Intellectual Progress (Society-Level)

TagLast edit: Sep 8, 2020, 9:04 PM by abramdemski

Intellectual Progress is the progressive accumulation of knowledge. Questions include How is intellectual progress made? and How do we make more? Intellectual Progress (Individual-Level) and the Scholarship & Learning tag is focused on the learning and research of individuals. In contrast, Intellectual Progress (Society-Level) is about how we, humanity, collectively make progress on important questions. What broader conditions, institutions, and technologies enable progress?

[TO-DO: link Science tag(s)]

On Solving Problems Before They Appear: The Weird Epistemologies of Alignment

adamShimiOct 11, 2021, 8:20 AM

110 points

41 votes

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10 comments15 min readLW link

[Answer] Why wasn’t science invented in China?

RubyApr 23, 2019, 9:47 PM

108 points

47 votes

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46 comments21 min readLW link 1 review

Epistemological Framing for AI Alignment Research

adamShimiMar 8, 2021, 10:05 PM

58 points

22 votes

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7 comments9 min readLW link

Intellectual Progress Inside and Outside Academia

Ben PaceSep 2, 2017, 11:08 PM

40 points

22 votes

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5 comments14 min readLW link

Is the rate of scientific progress slowing down? (by Tyler Cowen and Ben Southwood)

Ben PaceDec 2, 2019, 3:45 AM

49 points

14 votes

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6 comments1 min readLW link

(docs.google.com)

The Future of Science

Richard_NgoJul 28, 2020, 2:43 AM

21 points

6 votes

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2 comments7 min readLW link

Prediction Markets for Science

VaniverJan 2, 2023, 5:55 PM

27 points

13 votes

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7 comments5 min readLW link

Studying Early Stage Science: Research Program Introduction

habrykaJan 17, 2020, 10:12 PM

32 points

10 votes

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1 comment15 min readLW link

(medium.com)

[Question] Which scientific discovery was most ahead of its time?

Richard_NgoMay 16, 2019, 12:58 PM

38 points

11 votes

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14 comments1 min readLW link

The Copernican Revolution from the Inside

Bird ConceptNov 1, 2017, 10:51 AM

156 points

99 votes

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46 comments19 min readLW link

How to analyze progress, stagnation, and low-hanging fruit

jasoncrawfordJun 15, 2020, 9:02 PM

42 points

16 votes

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9 comments4 min readLW link

(rootsofprogress.org)

For progress to be by accumulation and not by random walk, read great books

MichaelVassarMar 2, 2010, 8:11 AM

85 points

85 votes

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117 comments3 min readLW link

What’s Wrong with Social Science and How to Fix It: Reflections After Reading 2578 Papers

habrykaSep 12, 2020, 1:46 AM

106 points

50 votes

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22 comments2 min readLW link

(fantasticanachronism.com)

MATS Models

johnswentworthJul 9, 2022, 12:14 AM

95 points

40 votes

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5 comments16 min readLW link

Productive Mistakes, Not Perfect Answers

adamShimiApr 7, 2022, 4:41 PM

101 points

54 votes

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11 comments6 min readLW link

Epistemic Artefacts of (conceptual) AI alignment research

Nora_Ammann and particlemania

Aug 19, 2022, 5:18 PM

31 points

15 votes

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1 comment5 min readLW link

The Median Researcher Problem

johnswentworthNov 2, 2024, 8:16 PM

157 points

130 votes

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70 comments1 min readLW link

Why Academic Papers Are A Terrible Discussion Forum

alyssavanceJun 20, 2012, 6:15 PM

44 points

43 votes

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53 comments6 min readLW link

On the Loss and Preservation of Knowledge

Samo BurjaMar 8, 2018, 6:40 PM

71 points

51 votes

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21 comments10 min readLW link

(medium.com)

Paper reading as a Cargo Cult

jem-mosigAug 7, 2022, 7:50 AM

70 points

34 votes

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10 comments5 min readLW link

[Question] How often are new ideas discovered in old papers?

