The wise-singleton sustainability threshold A capability set exceeds the wise-singleton threshold if and only if a patient and existential risk-savvy system with that capability set would, if it faced no intelligent opposition or competition, be able to colonize and re-engineer a large part of the accessible universe. By “singleton” we mean a sufficiently internally coordinated political structure with no external opponents, and by “wise” we mean sufficiently patient and savvy about existential risks to ensure a substantial amount of well-directed concern for the very long-term consequences of
...more
