L. Rudolph L

Quote.

The ideological debate between liberals and radicals cannot be resolved through more ideology.

The social dynamics of provincial conspiracy cannot be fixed through better coordination mechanisms.

the psychological deformations of the intelligentsia cannot be healed through more intelligence.

Something else is needed, something that operates at a different level, that addresses the human situation rather than any particular doctrine.

I am not a religious person, and I am not advocating for religious solutions to AI risk.

But I think Dostoevsky is pointing toward something important.

The limits of political and technical approaches to problems that are fundamentally spiritual in nature.

The word spiritual is likely to provoke allergic reactions in a rationalist context.

Let me try to be precise about what I mean by it.

The core problem with AI development is not that we lack good alignment techniques, though we do.

It is not that the incentive structures are wrong, though they are.

It is not that the governance mechanisms are inadequate, though they are.

The core problem is that the people making the key decisions are, many of them, damaged in ways that disqualify them from making these decisions wisely.

This damage is not primarily intellectual.

The people I am thinking of are intelligent, often extraordinarily so.

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This article was narrated by Type 3 Audio for Less Wrong.

It was published on January 25, 2026.