Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People by Maciej Cegłowski
Shares rank 15 of 60 articles by recommenders
Praised as a rare critique of AI doom that understands the case for it; critics call it poorly written and dated.
Praised as a rare critique of AI doom that understands the case for it; critics call it poorly written and dated.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 67%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful source for AGI discussions
“I like this essay, and have very often referred to it when someone talks about AGI.”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People (2016)” “Some good sources on the matter in general”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “New Nick Bostrom Paper: Optimal Timing for Superintelligence [pdf]” Still holds up on rereading
“upon rereading completely holds up technically”
Comment from 11 Jul 2026 in “AI 2040: Plan A” “still hits just as hard as it did back then”
Comment from 11 Jul 2026 in “AI 2040: Plan A”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Claims more than it delivers
“For all its talk of inoculation, this is a terribly written essay.”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People (2016)” “The talk does the former and pretends it's done the latter.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People (2016)”
Other articles people recommend
The four most recommended other articles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programming as Theory Buildingby Peter Naur | 32 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ur-Fascismby Umberto Eco | 18 | 2 | 90% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Politics and the English Languageby George Orwell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| The Grug Brained Developer by Carson Gross | 13 | 1 | 93% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People by Maciej CegłowskiThis page | 8 | 4 | 67% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I always thought it a bit pessimistic on the upsides”
“upon rereading completely holds up technically”
“still hits just as hard as it did back then”
“The talk does the former and pretends it's done the latter.”
“This was such a terrible piece of work back when it came out, it hasn't aged any better.”
“This was one of the rare critiques of AI doom that actually understands the case for it”
“For all its talk of inoculation, this is a terribly written essay.”
“I like this essay, and have very often referred to it when someone talks about AGI.”
“Some good sources on the matter in general”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.