"feigning innocence and surprise" is quite unfair in both cases. E.g. Szilard invented the nuclear chain reaction, pushed his colleagues to avoid open research,

"feigning innocence and surprise" is quite unfair in both cases. E.g. Szilard invented the nuclear chain reaction, pushed his colleagues to avoid open research, and then when an arms race was apparently at the point of starting, wrote that letter to the U.S. president to start the Manhattan project; and tried to influence how it was used and governed. This is maybe not such a close analogy to people like Yudkowsky, but it's surprisingly close as history goes.