“Stable totalitarianism: an overview” by 80000_Hours, Stephen Clare

This is a link post. We've published this article on stable totalitarianism, which we rank as an "emerging challenge" on our list of pressing world problems at 80,000 Hours. Emerging challenges are potentially extremely pressing, but their nature is unclear and the solutions to them are not very developed. We have already updated this article in response to feedback we received after publishing it. Since not a lot has been written about the topic, there's a lot more to learn, and we could easily update our views further. We welcome any additional input. The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia for just four years, yet in that time they murdered about one-quarter of Cambodia's population. Even short-lived totalitarian regimes can inflict enormous harm. In the 20th century alone, they committed some of the most horrific crimes against humanity in history. In addition to the Cambodian Genocide, these include: The Holocaust The [...] ---Outline:(04:18) Summary(04:49) Our overall view(07:37) Why might the risk of stable totalitarianism be an especially pressing problem?(08:02) Could totalitarianism be an existential risk?(09:11) Is any of this remotely plausible?(12:30) Will totalitarian regimes arise in future?(13:33) Could a totalitarian regime dominate the world?(19:51) Could a totalitarian regime last forever?(23:39) The chance of stable totalitarianism(28:21) Preventing long-term totalitarianism in particular seems pretty neglected(30:44) Why might you choose not to work on this problem?(31:37) What can you do to help?(32:05) AI Governance(33:43) Researching risks of global coordination(35:03) Working on defensive technologies(37:13) Protecting democratic institutions(38:49) Learn more about risks of stable totalitarianismThe original text contained 13 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: October 29th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.