You’re right — I looked into it a bit more and couldn’t find a way around the restriction. But here’s a new idea: have a Chinese friend register the account for you. Zhihu allows the same account to be logged in on up to five devices. Nominally, the account would belong to he; he just post some of your articles or answers on your behalf, with you credited as the author. If that doesn’t work either, then there’s really nothing more we can do.
gzjw
Karma: 408
In theory, registering an account on Chinese platforms requires real-name verification. In practice, if the account isn’t under your own real name, the worst consequence is usually just the platform restricting registration, banning the account, or limiting its reach. Just make sure not to use it for commercial purposes or post any illegal content.
I think this issue could be solved by using a Chinese phone number that isn’t already registered on the platform and can repeatedly receive verification codes.
Uh, actually, I’m the one who posted that pretty funny post! I only posted that one article on Zhihu to test the waters. Most of my translations are hosted on a relatively niche web novel community (including 7 articles, 11 short pieces of rationalist fiction, and a few podcast episodes about rationalist fiction).
The reason there were no images or hyperlinks is simply that I ran out of time to polish it yesterday. I spent my entire evening after work writing it, and by the time I hit publish, I had less than 5 hours left to sleep. It was the first long-form original piece I’ve posted online this year. So when I say I’m not good at certain things, I really mean it.
1.Many Chinese people share similar concerns, as dealing with platform censorship is part of our daily routine.——I mean, sometimes you just need to watch your phrasing, or the platform’s auto-moderation might take your post down
2.While many Chinese people understand the context, some might over-interpret it and associate it with political topics.
I totally understand your apprehension. Maybe you could check out some foreign content creators who are currently active on Chinese social media. A phone number might be an issue, but I’ll look into it and see if I can help. By the way, I’m not entirely sure if a foreign IP address affects how the platform pushes content—perhaps using a VPN might be necessary?”
Please Give Them a Chance: On China, Rationalism, and AI Safety
I think this is people’s reaction — after growing tired of “wholesome family-friendly” fare and formulaic commercial sci-fi — to realistic, high-quality domestic sci-fi. Audiences don’t actually enjoy pessimistic endings: the optimistic “IF timeline” of The Three-Body Problem racked up over a million views and tens of thousands of comments on a video platform within a single month.
[Three-Body IF Line: What If Wade Became the Swordholder — Bilibili] https://b23.tv/Z0yftUr.
China also has a few people writing “rationalist fiction,” but there’s no systematic culture of rationalism, transhumanism, or Effective Altruism — nor the communities that go with them.
Evaluation from a Chinese perspective:
Correct. Unless the lives of people below the middle class improve substantially, they lack both the motivation to care about animal ethics and the channels to access information on the subject. Vegetarianism in the fitness/weight-loss space is the exception.
Incorrect. “Keyboard politics” (键政, jiàn zhèng) — discussing domestic and international politics online — makes up an enormous share of Chinese internet activity. Criticism of the government is everywhere, and increasingly common during the economic downturn. This is hard to explain briefly; I strongly recommend using AI translation to browse relevant answers on Zhihu, a Chinese Q&A site.
Insufficiently informed; no comment.
I think this means rationalism, transhumanism, and AI safety have enormous room for outreach in China. There’s a Chinese saying: “On small policies the government decides; on big policies the people decide.” People take issues involving their own life and safety extremely seriously — they’re just very, very poorly informed.
Not fully considered; no comment.
I am Chinese, so let me offer an insider’s perspective.
In China, when you mention vegetarianism, the vast majority of people immediately think of Buddhist fanatics, as well as some mothers who feed their children a strict vegan diet—known as “vegetarian from the womb” (“tai li su”)，which leads to severe malnutrition. The concept also brings to mind “animal release” (fangsheng). The general public frequently sees reports in the media of extremely foolish release practices, such as releasing invasive species or even bottled water.
A very small number of people might think of animal protection, but that is an even worse topic. Over 90% of the domestic and international animal rights news people see in the media involves animal rights activists engaging in performative art or protests that disrupt the public. Almost no one has heard of animal ethics; instead, people interpret it through the lens of commercial interests or radical leftism. (As an aside, on video-sharing platforms, individuals and organizations that rescue various wild animals are extremely, extremely popular.)
If your vegetarian diet is nutritionally adequate and not expensive, people will welcome it very much. This is especially true when it comes to weight loss and fitness.
