Claim · 2023-11-27 · publication · Stated in source · Supported

Buterin's essay of 27 November 2023 argues that under competition civilisations in which humans take a back seat to superintelligent machines would outperform others, and that the machines may wrest control.

One recorded claim. The claim panel gives its qualification, the source passages with their place in each source, and how it was checked.

What it connects

My techno-optimism → articulates → Machines succeed humans as the leading intelligence

Where it appears

Machine succession, scale and acceleration: propositions in located texts, 1979–2026 →

Claim and evidence

My techno-optimismarticulates ↓Machines succeed humans as the leading intelligence

Machine-checkedStated in sourceSupported

Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source

Date: 2023-11-27 · publication Records dated 2023 →
Role: Articulation
Register (kind of text): Nonfiction

Scope and limitsStated as a risk the author wishes to avoid; the essay holds this outcome undesirable (see the W02 record).

The evidence 01

primary sourceSupports the claim

My techno-optimism

Author's site (vitalik.eth.limo) · 2023-11-27

Cite the original source

Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.

Source excerpt

“In a universe that has any degree of competition, the civilizations where humans take a back seat would outperform those where humans stubbornly insist on control. Furthermore, the computers themselves may wrest control.”

Location in source Section "Even if we survive, is a superintelligent AI future a world we want to live in?"

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-11-01

Source details and check notes

Authors: Vitalik Buterin
Version: Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 5a2b02de0057344215d4fc75f099b5ff327dcd5540cb074514addbe7babd34de). post dated "2023 Nov 27", as served on 2026-10-31.
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-10-31
Language: English (en)
Attribution: Vitalik Buterin, “My techno-optimism”, 2023-11-27.
Reuse: No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution.
Check notes: Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (33 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (2026-11-01, item 91) re-read the record’s source and agreed with its stance; its corrections were applied at admission. No human editorial review.

Status and meaning

Editorial status. Machine-checked. Machines found this record and checked it against its sources; no person accepted it individually. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.

Relation. A passage of the document meets the proposition’s criterion. The record documents what the text states, in its register (fiction and satire are labelled); it is not evidence that the proposition is true and implies no influence on or from another text.

Date. Date of posting.

Record ID ht-w01-buterin-2023-my-techno-optimism