Co-Founder, Executive Vice President & Chief Technical Officer, Viasat
Search every verified Mark Miller interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a February 2025 fireside chat at Foresight's Vision Weekend 2024, Mark Miller discussed the risks and opportunities of superintelligent AI systems, drawing parallels to human institutions. He stated that "the world will have super intelligences in it that are very very different than human beings" and that "things could go very badly if the power to do bad things is distributed badly to elements that have mal intent." Miller noted that human institutions, which he described as "super intelligences with mind architectures very different from humans," have historically been "tools of terrible oppression, counter-aligned with human good." He advocated for building on existing civilization rather than aiming for a perfect system with a single aligned AGI, a strategy he said "resonates with the decentralized movement." Miller also addressed computer security, arguing that "the current computer security infrastructure that civilization rests on is insecure, giving attackers the advantage." He pointed to the seL4 operating system as an example of rigorous engineering giving defenders an "absolute advantage over attackers." Miller discussed the Norm Hardy Prize, which he said addresses "the alignment problem in the small" by helping users interact securely with systems so that authorized actions fulfill their intentions. He cited the cypherpunks' victory in the first crypto wars as a model for establishing "facts on the ground" that centralized powers must accept, and noted that the modern crypto world is adopting a similar strategy with smart contracts and blockchains designed to be "incorruptible even by nation-state attackers."
“The world will have super intelligences in it that are very very different than human beings, very different mind architectures, and things could go very badly if the power to do bad things is distributed badly to elements that have mal intent.”
“Human institutions, both public and private, are super intelligences with mind architectures very different from humans, and historically these institutions have often been tools of terrible oppression, counter-aligned with human good.”
“We've come up with institutional innovations like democracy, rule of law, separation of powers, individual rights, and auditing mechanisms, which are systems for dividing power and formulating rules so that divided power can be recomposed to better align with human benefit.”
“Computer security is widely believed to be impossible to fully achieve, but that is demonstrably wrong; for example, the seL4 operating system has a very good track record with no known flaws, showing that by rigorous engineering, defenders can have an absolute advantage over attackers.”
“The current computer security infrastructure that civilization rests on is insecure, giving attackers the advantage, which poses dangers that can only be surmounted in very unpleasant ways.”
“Rather than aiming for a perfect civilization with a single AGI perfectly aligned with human values, we should build from the civilization we have and dynamically build forward, which resonates with the decentralized movement.”
“Approaches that rely on keeping dangerous ideas or information secret may have short-term benefits but fail long-term, especially since open-source AI models are outside most control mechanisms, so our systems must be resilient against the publication of dangerous ideas.”
“The cypherpunks won the first crypto wars against the entire US intelligence apparatus by building and widely disseminating open-source cryptographic systems, establishing facts on the ground that centralized powers had to live with.”
“The modern crypto world is adopting the strategy of building smart contracting frameworks and blockchains that are incorruptible even by nation-state attackers, deploying them widely to make them facts on the ground.”
“The Norm Hardy Prize addresses the alignment problem in the small: how to help users interact securely with computing systems so that their authorized actions truly fulfill their intentions, which is essential for a cooperative world aligned with human interests.”
This video was recorded at Foresight's Vision Weekend 2024 in The Bay Area, California* https://foresight.org/vw2024us/ Our ...
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