Cato the Eider
- [deleted]
I just have to call attention to “‘burning plasma’ global peace nude point” as one terrific phrase.
Thank you for sharing this. I’ve long used the image (or metaphor) of the swirl of cream in a cup of coffee for this purpose, but have never expressed the idea as well.
I’ve been curious about the phenomenon of memory, or perhaps more precisely, recall. For example, I can recall standing at the top of a granitic, sub-alpine cliff at the head of a waterfall. I can also “recall” standing near Wesley at the top of the Cliffs of Insanity. Obviously I know that one happened to me and one didn’t, but to me the two mental processes seem to be of the same catagory, and I’m suspicious that this is true of everyone but that few recognize it. I do recognize a very few “memories” that feel somewhat different—one is standing on a tropical beach with small waves lapping, palm trees swaying in the gentle breeze, general aroma of tropical island. One thing that seems to be key to this set is the inclusion of scent, and I speculate that it’s more tightly bound to a sense of “I-ness”. Even this set, however, seems less like memories of instants in time, and more like reconstructions of repeated experiences.
I’ve been curious about the phenomenon of memory, or perhaps more precisely, recall. For example, I can recall standing at the top of a granitic, sub-alpine cliff at the head of a waterfall. I can also “recall” standing near Wesley at the top of the Cliffs of Insanity. Obviously I know that one happened to me and one didn’t, but to me the two mental processes seem to be of the same catagory, and I’m suspicious that this is true of everyone but that few recognize it. I do recognize a very few “memories” that feel somewhat different—one is standing on a tropical beach with small waves lapping, palm trees swaying in the gentle breeze, general aroma of tropical island. One thing that seems to be key to this set is the inclusion of scent, and I speculate that it’s more tightly bound to a sense of “I-ness”. Even this set, however, seems less like memories of instants in time, and more like reconstructions of repeated experiences.
(as an aside, my experience is that thoughts arise in a pre-lingual state as pure conceps, but are almost instantly translated into words—so quickly that if you’re not paying attention it can feel like thinking in words)
I think you’re far too charitable toward the FDA, TSA et al. I submit that they simultaneously reduce slack, increase fragility … and reduce efficiency. They are best modeled as parasites, sapping resources from the host (the general public) for their own benefit.
[edit] Something I’ve been toying with is thinking of societal collapse as a scale-free distribution [1], from micro-collapse (a divorce, perhaps?) to Roman Empire events. In this model, a civilization-wide collapse doesn’t have a “cause” per se, it’s just a property of the system.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organized_criticality
Without a shred of support I’ll throw out there that perhaps we’re dealing with a scale-free network [1]. There would be no “typical size” for economic disruptions; and it would invalidate all the 20⁄20 hindsight “why did it happen” stories (it makes reading the news a lot more relaxing, I find). I don’t know how to evaluate this hypothesis, though.
[Having finished Yudkowsky’s work, am deleting my post. It grew from a different narrative intent and wasn’t comfortable here.]