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Stable Totalitarianism: An Overview
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80000_Hours·poppinfresh
Credibility Rating
3/5
Good(3)Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.
Rating inherited from publication venue: EA Forum
Published on the EA Forum by 80,000 Hours in October 2024, this piece is part of a broader cause prioritization effort and is relevant to AI safety researchers concerned with power concentration and lock-in risks from advanced AI systems.
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36
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1
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eaforum
Forum Tags
Cause prioritizationAI safetyExistential riskPolicyTotalitarianismAI governanceDemocracyGlobal governanceLong-term future
Metadata
Importance: 62/100blog postanalysis
Summary
An overview by 80,000 Hours analyzing the risk of 'stable totalitarianism'—a scenario where a totalitarian regime achieves permanent global dominance, potentially enabled by AI—as a pressing existential or civilizational risk. The piece evaluates the problem using the scale, neglectedness, and solvability framework, and outlines actions including AI governance and researching global coordination risks.
Key Points
- •Stable totalitarianism—a permanent, world-spanning authoritarian regime—is framed as a potential existential or near-existential risk to humanity's long-term future.
- •AI could enable totalitarian regimes by providing unprecedented surveillance, enforcement, and coordination capabilities that eliminate historical instabilities.
- •The risk is assessed as highly neglected compared to its potential scale, with few researchers focused specifically on preventing long-term permanent totalitarianism.
- •Three key conditions are analyzed: whether totalitarian regimes will arise, whether one could dominate globally, and whether such dominance could be permanent.
- •Recommended interventions include AI governance work and research into risks from dangerous concentrations of global power.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| AI Value Lock-in | Risk | 64.0 |
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# [Stable totalitarianism: an overview](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview)
by [80000\_Hours](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/users/80000_hours?from=post_header), [poppinfresh](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/users/poppinfresh?from=post_header)
Oct 29 202424 min read 1
# 36
[Cause prioritization](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/cause-prioritization)[AI safety](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/ai-safety)[Existential risk](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/existential-risk)[Policy](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/policy)[Totalitarianism](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/totalitarianism)[AI governance](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/ai-governance)[Democracy](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/democracy)[Global governance](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/global-governance)[Long-term future](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/long-term-future) [Frontpage](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/about#Finding_content)
Show all topics
[Stable totalitarianism: an overview](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#)
[Summary](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Summary)
[Our overall view](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Our_overall_view)
[Scale](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Scale__)
[Neglectedness](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Neglectedness__)
[Solvability](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Solvability__)
[Why might the risk of stable totalitarianism be an especially pressing problem?](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Why_might_the_risk_of_stable_totalitarianism_be_an_especially_pressing_problem_)
[Could totalitarianism be an existential risk?](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Could_totalitarianism_be_an_existential_risk_)
[Is any of this remotely plausible?](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Is_any_of_this_remotely_plausible_)
[Will totalitarian regimes arise in future?](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Will_totalitarian_regimes_arise_in_future_)
[Could a totalitarian regime dominate the world?](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitarianism-an-overview#Could_a_totalitarian_regime_dominate_the_world_)
[Could a totalitarian regime last forever?](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Ljae6jJEwifD3QCr2/stable-totalitariani
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