Hope I haven’t misunderstood—you’re looking for some high-quality critiques of rationalism. I’ve been keeping an eye on this over the past year. Aside from attacks on specific rationalist individuals, there are three broadly applicable critiques that actually hold some water: “Consequentialism is easier to game moral intuition via tweaking variables in hypothetical imperatives. The ‘rationality’ bit is all in the performative ‘matter-of-fact’ attitude. The bullet biting is the bona fides of rationality for these undiscovered geniuses.”——raddit
“I believe it exists because compensating for cognitive biases quickly reaches diminishing returns, to the point where it’s probably not worth it to spend much time studying cognitive bias avoidance.”——https://commoncog.com/chinese-businessmen-superstition-doesnt-count/
There’s also a widespread critique that people tend to become “difficult to get along with” during their first few months of engaging with rationalism. I suspect this is because novices, armed with their new knowledge of cognitive biases, become more prone to perceiving a “gap” in their interactions with others, which leads to a deterioration in their communication attitude.
Because public opinion in China generally interprets AI doomerism through a religious-cultural lens, conflating X-risk with traditional eschatology.
References: Bilibili video: “AGI: How It Is Becoming a New Religion” https://b23.tv/RWjQ4Za Self-media article: “The Person with the Greatest Influence on U.S. AI Strategy Turns Out to Be a Delusional Cult Leader”https://user.guancha.cn/wap/content?id=1696524 A large number of users across various forums and comment sections who support this claim.
The AI Safety Governance Framework 3.0 (《人工智能安全治理框架3.0》was released on September 14 as a national-level industry guidance framework document, which may be helpful for understanding this issue.The document comes with an English version.
https://www.tc260.org.cn/tc260/xwdt1/202609/e879077a3caa4722b2206d1bcaed5a6c.shtml
I think the probability of the government intervening in personal behavior through such means is extremely low, and members of the general public are largely similar across different regions. I am merely considering that foreigners doing this kind of outreach enjoy a natural advantage in Chinese public discourse. They can be clearly distinguished from Chinese self‑media influencers who will say anything for money。
gzjw’s Shortform
The Chinese public discourse is completely unaware of x-risk.
Someone needs to go onto Chinese media platforms to promote AI alignment and x-risk.
Show your face, state that you are an atheist, a materialist, a highly educated person, and an industry expert. Open with a couple of sentences in Chinese (e.g., “Hello, friends in China”), express some understanding of China’s existing public discourse — they do have a point to some extent, but x-risk is also very real.
Popularize the most fundamental concepts, and make clear that within the industry, it is the actual frontline researchers — not managers or stakeholders — who are deeply concerned about this.
Addendum: You could also amplify your impact more efficiently through collaborative discussions or joint livestreams with major content creators.
Major social media/content platforms in China:
· Long-form video: Bilibili
· Short-form video: Douyin, Kuaishou
· Q&A: Zhihu
· Text/image-based platforms: Weibo, Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book, with a predominantly female user base)
I would be happy to assist if needed.
On China’s Zhihu — the country’s highest-quality Q&A platform — under discussions about Jacob’s resignation and the recent statements by the “AI Big Three” regarding an AI slowdown, there are a few answers about AI alignment. However, most people know nothing about alignment and do not believe in AI risks, instead framing the issue purely in terms of marketing hype, the breakdown of scaling laws, and market confidence. Given that Zhihu is considered the platform with the highest quality of discourse in China’s Q&A space, the situation is not optimistic.
I’m pretty much the same. When that sense of impending doom creeps in, this is what I tell myself:
Remember, unmanageable emotions won’t help you solve anything—they are the problem itself.
Go jerk off, get some sleep. If you still feel off afterward, consider medication, socializing, getting some sunlight, watching your diet, exercising, staying hydrated, or just changing your environment.
Then, take stock of the evidence behind your beliefs and seek out information from a wider variety of sources.
“Reduce your regrets if the world were to end shortly, but not in ways that would make you regret to hear that the world wasn’t ending.”—Shortform by Eliezer Yudkowsky
To my knowledge, a publisher even released two printed volumes (sales figures unknown; new copies are no longer available for online purchase, covering the first 20 chapters). If you’re referring to crowdfunding for physical book printing, I’d be willing to assist, though I have no relevant experience.
Eliezer might never have imagined that years later, this concept would be rediscovered by VTB fans. Across the ocean, people refer to it as “fan purification and crystallization”.
Thanks for looking out for me! I’ll keep that site in mind if I need it, but money isn’t an issue right now. If you have any advice on work or what I should do next, I’d really appreciate it.