TurnTroutJul 26, 2019, 1:00 AM

23 points

9 votes

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5 comments1 min readLW link

How to Find the Frontiers of Knowledge

Samo BurjaOct 30, 2020, 10:50 AM

60 points

24 votes

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1 comment9 min readLW link

(medium.com)

The YouTube Revolution in Knowledge Transfer

Samo BurjaSep 17, 2019, 8:10 PM

68 points

30 votes

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7 comments4 min readLW link

(medium.com)

Lessons from “The Book of My Life”

bmgarfinkelJan 6, 2021, 10:40 PM

114 points

36 votes

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3 comments16 min readLW link

(benmgarfinkel.wordpress.com)

The Just World Hypothesis

michael_vassar2Oct 9, 2017, 6:03 AM

17 points

13 votes

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9 comments3 min readLW link

Gravity Turn

alkjashAug 16, 2021, 7:20 PM

220 points

123 votes

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21 comments5 min readLW link 1 review

(radimentary.wordpress.com)

Some examples of technology timelines

NunoSempereMar 27, 2020, 6:13 PM

24 points

10 votes

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0 comments16 min readLW link

Building AI Research Fleets

Ben Goldhaber and Jesse Hoogland

Jan 12, 2025, 6:23 PM

130 points

57 votes

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11 comments5 min readLW link

A Defense of Peer Review

Niko_McCarty and delton137

Oct 22, 2024, 4:16 PM

23 points

12 votes

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1 comment22 min readLW link

(www.asimov.press)

Epistemological Vigilance for Alignment

adamShimiJun 6, 2022, 12:27 AM

66 points

40 votes

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11 comments10 min readLW link

A brief history of computers

Adam ZernerJul 19, 2023, 2:59 AM

73 points

37 votes

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18 comments33 min readLW link

How do we know that “good research” is good? (aka “direct evaluation” vs “eigen-evaluation”)

RubyJul 19, 2024, 12:31 AM

49 points

17 votes

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21 comments6 min readLW link

Prioritization Research for Advancing Wisdom and Intelligence

ozziegooenOct 18, 2021, 10:28 PM

49 points

18 votes

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8 comments5 min readLW link

(forum.effectivealtruism.org)

Combining two posts: Blankface (Scott Aa) and Is Science Slowing Down? (Scott Al)

William GasarchAug 9, 2021, 5:37 PM

10 points

6 votes

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0 comments1 min readLW link

Methodological Therapy: An Agenda For Tackling Research Bottlenecks

adamShimi, Lucas Teixeira and remember

Sep 22, 2022, 6:41 PM

54 points

16 votes

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6 comments9 min readLW link

Review of “Fun with +12 OOMs of Compute”

adamShimi, Joe Collman and Gyrodiot

Mar 28, 2021, 2:55 PM

65 points

24 votes

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21 comments8 min readLW link 1 review

Deliberate and spontaneous creativity

Kaj_SotalaMar 29, 2009, 7:45 PM

28 points

25 votes

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30 comments4 min readLW link

Please (re)explain your personal jargon

Nathan Helm-BurgerAug 22, 2022, 2:30 PM

23 points

13 votes

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4 comments4 min readLW link

Learning To Love Scientific Consensus

Scott AlexanderSep 2, 2017, 8:44 AM

33 points

30 votes

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1 comment19 min readLW link

How to Diversify Conceptual Alignment: the Model Behind Refine

adamShimiJul 20, 2022, 10:44 AM

87 points

44 votes

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11 comments8 min readLW link

AI doing philosophy = AI generating hands?

