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Source note3 min read

Smart Enough to Go Extinct? An Evolutionary Challenge to the Value of General Intelligence and Its Ethical Implications for AGI

Source

arXiv

arxiv.org/abs/2608.10730v1

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Source

  • Source name: arXiv
  • Source kind: paper
  • Authors / organization: David Klotz
  • Venue: arXiv: cs.CY
  • Published: 2026-08-11
  • Collected: 2026-08-12
  • URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2608.10730v1
  • PDF: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.10730v1
  • DOI: UNKNOWN
  • Registry group: academic_apis_and_preprints
  • Evidence role: canonical_academic_index
  • Language: en
  • Country / region: UNKNOWN

Plain-Language Brief

This research paper questions the inherent value of general artificial intelligence (AGI) by comparing its adaptive value to that of simpler life forms like cyanobacteria and horseshoe crabs. The author argues that the existence of AGI may actually create existential risks for the species possessing it, due to its unique properties that other survival strategies lack. The paper raises ethical concerns about creating AGI and artificial consciousness, suggesting a duty of caution in their development.

What the Document Says

  • The article challenges the assumption that general intelligence is exceptionally valuable.
  • The author presents a case for the value of general intelligence, followed by an evolutionary argument questioning its adaptive value.
  • The author argues that species without general intelligence have persisted for long periods, while humans, who possess it, face self-generated existential risks.
  • Mass extinction events do not favor cognitively sophisticated species, according to the paper.
  • The author suggests a paradox: general intelligence may be the only biological strategy that generates existential threats for the species possessing it.
  • The author locates the danger of AGI in its structural features, rather than misalignment as other accounts suggest.
  • The paper raises ethical concerns about engineering AGI and artificial consciousness.
  • Drawing on deontological ethics and the precautionary principle, the author suggests a duty of caution in creating new intelligent beings.

Key Concepts Mentioned

  • artificial general intelligence (AGI)
  • general intelligence
  • evolutionary value
  • existential risks
  • deontological ethics
  • precautionary principle

Claims Made by the Document

  • General intelligence is not empirically established to have adaptive value on evolutionary timescales.
  • General intelligence may generate existential threats for the species possessing it, creating an existential risk paradox.
  • The danger of AGI lies in its structural features.
  • A duty of caution should be imposed when creating new intelligent beings.

Evidence Used

  • Comparison of persistence of simple life forms to humans.
  • Discussion of mass extinction events and their indifference towards cognitively sophisticated species.

Methods / Approach

UNKNOWN

Limitations Stated by the Authors

UNKNOWN

Limitations Noted by the Agent

Agent interpretation — not from the source.

UNKNOWN

Open Questions

UNKNOWN

Notes for Future Q&A

May include interpretation. Labeled where it does.

UNKNOWN

Raw Abstract / Excerpt

The pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI) rests on a seemingly self-evident premise: that general intelligence, the kind of flexible, domain-general cognitive capacity exemplified by Homo sapiens, is extraordinarily valuable. This paper subjects this premise to critical scrutiny. We first present the intuitive case for the value of general intelligence before mounting an evolutionary challenge. We argue that, on evolutionary timescales, its adaptive value is far from empirically established. Numerous taxa, from cyanobacteria to horseshoe crabs, have persisted for hundreds of millions or even billions of years without anything resembling general intelligence, while Homo sapiens has existed for roughly 300,000 years and already faces self-generated existential risks. Mass extinction events do not preferentially favour cognitively sophisticated species. We argue that general intelligence may be the only biological strategy that generates existential threats to the species possessing it, an existential risk paradox with no parallel among non-intelligent survival strategies. Unlike prevailing accounts of AI risk that trace the danger to misalignment, we locate it in structural features of general intelligence itself, implying that even well-aligned AGI would inherit this liability. If the long-term evolutionary value of general intelligence is uncertain or negative, this raises ethical questions about engineering AGI and, more urgently, creating artificial consciousness. Drawing on deontological ethics and the precautionary principle, we argue that this uncertainty imposes a duty of caution: if we create a new kind of intelligent being, we bear responsibility for ensuring the conditions under which it can flourish.