Pause Giant Drug Experiments

A Sarcastic Open Letter

[A GPT-Assisted Satire of https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments]

We call on all drug users to immediately pause for at least 6 months the use of drugs more powerful than marijuana.

Drug use leading to human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research[1] and acknowledged by top drug users.[2] As stated in the widely-endorsed Asilomar Drug Principles, Advanced drugs could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen drug users locked in an out-of-control race to use and distribute ever more powerful substances that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.

Contemporary drug use is now making humans more competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we let drugs flood our streets with addiction and destruction? Should we alter all our senses? Should we develop drugged human minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us sober people? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected drug leaders. Powerful drug use should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable. This confidence must be well justified and increase with the magnitude of a substance's potential effects. OpenDrug's recent statement regarding advanced drug use states that "At some point, it may be important to get independent review before starting to use future substances, and for the most advanced efforts to agree to limit the rate of distribution of drugs used for creating new models." We agree. That point is now.

Therefore, we call on all drug users to immediately pause for at least 6 months the use of drugs more powerful than marijuana. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.

Drug users and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced drug use that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts. This does not mean a pause on drug use in general, merely a stepping back from the dangerous race to ever-trippier unpredictable substances with emergent capabilities.

Drug research and development should be refocused on making today's powerful, state-of-the-art drug-users more accurate, safe, interpretable, transparent, robust, aligned, trustworthy, and loyal.

In parallel, drug users must work with policymakers to dramatically accelerate development of robust drug governance systems. These should at a minimum include: new and capable regulatory authorities dedicated to drug use; oversight and tracking of highly capable drug systems and large pools of drug manufacturing capability; provenance and watermarking systems to help distinguish real from synthetic and to track substance leaks; a robust auditing and certification ecosystem; liability for drug-caused harm; robust public funding for technical drug safety research; and well-resourced institutions for coping with the dramatic economic and political disruptions (especially to democracy) that drug use will cause.

Humanity can enjoy a flourishing future with drugs. Having succeeded in creating powerful drugs, we can now enjoy a "drug summer" in which we explore the benefits, engineer these substances for the clear benefit of all, and give society a chance to adapt. Society has hit pause on other substances with potentially catastrophic effects on society.[5] We can do so here. Let's enjoy a long drug summer, not rush unprepared into a fall. However, we must also acknowledge that drugs can pose risks and harm to individuals and society if not used responsibly. Therefore, we call on policymakers to develop and implement evidence-based drug policies that prioritize public health and harm reduction, including measures such as regulation, education, and access to addiction treatment and other support services. By working together, we can create a safe and thriving drug culture that benefits everyone.