There’s a lot of horrible crap happening in the world, including in the U.S. right now. The compassionate and principled urge is to take a public stand on most of the current events. The problem is we all have so much emotional and mental energy to spare. For me, commenting on every terrible issue has a cost and greatly takes away my attention from my mission here: to evangelize AI and, with it, hope to see majority of humanity live long and prosper. Importantly, it also breeds negativity and anger. I want to try to stay as optimistic about our future as possible. However, I had to make one exception, for Iran, because what’s happening there represents the absolute worst of humanity: mass killings of tens of thousands of protestors, summary executions, torture, and millions of good people held hostage under repression and isolation, with total information blackouts and cutoffs from the outside world. This is the pinnacle of brutal authoritarianism we must eliminate from this world. Moreover, the highest office in America encouraged Iranian people to protest and promised that help would come, yet that help never arrived. I still hope it will, and soon, to end this maximally evil, tyrannical regime and hold those responsible accountable. There can be absolutely no moral ambiguity about opposing that kind of brutality. Free Iran would also make a massively positive impact on rest of humanity. If we want to achieve a golden age, then all of humankind must be freer, and the cycle of autocracy must be broken. I believe AI can help push us in that direction, because it is a powerful equalizer in a world with too little equality, whether biological or environmental. None of us choose to come into the world where, when, or how. It’s a random biological lottery. Up to now there was not much we could do about that, but I believe AI can help enhance our capabilities, expand access to equal education and opportunities at scale no matter where you are, except for few locations on earth, currently one being Iran! Unfortunately, because the way we are, AI is also dual-use, meaning it can be used for liberation or for control by autocrats or evil, so the direction it takes will depend on what we collectively fight, defend, align and normalize for the benefit of all humans. How we get to the age of abundance and equality after that is a much longer discussion for another time, but it matters a lot. I’m writing this now because occasionally someone comments, “What about this, why don’t you say something about that…,” or slaps with summary judgments. Let me be very clear: I have zero tolerance for whataboutism, because it’s usually not a sincere request for compassion. It’s a derailment tactic and a form of tribalism dressed up as morality. Tribalism is part of humanity. I don’t claim to be immune from it. None of us are, because it’s how we evolved to survive and we all have beliefs, biases, and intrinsic need and pressure to belong to certain tribes. We just need to be aware of this fact and not carried away to extremism. Long story short, my boundary here is simple: if you show up under my posts to lecture, posture, or police what I care about or can afford to comment on, I’ll block you immediately. I’m here to do work that I believe increases humanity’s odds for an amazing future and break free the chains of our biology. It is too important to waste it all with negativity or pay attention to those who want to turn this place into a tribunal for their tribal urges or beliefs. That’s that.