there's no substitute for the power of a good story. there are always going to be a few people who want "[pushes glasses] what if we improved the marginal effectiveness of charities" but most people will vastly prefer "what if we were HEROES. what if we SAVED THE WORLD"

"yeah i made the decision to work on AI safety for logical rational reasons" this is people telling you what genre of story they want to be the hero in (science fiction)

for we wrestle! not against flesh and blood! but against principalities! against powers!

the biggest mood

tbc the reason any of this works is because there is a *genuine nobility* to wanting to be a hero and save the world, this is a powerful mythological theme with a great deal of resonance, and/but of course it can get mixed in with a bunch of egoic bullshit and denial