blogospheroid

Karma: 859

blogospheroid 27 Dec 2010 17:49 UTC
42 points
on: Tallinn-Evans $125,000 Singularity Challenge
I put in $500, really pinches in Indian rupees (Rs. 23,000+). Hoping for the best to happen next year with a successful book release and promising research to be done.

blogospheroid 2 Nov 2010 5:37 UTC
34 points
on: Ben Goertzel: The Singularity Institute’s Scary Idea (and Why I Don’t Buy It)
I tend to think differently on this one.

Wherever I turn my head around in this world, I see lost causes everywhere. I see Goodhart’s law and Campbell’s law at loose everywhere. I see insane optimizers everywhere. Political parties that concentrate more on show, pomp and campaign funds than on actual issues. Corporates that seek money to the exclusion of actual creation of value. Governments that seek employment and GDP growth even when those are supported by artificial stimuli and not sustainable patterns of production and trade.

One might argue that none of these systems are actually as intelligent as a well educated human at any given moment in time. But that’s the point, isn’t it? You’re unable to stop sub-human optimizers, how are you going to curb a near human or a super human one?

For me, the scary idea is not so much of an idea as it is an extension of something that is already happening in this world.

blogospheroid 5 Nov 2014 13:45 UTC
31 points
on: 2014 Less Wrong Census/Survey
Done. Foof that was long…

blogospheroid 20 Aug 2015 6:23 UTC
28 points
on: MIRI’s 2015 Summer Fundraiser!
I donated $300 which I think my employer is expected to match. So $600 to AI value alignment here!

blogospheroid 6 Nov 2012 14:33 UTC
27 points
on: 2012 Less Wrong Census/Survey
Took the survey. Was tired to take the IQ test. Thanks for the opportunity.

blogospheroid 18 Dec 2013 17:32 UTC
25 points
on: MIRI’s Winter 2013 Matching Challenge
Paid 300$ with my employer matching it, but the employers contribution may come in only at around Jan 15. Hope that isn’t too late.

blogospheroid 31 Aug 2010 9:04 UTC
24 points
on: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 3
I’m still waiting for the most obvious way to learn the epistemology of magic to be adopted by Harry. i.e. “Prof. Flitwick, How does one create new charms/spells?”, but am having a lot of fun reading this fic, so no complaints, yet.

blogospheroid 28 Feb 2010 13:27 UTC
17 points
in reply to: taiyo’s comment on: The Last Days of the Singularity Challenge
i donated $500 to the general fund (thought a little about whether to give directly to the paper that describes how many lives per dollar could be saved by a friendly singularity, then i decided SIAI is a better judge of where to put the money. If a good massage pillow for eliezer and/or marcello improves the advent of FAI by a couple of weeks, it is money well spent :) ) I donated via my brother in california. Amounts to around 3% of my aftertax yearly income. (Indian rupee ratio is 46 to 1, really pinches)

Reasons for donating—Karmically (universal cosmic karma, not less wrong karma :) ) speaking, I wanted to give back a little. Can’t do much in terms of arguments or thoughts (as my low karma score would testify), but can do in money. :)

Other reasons for donating—I genuinely believe that a friendly AI is one of the genuinely possible superhero scenarios—A bunch of good nobodies suddenly becoming powerful and using that power to help the world.

People keep feeding each other this thing about our technical capabilities exceeding our moral sense. That is true, unfortunately. FAI should finally put a cork into that argument.

Also, I plan to make it a yearly habit.

blogospheroid 8 Oct 2010 10:33 UTC
16 points
in reply to: XiXiDu’s comment on: Greg Egan disses stand-ins for Overcoming Bias, SIAI in new book
So, what Greg Egan is saying is that the methods of epistemic rationality and creativity are all mostly known by humans, all we lack is memory space.

I sincerely doubt it. I genuinely believe Anna Salamon’s statement , that humans are only on the cusp of general intelligence, is closer to the truth.

EDITED : to add hyperlink to Anna Salamon’s article

blogospheroid 27 Sep 2010 6:02 UTC
15 points
in reply to: JoshuaZ’s comment on: Vote Qualifications, Not Issues

I can’t identify a single example other than Marxism in the last hundred years where the intellectual establishment has been very wrong

Opposition to nuclear power?

blogospheroid 3 Feb 2010 6:25 UTC
14 points
in reply to: Eliezer Yudkowsky’s comment on: The AI in a box boxes you
Pardon me for the oversimplification, Eliezer, but I understand your theory to essentially boil down to “Decide as though you’re being simulated by one who knows you completely”. So, if you have a near deontological aversion to being blackmailed in all of your simulations, your chance of being blackmailed by a superior being in the real world reduce to nearly zero. This reduces your chance of ever facing a negative utility situation created by a being who can be negotiated with, (as opposed to say a supernova that cannot be negotiated with)

Sorry if I misinterpreted your theory.

blogospheroid 2 Dec 2014 14:09 UTC
13 points
on: December 2014 Bragging Thread
Donated $300 to SENS foundation just now. My company matches donations, so hopefully a large cheque is going there. Fightaging is having a matching challenge for SENS, so even more moolah goes to anti-aging research. Hip Hip Hurray!