Wei DaiJan 15, 2024, 9:04 AM

46 points

25 votes

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23 comments3 min readLW link

Blind Spots in Science and Culture

rogersbaconSep 2, 2021, 12:02 AM

7 points

4 votes

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3 comments15 min readLW link

Shuttling between science and invention

jasoncrawfordMay 27, 2020, 9:25 PM

61 points

19 votes

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1 comment6 min readLW link 1 review

(rootsofprogress.org)

On the importance of Less Wrong, or another single conversational locus

AnnaSalamonNov 27, 2016, 5:13 PM

179 points

103 votes

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365 comments4 min readLW link

Is Science Slowing Down?

Scott AlexanderNov 27, 2018, 3:30 AM

134 points

73 votes

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77 comments9 min readLW link 1 review

(slatestarcodex.com)

Why everything might have taken so long

KatjaGraceJan 1, 2018, 1:00 AM

119 points

84 votes

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16 comments3 min readLW link 1 review

(meteuphoric.wordpress.com)

Levels of Pluralism

adamShimiJul 27, 2022, 9:35 AM

37 points

17 votes

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0 comments14 min readLW link

LW2.0: Technology Platform for Intellectual Progress

RubyJun 19, 2019, 8:25 PM

31 points

8 votes

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5 comments7 min readLW link

On Context And People

JanMar 19, 2022, 11:38 PM

7 points

3 votes

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0 comments10 min readLW link

(universalprior.substack.com)

LW2.0: Community, Culture, and Intellectual Progress

RubyJun 19, 2019, 8:25 PM

27 points

6 votes

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2 comments6 min readLW link

Musings on LessWrong Peer Review

RaemonMar 18, 2018, 9:47 PM

47 points

27 votes

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23 comments5 min readLW link

United We Align: Harnessing Collective Human Intelligence for AI Alignment Progress

Shoshannah TekofskyApr 20, 2023, 11:19 PM

41 points

17 votes

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13 comments25 min readLW link

How can we increase the frequency of rare insights?

MichaelDickensApr 19, 2021, 10:54 PM

19 points

7 votes

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10 comments5 min readLW link

[Question] What are some Works that might be useful but are difficult, so forgotten?

TekhneMakreAug 9, 2022, 2:22 AM

10 points

4 votes

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5 comments1 min readLW link

So You Want To Make Marginal Progress...

johnswentworthFeb 7, 2025, 11:22 PM

298 points

171 votes

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42 comments4 min readLW link

[Question] What makes people intellectually active?

abramdemskiDec 29, 2018, 10:29 PM

139 points

81 votes

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73 comments1 min readLW link

The Art and Science of Intuition Pumping

adamShimiFeb 22, 2022, 12:18 AM

26 points

11 votes

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3 comments9 min readLW link

Epistemic standards for “Why did it take so long to invent X?”

jasoncrawfordMar 2, 2020, 6:58 PM

91 points

36 votes

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16 comments6 min readLW link

(rootsofprogress.org)

Distributed blind review site for papers

Jonas KgomoApr 21, 2022, 10:51 PM

2 points

2 votes

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1 comment1 min readLW link

Becoming Stronger as Epistemologist: Introduction

adamShimiFeb 15, 2022, 6:15 AM

30 points

11 votes

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2 comments4 min readLW link

Intuitions about solving hard problems

Richard_NgoApr 25, 2022, 3:29 PM

106 points

47 votes

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23 comments6 min readLW link

What The Foucault

adamShimiFeb 19, 2022, 10:48 PM

39 points

25 votes

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6 comments3 min readLW link

An analogy as the midwife of thermodynamics

adamShimiFeb 16, 2022, 9:34 PM

30 points

8 votes

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10 comments7 min readLW link

Meetups as Institutions for Intellectual Progress

mingyuanSep 17, 2019, 5:23 AM

91 points

30 votes

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26 comments7 min readLW link

Quick look: applications of chaos theory

Elizabeth and Alex_Altair

Aug 18, 2024, 3:00 PM

80 points

32 votes

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51 comments8 min readLW link

(acesounderglass.com)

