Vitalik's warning: Smart people need "dumb" rules more.

Author: Zhixiong Pan

The article “Galaxy Brain Resistance” that Vitalik published a few weeks ago is actually quite obscure and difficult to understand, and I haven't seen a good interpretation, so let me give it a try.

After all, the creator of the term Vibe Coding, Karpathy, also read this article and took notes, so there must be something special about it.

First, let's talk about what the title “Galaxy Brain” and “Resistance” mean. Once you understand this title, you'll have a general idea of what this article is about.

1️⃣ The Chinese translation of Galaxy Brain is “银河大脑”, but it actually comes from an internet meme, similar to the image of (???) merged together, which you must have seen.

This initially had a positive connotation, used to praise the other person's idea as brilliant, that is, smart. But later, as its usage became widespread, it gradually turned into a form of irony, roughly meaning “overthinking, the logic is too far-fetched.”

Vitalik mentions here ???, specifically referring to the behavior of “using high intelligence for mental gymnastics to forcefully argue that unreasonable things make sense.” For example:

• Clearly, it's to save money by massive layoffs, yet they insist on saying it's “to deliver high-quality talent to society.”

• Clearly just a scam to make money off air tokens, yet claims to “empower the global economy through decentralized governance.”

All can be considered as a “galactic brain” type of thinking.

2️⃣ So what does Resistance mean? This concept can easily be confused; in popular terms, it can be likened to “the ability to avoid being led astray” or “the ability to avoid being deceived.”

So Galaxy Brain Resistance should be Resistance to [becoming] Galaxy Brain, meaning: “the ability to resist (evolving into) Galaxy Brain (nonsense).”

Or more accurately, it describes how easy it is for a certain style of thinking/argumentation to be misused to “prove any conclusion you want.”

So this “resistance” can be directed at a certain “theory”, for example,

• The theory of Low Resistance: With a little bit of contemplation, it can evolve into the extremely absurd logic of the “Galactic Brain.”

• The theory of High Resistance: No matter how you scrutinize it, it remains unchanged and is difficult to evolve into absurd logic.

For example, Vitalik said that in his ideal society, there should be a red line in the law: only when it can be clearly explained how a certain behavior causes harm or risk to specific victims can it be prohibited. This standard has strong Galaxy Brain resistance because it does not accept “I subjectively dislike it” or “it's morally corrupt” as infinitely stretchable or vague reasons.

3️⃣ Vitalik also provided many examples in the article, even citing theories we often hear about, such as “long-termism” and “inevitability.”

Long-termism is hard to resist the erosion of ??? thinking, as its resistance is extremely low, almost like a “blank check.” Because the “future” is too distant and too vague.

• High resistance statement: “This tree can grow 5 meters tall in 10 years.” This is verifiable and not easy to make up.

• Low-resistance “long-termism”: “Although I am about to do something extremely unethical (such as eliminating a portion of the population or waging war), it is for the sake of humanity achieving a utopian life 500 years from now. According to my calculations, the total happiness in the future is infinite, so the sacrifices made now are negligible.”

You see, as long as you stretch the time long enough, you can justify any wrongdoing in the present. As Vitalik said: “If your argument can prove that anything is justified, then your argument proves nothing.”

However, Vitalik also acknowledged that “the long term is very important”. He criticized the use of “excessively vague and unverifiable future benefits to overshadow the clear harm in the present.”

Another disaster zone is “Inevitabilism”.

This is also the self-defense technique most loved by Silicon Valley and the tech circle.

The script is as follows: “AI replacing human jobs is an inevitable trend in history. Even if I don't do it, others will. Therefore, I am currently developing AI aggressively not to make money, but to follow the historical trend.”

Where is the resistance low? It perfectly dissolves a person's sense of responsibility. Since it is “inevitable,” I no longer need to take responsibility for the damage I have caused.

This is also a typical galactic brain: packaging the personal desires of “I want to make money / I want to hold power” into “I am executing a historical mission.”

4️⃣ So what should we do in the face of these “traps of smart people”?

The remedy proposed by Vitalik is surprisingly simple, even a bit “foolish.” He believes that the smarter a person is, the more they need strict rules to restrain themselves, to prevent their intellectual acrobatics from going awry.

First, adhere to “Deontological Ethics,” which is the moral iron law at the kindergarten level.

Stop calculating complex math problems like “for the future of all humanity” and return to the most rigid principles:

• Do not steal

• Do not kill innocent people

• Do not scam

• Respect others' freedom

These rules are extremely resistant. Because they are either black or white, there is no room for negotiation. When you try to explain why you need to misappropriate user funds with the grand notion of “long-termism,” the rigid rule of “don't steal” will slap you in the face: stealing is stealing, don't bring up anything about a great financial revolution.

Second, holding the correct “position”, including physical location.

As the saying goes, the butt decides the brain. If you spend every day in that echo chamber of the San Francisco Bay Area, surrounded by people who are into AI accelerationism, it’s hard to stay clear-headed. Vitalik even offered a high-resistance suggestion on a physical level: do not live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

5️⃣ Summary

Vitalik's article is actually a warning to those exceptionally smart elites: just because you have a high IQ, don't think you can bypass basic moral boundaries.

The theories of the “galactic brain” that sound like they can explain everything are often the most dangerous universal excuses. In contrast, the “high resilience” rules that sound rigid and dogmatic are the last line of defense against self-deception.