The Yudkowsky-Moore Law of Mad Science: “Every 18 months, the minimum IQ necessary to destroy the world drops by one point.”

— Patrick Collison (@patrickc) October 4, 2015

It also takes motivation to want to destroy, which not many high-IQ people have.

But yeah, give me $5 million and two years, I could make a virus that kills 90% of humanity. I don’t even think it’d be that hard considering what is already published on the internet. I have absolutely no interest in doing that, but someday soon someone smart will.

These days, I don’t think it’s related as much to IQ, even. Anyone with an IQ above 120 could do what I mentioned up there. It’s more a matter of funding. Now, it’d cost $5 million and you’d need a staff (10-15 people). In 15 years, it’ll cost $500,000, and you will be able to do it alone. That’ll make the most difference.