1960: The Year The Singularity Was Cancelled

Scott AlexanderApr 23, 2019, 1:30 AM

111 points

49 votes

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15 comments11 min readLW link 1 review

(slatestarcodex.com)

Some (problematic) aesthetics of what constitutes good work in academia

Steven ByrnesMar 11, 2024, 5:47 PM

148 points

69 votes

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12 comments12 min readLW link

Replacing Natural Interpretations

adamShimiMar 16, 2022, 1:05 PM

19 points

6 votes

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0 comments7 min readLW link

Blog posts as epistemic trust builders

Adam ZernerSep 27, 2020, 1:47 AM

18 points

7 votes

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7 comments2 min readLW link

The Baconian Method (Novum Organum Book 1: 93-107)

Francis BaconOct 10, 2019, 6:54 PM

33 points

9 votes

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1 comment11 min readLW link

Looking Deeper at Deconfusion

adamShimiJun 13, 2021, 9:29 PM

63 points

35 votes

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13 comments15 min readLW link

Characterizing Real-World Agents as a Research Meta-Strategy

johnswentworthOct 8, 2019, 3:32 PM

29 points

11 votes

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4 comments5 min readLW link

[Question] Suggestions of posts on the AF to review

adamShimiFeb 16, 2021, 12:40 PM

56 points

14 votes

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20 comments1 min readLW link

Potential factors in Bell Labs’ intellectual progress, Pt. 1

RubyFeb 12, 2021, 7:26 PM

50 points

21 votes

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6 comments8 min readLW link

Start Under the Streetlight, then Push into the Shadows

lukeprogJun 24, 2013, 12:49 AM

52 points

36 votes

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29 comments8 min readLW link

Why did everything take so long?

KatjaGraceDec 29, 2017, 1:00 AM

49 points

40 votes

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21 comments1 min readLW link

(meteuphoric.wordpress.com)

Open Problems Create Paradigms

johnswentworthNov 9, 2020, 8:04 PM

50 points

14 votes

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5 comments2 min readLW link

What do paradigm shifts look like?

leogaoMar 16, 2022, 7:17 PM

18 points

10 votes

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2 comments1 min readLW link

Pasteur’s quadrant

jasoncrawfordJun 5, 2020, 5:47 PM

36 points

14 votes

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2 comments5 min readLW link

(rootsofprogress.org)

[Question] Why not more small, intense research teams?

egAug 5, 2021, 11:57 AM

19 points

9 votes

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9 comments1 min readLW link

The efficiency of prizes

lukeprogApr 3, 2012, 9:45 PM

39 points

29 votes

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18 comments2 min readLW link

An academic journal is just a Twitter feed

David Hugh-JonesMay 27, 2022, 11:14 AM

14 points

6 votes

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4 comments2 min readLW link

(wyclif.substack.com)

[Question] How far along Metr’s law can AI start automating or helping with alignment research?

Christopher KingMar 20, 2025, 3:58 PM

20 points

8 votes

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21 comments1 min readLW link

[Question] Is LW making progress?

zulupineappleAug 24, 2019, 12:32 AM

21 points

13 votes

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11 comments1 min readLW link

Building Something Smarter

Eliezer YudkowskyNov 2, 2008, 5:00 PM

26 points

20 votes

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57 comments4 min readLW link

Proliferating Education

Haris RashidDec 20, 2022, 7:22 PM

−1 points

6 votes

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2 comments5 min readLW link

(www.harisrab.com)

Why Academia is Mostly Not Truth-Seeking

Zero ContradictionsOct 16, 2024, 7:14 PM

−7 points

7 votes

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6 comments1 min readLW link

(thewaywardaxolotl.blogspot.com)

How to coordinate despite our biases? - tldr

Ryo Apr 18, 2024, 3:03 PM

3 points

2 votes

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2 comments3 min readLW link

(medium.com)

