# The boy who cried wolf and the people who had only heard of dogs

> The boy ran into town and cried wolf, but the people had only ever heard of dogs. Ignoring the cries, the people tried petting the wolf upon its arrival. How do we balance the need for urgency with our longing for comfort, understanding and superiority?

Published 2026-09-18 by Kristoffer Strømdal Wik · https://www.wwwik.no/posts/the-boy-who-cried-wolf-and-the-people-who-had-only-heard-of-.html · Tags: ai

The boy ran into town and cried wolf, but the people had only ever heard of dogs. Ignoring the cries, they tried to pet the wolf when it arrived. How do we balance the need for urgent action against AGI/ASI with our longing for comfort and understanding in difficult questions?

In May 2026 I stumbled across the subreddit r/singularity. This was during the Mythos days, just before the public Fable release. In the days that followed I felt as naive as could be for having laughed off the AGI/ASI talk I had heard until then.

The rabbit hole dug itself deeper. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. I am unable to take a stance in this existential debate on AGI and how it could kill us all, and I believe anyone who does is either (a) as naive as me or (b) as oblivious as me. What I will do is dwell on risk assessment, and on how we deal with questions as difficult as the end of the human race.

My point is that there are no guarantees about AGI, but we do not need to debate whether it is ten per cent within three to five years or one per cent within twenty. Instead we need to work out how to solve it, by convincing people and private interests that this is a bad idea. We have already failed with the climate crisis, but now we are welcoming a (potentially very hungry) wolf to town because we think it has got cute and cosy fur.

During my late nights scrolling through singularity content, I may have converged towards the tinfoil-hatted. However, disregarding the AGI/ASI threat because you "don't like the stochastic parrots" is a dangerous game, and I would rather not wear that kind of hat. Taking a more nuanced stance, I recognise that the gap between the accelerationists there and the Luddites – such as [this one](https://www.finansavisen.no/teknologi/2026/07/12/8364860/ole-andre-hagen-totalslakter-bruk-av-ai-en-uintelligent-kollega) during my summer as a journalist – could not be wider. That alone is a poor starting point, and as we (humans) are ants with ant intelligence trying to grasp human intelligence (AGI/ASI), the dumbest thing we can do is hold meta-discussions and stand divided.

What a crazy time to be alive. It is the craziest of times, and it is the worst of times to introduce the most frightening technology ever. Even if we read, learn and speak to each other, we might still end up being killed. I wanted to end on a positive note, but then I would be one of the wolf-petters, soon to get my hand bitten off.