Contra @slatestarcodex, my arguments against AI doomerism have never been based on the claim that it is a cult. But the responses to my open letter (together with journalistic digging by NYT and WSJ) have made this more plausible. Foremost is the invocation of tenets in the doomer catechism (particularly "instrumental convergence," the belief that intelligent agents will inevitably seek power, resources, and self-preservation as subgoals) as if they were sacred truths rather than tendentious assumptions. (IC is in fact the not-so-intelligent pursuit of a goal heedless of side effects, and the reckless empowerment of AI, that we un-doomers note are deliberate, hence avoidable, design choices, not intrinsic constituents of intelligence). I feel as if I'm doubting the Second Coming and am being told, "That's naive and ignorant; you seem to be unaware that the Apostles' Creed dictates that it will happen."