"Last year, Mr. Yudkowsky attempted to bring his hyper-rationalist thinking around superintelligent A.I. to the mainstream with the publication of 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,' written with Nate Soares, the president of MIRI. Though the book drew considerable attention, Mr. Yudkowsky's unusual mixture of pseudoprecision and discursiveness proved off-putting to many. In his review, Stephen Marche noted that the book's odd structure, replete with 'unhelpful parables' and QR codes to scan for additional details, made it read 'like a Scientology manual.' This helps explain why, despite this burst of attention, Mr. Yudkowsky and his movement largely failed to gain widespread acceptance from the general public."
"Following their unspooling tangents evokes the feeling of being locked in a room with the most annoying students you met in college while they try mushrooms for the first time."
1788616108 | How Scared Should We Be of A.I.? | http://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/opinion/ai-silicon-valley.... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49576486
"Last year, Mr. Yudkowsky attempted to bring his hyper-rationalist thinking around superintelligent A.I. to the mainstream with the publication of 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,' written with Nate Soares, the president of MIRI. Though the book drew considerable attention, Mr. Yudkowsky's unusual mixture of pseudoprecision and discursiveness proved off-putting to many. In his review, Stephen Marche noted that the book's odd structure, replete with 'unhelpful parables' and QR codes to scan for additional details, made it read 'like a Scientology manual.' This helps explain why, despite this burst of attention, Mr. Yudkowsky and his movement largely failed to gain widespread acceptance from the general public."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/books/review/if-anyone-bu...
"Following their unspooling tangents evokes the feeling of being locked in a room with the most annoying students you met in college while they try mushrooms for the first time."
1758222252 | More Was Possible: A Review of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies | https://asteriskmag.com/issues/11/iabied | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45293659
1765803030 | Book Review: If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: (Probably Not) | https://ericlamb.substack.com/p/book-review-if-anyone-builds... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46273839
1765889984 | AI probably won't kill us all: book review of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies | https://ericlamb.substack.com/p/book-review-if-anyone-builds... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46287956