It's sort of easy to forget how close Bernie Sanders was to becoming the most powerful person in the world. The world we live in feels so much not like that place.

I’m in Washington DC for the next week, and I’ve just finished a public appearance with Senator Sanders (should I call him Bernie? Or Sanders? or…) You won’t often see me so dressed up and polished. But this is important!

There are politicians who have principles and character, who really believe in doing what's right. I think you have to respect them whether you agree with their views or not, and I think Senator Bernie Sanders is one of them.

Never has my belief been so validated as when I saw him start to speak, loudly, CLEARLY, publicly about the risk of human extinction from AI. It's the latest in a long line of “well, I’m clearly living in a simulation” moments.

In retrospect, it's not surprising that Sanders would take a stance here. You don’t have to be an expert to understand the risk from AI. You just need to care enough to spend the time looking into it, and to speak out even [...]

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First published:
April 29th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/zWfaSnxM3n5wsX9vh/on-today-s-panel-with-bernie-sanders

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

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“On today’s panel with Bernie Sanders” by David Scott Krueger