I think what is meant is "hypothetical" in the sense of making assumptions about how AI systems would behave under certain circumstances. If an argument relies

I think what is meant is "hypothetical" in the sense of making assumptions about how AI systems would behave under certain circumstances. If an argument relies on a chain of assumptions like that (such as "instrumental convergence" and "reflective stability" to take some Lesswrong classics), it might look superficially like a good argument for taking drastic action, but if the whole argument falls down when any of the assumptions turn out the other way, it can be fairly dismissed as "too hypothetical" until each assumption has strong argumentation behind it. edit: also I think just in general "show me the arguments" is always a good response to a bare claim that good arguments exist.