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> This is not a general point about all power contests—most are not like this: they really are about opposing sides getting more of what they want at one another’s expense.

I think it does apply to fights about vaccines, for whatever that's worth.

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This is a brilliant framing. The distinction between conflicting desires, vs. conflicting understanding of which actions serve a shared desire, is very important. Regarding AI, I think this applies not just to caution vs. acceleration, but to open-weight vs. private models, and even international cooperation vs. rivalry. Probably this list could be extended.

(I've just finished the first draft of a blog post where I try to enumerate the key factual questions which underlie these policy disagreements.)

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