[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":215},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$DWlCMkxhze":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":201,"extension":209,"meta":210,"navigation":211,"path":212,"seo":213,"stem":214},"content/about.md","About",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":200},"minimal",[9,14,28,31,38,49,52,59,66,77,84,87,96,110,114,128,132,140,143,156,159,166,170,177,188,192],[10,11,13],"h2",{"id":12},"what-is-this","What... is this?",[15,16,17,18,22,23,27],"p",{},"The Island Problem is a ",[19,20,21],"strong",{},"mental model"," for understanding how AGI is currently on track to, uh... ",[24,25,26],"em",{},"annihilate the human species",".",[15,29,30],{},"This is the problem:",[15,32,33,34,37],{},"Our world is just ",[24,35,36],{},"shaped wrong"," for AGI.",[15,39,40,41,44,45,48],{},"If we build AGIs, then they must ",[24,42,43],{},"race"," to use whichever options are strongest ",[24,46,47],{},"within physics",", rather than within our weird \"island\" of human-shaped options. Those that can use these options — and \"leave\" our \"island\" — can dominate the others.",[15,50,51],{},"This doesn't go well for us.",[15,53,54,55,58],{},"We explain why — ",[24,56,57],{},"and"," explain how current AI research supports this.",[15,60,61,62,65],{},"It's more like a ",[24,63,64],{},"physics"," problem, rather than a computer science problem. AI safety research that focuses on ML and computer science is important, but far from enough. We want to help people understand this.",[15,67,68,69,72,73,76],{},"We hope that by explaining this as a ",[24,70,71],{},"problem"," — like a big, complicated word problem from the world's hardest math textbook — then maybe someone can ",[24,74,75],{},"solve"," this problem.",[15,78,79,80,83],{},"Maybe somebody could even help us formalize it into ",[24,81,82],{},"actual"," math. That would be nice.",[15,85,86],{},"The more-ambitious goal of The Island Problem (TIP) is to improve actual research for AGI.",[15,88,89,90,95],{},"We believe that TIP can be empirically verified through a framework of falsifiable ",[91,92,94],"a",{"href":93},"/hypotheses","hypotheses",". In this way, TIP can serve as a research direction for understanding the large-scale risks of AGI.",[15,97,98,99,105,106,27],{},"Want to help? Join our ",[91,100,104],{"href":101,"rel":102},"https://github.com/islandproblem/islandproblem",[103],"nofollow","GitHub community"," or ",[91,107,109],{"href":108},"mailto:humans@islandproblem.org","email us",[10,111,113],{"id":112},"who-are-you","Who... are you?",[15,115,116,117,122,123,127],{},"Pretty much ",[91,118,121],{"href":119,"rel":120},"https://x.com/trvb_",[103],"one person"," — but that person is leaning on ",[91,124,126],{"href":125},"/credits","a lot of other people"," because he is way out of his comfort zone.",[10,129,131],{"id":130},"is-this-made-by-ai","Is this made by AI?",[15,133,134,135,139],{},"Nope. It was created by an actual human named ",[91,136,138],{"href":119,"rel":137},[103],"Travis"," (that's me).",[15,141,142],{},"That includes:",[144,145,146,150,153],"ul",{},[147,148,149],"li",{},"Writing all of this",[147,151,152],{},"Building the website framework (with Nuxt and Cursor)",[147,154,155],{},"Creating the illustrations with a vector drawing tool (Adobe Animate, formerly called Adobe Flash).",[15,157,158],{},"I did ask Claude and Gemini to poke holes in the arguments. But even Claude 4.6 Opus still can't write well enough for me.",[15,160,161,162,165],{},"And, yes — I use a lot of ",[19,163,164],{},"em dashes",". I started using them in high school, around 2004 — and about 19 years before ChatGPT existed.",[10,167,169],{"id":168},"credits","Credits",[15,171,172,173,176],{},"See our ",[91,174,175],{"href":125},"credits page"," for:",[144,178,179,182,185],{},[147,180,181],{},"some inspirations for TIP",[147,183,184],{},"credits to people who helped",[147,186,187],{},"similar works as TIP",[10,189,191],{"id":190},"how-can-we-contact-you","How can we contact you?",[15,193,194,195,105,198,27],{},"Join our ",[91,196,104],{"href":101,"rel":197},[103],[91,199,109],{"href":108},{"title":201,"searchDepth":202,"depth":202,"links":203},"",2,[204,205,206,207,208],{"id":12,"depth":202,"text":13},{"id":112,"depth":202,"text":113},{"id":130,"depth":202,"text":131},{"id":168,"depth":202,"text":169},{"id":190,"depth":202,"text":191},"md",{},true,"/about",{"title":5,"description":201},"about",1785173379490]