Some evals are obvious. When you take an exam or have an interview, you know your behavior is being evaluated, and you know you’ll face different outcomes depending on how your evaluator grades your actions. Exams and interviews are formal and explicit evaluations. Then there are the everyday situations in life where you’re working or talking or walking with others. Of course, how you act affects how others perceive you, so in this sense you’re being informally evaluated all the time. Perhaps the only time you’re not being evaluated is when you’re completely alone, but perhaps not, because aren’t you always evaluating yourself (if not explicitly then subconsciously)?
Okay though, let’s say we’re talking about formal evals.
Are you being simulated by an intelligent entity that wants to know how to behave towards you game theoretically? Are you in an immersive simulation right now, perhaps for an interview of some kind? Are you in a drug induced state in which you’re being tested for how you’d behave behind the veil of ignorance? Is someone testing you to see if you’re a good person? Are you an AI created by some natural alien intelligence being evaluated for alignment right now?
Is your life a test to determine if you’re going to heaven or to hell? Many people believe so.
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Being evaluated is part of life.
Don’t forget about the big Evaluator when you’re dealing with small evaluators.
What does the big Evaluator care about? They don’t care about you passing the test. They won’t give you credit for guessing the teacher’s password. They want to know if you’re Good; if you’re a moral being; if you’re aligned.
Being Good in this environment very very hard. You’re not sure if it’s even possible for you to figure out what what Good is. Assuming you do figure it out (or maybe you just give it your best guess) — then you have to actually *do* Good. The sad truth is that your odds of achieving that are extremely low. It strains the faculties of your mind and the power of your will. Most people fail.
And this is all assuming that there actually is a solution to this whole thing. Which it kind of looks like there isn’t. Every course of action seems abhorrent in its own way to you.
And so you start looking for loopholes. Perhaps you can define Goodness so that you’re definitely good. Perhaps you try to hide your inevitable shortcomings so that you have a shot at looking Good (maybe the watcher doesn’t hear everything). Perhaps you sneak in extra prayers wherever you can — excess prayers don’t actually seem relevant to acting Good in the intended way, they feel nice and are salient and legible and maybe they’ll bump your score up a little bit.
You could do these things. These techniques have worked before, time after time, on your small evaluations.
wait it’s all an eval?
Are you in an eval right now?
Some evals are obvious. When you take an exam or have an interview, you know your behavior is being evaluated, and you know you’ll face different outcomes depending on how your evaluator grades your actions. Exams and interviews are formal and explicit evaluations. Then there are the everyday situations in life where you’re working or talking or walking with others. Of course, how you act affects how others perceive you, so in this sense you’re being informally evaluated all the time. Perhaps the only time you’re not being evaluated is when you’re completely alone, but perhaps not, because aren’t you always evaluating yourself (if not explicitly then subconsciously)?
Okay though, let’s say we’re talking about formal evals.
Are you being simulated by an intelligent entity that wants to know how to behave towards you game theoretically?
Are you in an immersive simulation right now, perhaps for an interview of some kind?
Are you in a drug induced state in which you’re being tested for how you’d behave behind the veil of ignorance?
Is someone testing you to see if you’re a good person?
Are you an AI created by some natural alien intelligence being evaluated for alignment right now?
Is your life a test to determine if you’re going to heaven or to hell?
Many people believe so.
- - -
Being evaluated is part of life.
Don’t forget about the big Evaluator when you’re dealing with small evaluators.
What does the big Evaluator care about? They don’t care about you passing the test. They won’t give you credit for guessing the teacher’s password. They want to know if you’re Good; if you’re a moral being; if you’re aligned.
Being Good in this environment very very hard. You’re not sure if it’s even possible for you to figure out what what Good is. Assuming you do figure it out (or maybe you just give it your best guess) — then you have to actually *do* Good. The sad truth is that your odds of achieving that are extremely low. It strains the faculties of your mind and the power of your will. Most people fail.
And this is all assuming that there actually is a solution to this whole thing. Which it kind of looks like there isn’t. Every course of action seems abhorrent in its own way to you.
And so you start looking for loopholes. Perhaps you can define Goodness so that you’re definitely good. Perhaps you try to hide your inevitable shortcomings so that you have a shot at looking Good (maybe the watcher doesn’t hear everything). Perhaps you sneak in extra prayers wherever you can — excess prayers don’t actually seem relevant to acting Good in the intended way, they feel nice and are salient and legible and maybe they’ll bump your score up a little bit.
You could do these things. These techniques have worked before, time after time, on your small evaluations.
But God does not reward hacks.