ethics-4
Original: ethics-4 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
A customer (a man with flame-like red hair and a beard) is standing at a service counter, reacting with alarm to a mechanic.
Mechanic (partially visible at left): And do you need your tires aligned?
Red-haired man: WHAT? WHY? WHAT DID THEY SAY? TELL THEM WE BOTH HAVE MORAL STANDING AND MUST DWELL TOGETHER AS EQUALS!
Caption (below panel): The use of "alignment" in the context of AI ethics has made a lot of my interactions more confusing.
Votey:
The red-haired, bearded man leans in close to the mechanic's face, deadly serious.
Red-haired man: LOOK SIR, IF THE TIRES AREN'T ALIGNED, ELIEZER YUDKOWSKY WILL POP THEM.
A customer (a man with flame-like red hair and a beard) is standing at a service counter, reacting with alarm to a mechanic.
Mechanic (partially visible at left): And do you need your tires aligned?
Red-haired man: WHAT? WHY? WHAT DID THEY SAY? TELL THEM WE BOTH HAVE MORAL STANDING AND MUST DWELL TOGETHER AS EQUALS!
Caption (below panel): The use of "alignment" in the context of AI ethics has made a lot of my interactions more confusing.
Votey:
The red-haired, bearded man leans in close to the mechanic's face, deadly serious.
Red-haired man: LOOK SIR, IF THE TIRES AREN'T ALIGNED, ELIEZER YUDKOWSKY WILL POP THEM.
Alt text
An SMBC comic. Panel: at an auto-shop service counter, a mechanic asks a red-haired, flame-bearded customer, "And do you need your tires aligned?" The customer panics and shouts, "WHAT? WHY? WHAT DID THEY SAY? TELL THEM WE BOTH HAVE MORAL STANDING AND MUST DWELL TOGETHER AS EQUALS!" -- mistaking automotive tire "alignment" for AI-ethics "alignment." Caption: "The use of 'alignment' in the context of AI ethics has made a lot of my interactions more confusing." Votey: the bearded man leans in close to the mechanic's face, dead serious, saying, "LOOK SIR, IF THE TIRES AREN'T ALIGNED, ELIEZER YUDKOWSKY WILL POP THEM" -- a reference to AI-safety figure Eliezer Yudkowsky.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.