blogospheroid 1 Jan 2015 8:46 UTC
12 points
on: Stupid Questions January 2015
Is anyone aware of the explanation behind why technetium is radioactive while molybdenum and ruthenium, the two elements astride it in the periodic table are perfectly normal? Searching on google on why certain elements are radioactive are giving results which are descriptive, as in X is radioactive, Y is radioactive, Z is what happens when radioactive decay occurs, etc. None seem to go into the theories which have been proposed to explain why something is radioactive.

blogospheroid 8 Sep 2012 5:15 UTC
11 points
on: Jews and Nazis: a version of dust specks vs torture
Isn’t it ODD that in a world of Nazis and Jews, me who is neither is being asked to make this decision? If I were a Nazi, I’m sure what my decision is going to be. If I were a Jew, I’m sure what my decision is going to be.

Actually, now that I think about it, this will be a huge problem if and when humanity, in need of new persons to speak to, decides to uplift animals. It is an important question to ask.

blogospheroid 9 Dec 2012 6:00 UTC
10 points
on: What information has surprised you most recently?
I was surprised by news of the Toyota labs replication of the Mitsubishi Low Energy Nuclear Transmutation experiment. Nuclear physics is nowhere near my field of expertise, but I am surprised and confused that phenomena similar to LENR are possible and are not being exploited left, right and centre.

blogospheroid 29 Mar 2010 6:49 UTC
10 points
on: The Shabbos goy
using terminology from my goodhart’s law post, In most religions, G is to be a good person and G is the bunch of laws to be followed. The presence of Shabbos Goyim anywhere in your process is a very serious case that your Gs are flawed.

Nice Post and Nice discussions.

blogospheroid 27 May 2010 9:06 UTC
9 points
on: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread
I really enjoyed the series and hope it continues. I have a few comments.

Eliezer had already stated that one intention of his was to make writing fun again, while writing his rationality book. Hence, I guess once that boost is achieved, this litlle jewel will probably lie around unattended for a while.

If the other, more important, purpose was to raise the sanity waterline, then regular updates might be expected as this would be a serious attempt at reaching people through other means.

Doing a quick drake equation analysis of this strategy

P(Positive outcome of singularity) = P(someone reading fanfiction) P(ve reading harry potter fanfiction|person reads fanfiction) P(ve liking it|all of above) P(ve grokking the concepts behind it|all of the above) P(increasing knowledge of rationality| all of the above) P(ve becoming awesome|all of above) P(ve remaining good|all of above) * P(person actually contributing in new ways to a positive singularity)

The first probabilities are high. Harry Potter is the best selling series. Also, it leaves many readers hungering for more. So, more than usual number of readers would seek to read fanfiction stories. So, we’re good there.

Twilight has a lot of fanfiction. Googling it puts it slightly lower than harry potter. But the other factors following possibly dominate.

Harry Potter is a bildungsroman, a growing up tale. In HP&MOR, the rationality of Harry is at a high level, while his emotional maturity is, hopefully, slowly increased. On the other hand, Hermione and Drako will be having their rationality updated. Harry is also probably much easier for Eliezer to write compared to a twlight fic. Harry potter is a school story and it is easier to bring in lectures in that format.

I guess somebody could take on the twilight torch also. Once, that is done, The Bayesian conspiracy shall have total domination ! Boys and Girls !

Among those who read the fiction, the probability of people liking it is quite high. I’ve recommended it to a couple of friends and they have liked it. But the inherent concept of teaching a lesson is quite visible.

Among those liking it, how many grok the concepts? That is the biggie and here again, the link to the sequences helps. I scanned the reviews and every 30 or so reviews, I read one that mentions the sequences. 3% is not a bad number to have here. I just hope it would be more.

After they grok the concepts and read the sequences, and later the rationality book that comes out, then ofcourse, they are in the real league an it is upto the lesswrong community to make sure they stay interested and contribute to better outcomes in the future.

One concern is strongly rational people going bad, which might be dealt with in the story itself. I hope that Draco is turned to the light and many people who began their rationality journey with this story, remember that when they become CEO, Prime Minister or King.

blogospheroid 2 Nov 2016 9:29 UTC
8 points
on: MIRI’s 2016 Fundraiser
Ouch! I donated $135 (and asked my employer to match as well) on Nov 2, India time. I had been on a brief vacation and just returned. Now I re-read and found it is too late for the fundraiser. Anyway, please take this as positive reinforcement for what it is worth. You’re doing a good job. Take the money as part of fundraiser or off-fund raiser donations, whatever is appropriate.

blogospheroid 9 Oct 2014 11:36 UTC
8 points
on: Contrarian LW views and their economic implications
Invest in Quixey when they go in for the next round of funding, perhaps.

blogospheroid 1 Sep 2010 16:40 UTC
8 points
in reply to: billswift’s comment on: Less Wrong: Open Thread, September 2010

anyone planning to continue living under those conditions either has not thought things through, would be equally happy living in a permanent simulation, or as a wirehead.

Your existence may not be relevant to the rest of the universe after friendly AI, but that doesn’t mean that you would be a wirehead. I want to live a life of genuine challenges, but I really wish that it didn’t have to be in a world of genuine suffering.