not for profit but to align with the historical trend."
Where is the low resistance? It perfectly absolves individuals of responsibility. Since it is "inevitable," I don't need to be accountable for the damage I cause.
This is also a typical Galactic Brain: transforming the selfish desires of "I want to make money / I want to hold power" into "I am carrying out a historical mission."
4. So how should we deal with these "smart people's traps"?
The antidote given by Vitalik is surprisingly simple, even a bit "dumb." He believes that the smarter a person is, the more they need high-resistance rules to constrain themselves and prevent their intellectual acrobatics from going awry.
First, adhere to "Deontological Ethics," which is a kindergarten-level moral absolute.
Don't engage in complex mathematical calculations for the "future of humanity"; instead, return to the most rigid principles:
- Do not steal
- Do not kill innocent people
- Do not commit fraud
- Respect others' freedom
These rules are highly resistant because they are black and white, non-negotiable. When you try to explain why you embezzled user funds with the grand reasoning of "long-termism," the rigid rule of "do not steal" will directly confront you: theft is theft, don't talk about it being for the great financial revolution.
Second, hold the correct "position," even including physical location.
As the saying goes, where you sit determines where you stand. If you surround yourself with people involved in AI accelerationism in the echo chamber of the San Francisco Bay Area every day, it's challenging to stay sane. Vitalik even provides a high-resistance suggestion at a physical level: don't live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
5. Conclusion
This article by Vitalik is actually a warning to those extremely intelligent elites: don't think you can bypass basic moral boundaries just because you have a high IQ.
The "Galactic Brain" theories that sound like they can explain everything are often the most dangerous universal excuses. On the other hand, it is the seemingly rigid and dogmatic "high-resistance" rules that are the final line of defense against self-deception.
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