Alignment’s phlogiston

Eleni AngelouAug 18, 2022, 10:27 PM

10 points

7 votes

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2 comments2 min readLW link

[Question] The tech left behind

LeafcraftMar 12, 2019, 2:47 PM

25 points

12 votes

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22 comments1 min readLW link

That You’d Tell All Your Friends

Eliezer YudkowskyMar 1, 2009, 12:04 PM

8 points

15 votes

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53 comments1 min readLW link

Where Utopias Go Wrong, or: The Four Little Planets

ExCephMay 27, 2022, 1:24 AM

15 points

13 votes

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0 comments11 min readLW link

(ginnungagapfoundation.wordpress.com)

Untitled Draft

DJ djMay 21, 2025, 1:31 PM

1 point

1 vote

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0 comments1 min readLW link

When Anthropomorphism Became Stupid

Eliezer YudkowskyAug 16, 2008, 11:43 PM

57 points

44 votes

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12 comments3 min readLW link

Cultural accumulation

KatjaGraceDec 6, 2020, 6:20 AM

93 points

41 votes

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53 comments3 min readLW link

(meteuphoric.com)

Missing forecasting tools: from catalogs to a new kind of prediction market

MichaelLatowickiMar 29, 2023, 9:55 AM

14 points

6 votes

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3 comments5 min readLW link

Paradigms and Theory Choice in AI: Adaptivity, Economy and Control

particlemaniaAug 28, 2023, 10:19 PM

4 points

2 votes

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0 comments16 min readLW link

Is Progress Real?

rogersbaconJan 10, 2023, 5:42 PM

5 points

10 votes

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14 comments14 min readLW link

(www.secretorum.life)

If Van der Waals was a neural network

George3d6Jan 28, 2020, 6:38 PM

18 points

8 votes

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3 comments11 min readLW link

(blog.cerebralab.com)

A conceptual precursor to today’s language machines [Shannon]

Bill BenzonNov 15, 2023, 1:50 PM

24 points

11 votes

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6 comments2 min readLW link

Kevin Simler’s “Going Critical”

habrykaMay 16, 2019, 4:36 AM

57 points

24 votes

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1 comment1 min readLW link

(www.meltingasphalt.com)

Your posts should be on arXiv

JanBAug 25, 2022, 10:35 AM

158 points

87 votes

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44 comments3 min readLW link

The Old Savage in the New Civilization V. 2

Your Higher SelfJul 6, 2025, 3:41 PM

1 point

1 vote

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0 comments9 min readLW link

find_purpose.exe

heatdeathandtaxesApr 12, 2025, 7:31 PM

−1 points

2 votes

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0 comments5 min readLW link

(heatdeathandtaxes.substack.com)

Why Weren’t Hot Air Balloons Invented Sooner?

Lost FuturesOct 18, 2022, 12:41 AM

116 points

59 votes

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52 comments6 min readLW link

(lostfutures.substack.com)

Peter Thiel warns of upcoming (and current) stagnation

SilasBartaOct 4, 2011, 5:30 PM

36 points

28 votes

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121 comments2 min readLW link

Preserving our heritage: Building a movement and a knowledge ark for current and future generations

rnk8Nov 29, 2023, 7:20 PM

0 points

4 votes

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5 comments12 min readLW link

Chatbots as a Publication Format

derek shillerDec 30, 2022, 2:11 PM

6 points

3 votes

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6 comments4 min readLW link

[Question] What do you think should be included in a series about conceptual media?

PolytoposDec 31, 2020, 1:40 AM

2 points

1 vote

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5 comments1 min readLW link

Values Darwinism

pchvykovJan 22, 2024, 10:44 AM

11 points

7 votes

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13 comments3 min readLW link

Antagonistic AI

XybermancerMar 1, 2024, 6:50 PM

−8 points

4 votes

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1 comment1 min readLW link

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In­tel­lec­tual Progress (So­ciety-Level)

Intellectual Progress (Society-Level)