Halfwitz

Karma: 493

Halfwitz Nov 19, 2014, 6:24 PM
1 point
in reply to: MichaelAnissimov’s comment on: Neo-reactionaries, why are you neo-reactionary?
So the claim isn’t so much traditionalism is great, only enlightenment is worse than traditionalism after controlling for technology? I was thinking of neoreactionaries as deformed utopians, but the tone is more like, “let’s reset social ‘progress’ and then very carefully consider positive proposals.’

Halfwitz Nov 19, 2014, 5:55 PM
6 points
in reply to: MichaelAnissimov’s comment on: Neo-reactionaries, why are you neo-reactionary?
That makes sense, but now that I think about it I don’t find this claim particularly neoreactionary: Enlightenment memes induce a sort of agnosia that prevents the rational design of non-enlightenment social structures. Treating this agnosia will increase the amount of possible social structures we are able to consider and the chances that we will be able to design something better.

What I see proposed are specific forms of monarchy or corporate-like governmental structures. More exotic proposals like futarchy and liquid democracy are dismissed, at least by Moldbug. So pre-enlightenment (or maybe anti-enlightenment) does feel like a better label to my non-expert ears.

Halfwitz Nov 19, 2014, 4:16 PM
4 points
in reply to: MichaelAnissimov’s comment on: Neo-reactionaries, why are you neo-reactionary?

Non-Enlightenment principles

Beware of non-apples

Halfwitz Oct 30, 2014, 2:41 AM
9 points
in reply to: XiXiDu’s comment on: Link: Elon Musk wants gov’t oversight for AI
You criticize mere arguments and then respond with some of your own. Of all the non-normal LessWrong memes, the orthogonally thesis doesn’t strike me as particularly out there.

The basic athematic of AI risk is, [orthogonality thesis] + [agents more powerful than us seem feasible with near-future technology] + [the large space of possible goals] = [we have to be very carful building the first AIs]

These seem like conservative conclusions derived from conservative assumptions. You don’t even have to buy recursive self improvement at all.

Ironically, I think the blog you posted was an example of rank scientism. I mean, sure induction is great. But by his reasoning, we really shouldn’t worry about global warming until we’ve tested our models on several identical copies of earth. He thinks if its not physics, then its tarot.

I agree with many of your criticisms of MIRI. It was (as far as I can tell) extremely poorly run for a very long time, but don’t go throwing out the apocalypse with the bathwater. Isn’t it possible that MIRI is a dishonest cult and AI is extremely likely to kill us all.

Halfwitz Oct 28, 2014, 4:21 PM
4 points
in reply to: advancedatheist’s comment on: Link: Elon Musk wants gov’t oversight for AI
It takes years of study to write as poorly as he does.

Halfwitz Oct 28, 2014, 3:23 PM
6 points
in reply to: XiXiDu’s comment on: Link: Elon Musk wants gov’t oversight for AI

Thanks to radical life extension, I could hope to rent an apartment on a seastead on the high seas of a terraformed Mars

You’re confusing peoples’ goals with their expectations.

The common ground between those people seems to be that they all hold weird beliefs, beliefs that someone who has not been indoctrinated...cough...educated by the sequences has a hard time to take seriously.

Have you read Basic AI Drives. I remember reading it when it got posted on boingboing.net way before I had even heard of MIRI. Like Malthus’s arguments, it just struck me as starkly true. Even if MIRI turned out to be a cynical cult, I wouldn’t take this to be evidence against the claims in that paper. Do you have some convincing counterarguments?

Halfwitz Oct 28, 2014, 2:39 PM
25 points
in reply to: [deleted]’s comment on: Link: Elon Musk wants gov’t oversight for AI
Do not spam high-status people. That’s a recipe for an ugh field. I’m pretty confident that Elon Musk is capable of navigating this terrain, including finding a competent guide if needed. He’s obviously read extensively on the topic, something that’s not possible to do without discovering MIRI and its proponents.

Halfwitz Oct 26, 2014, 12:18 AM
4 points
on: Podcasts?
Singularity 1 on 1 is a podcast that has interviewed people associated with this forum, like Lukeprog, Robin Hanson and James Miller. However there seems to be a lot of inferential distance between the host and his guests. I think someone like James Miller or Yvain would make a better host for this type of podcast.

Side note, if you find podcasts almost unlistenable at normal speed, you should use Overcast, which has the best speed-up effects of any app I’ve tried.

Halfwitz May 6, 2014, 5:54 PM
0 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: May 2014 Media Thread
I just wattched Tim’s Vermeer. It was very good, fun Documentary.

Halfwitz Apr 26, 2014, 6:15 PM
6 points
in reply to: gwern’s comment on: 2012 Less Wrong Census Survey: Call For Critiques/Questions
Good call here, btw. I’ve been going through random reddit comments to posts that link to LessWrong (http://www.reddit.com/domain/lesswrong.com), discarding threads on /r/hpmor /r/lesswrong and other affiliated subs. The basilisk is brought up far more than I expected – and widely mocked. This also seems to occur in Hacker News, too – on which LessWrong was once quite popular. I wasn’t around when the incident occurred, but I’m surprised by how effective it’s been at making LessWrong low status – and its odd persistence years after its creation. Unless high IQ people are less likely to dismiss LessWrong after learning of the basilisk, it’s likely significantly reduced the effectiveness of LessWrong as a farm league for MIRI.

It really is amazingly well-optimized for discrediting MIRI and its goals, especially when amplified by censorship – which is so obviously negatively useful.

I wonder if EY actually thinks the basilisk idea is both correct and unavoidable. That would explain things.

Halfwitz Apr 18, 2014, 10:23 PM
3 points
on: Bostrom versus Transcendence
The movie is awful, by the way.

Halfwitz Apr 8, 2014, 4:22 AM
3 points
in reply to: EHeller’s comment on: [Error communicating with LW2 server]
Wow. This really is a bubble. And here I was thinking the 3 sigma crowd might be less likely to be turned off by Eliezer. Do they state their reasons; if they do, could you list the compelling ones?

Halfwitz Apr 8, 2014, 3:29 AM
2 points
in reply to: lukeprog’s comment on: [Error communicating with LW2 server]
What percentage, would you say, of technical academics (who’ve read Eliezer’s writtings and conversed with you on the subject) have been turned off by it?

Halfwitz Jan 29, 2014, 1:32 AM
2 points
in reply to: James_Miller’s comment on: Open thread, January 25- February 1
What happens when you say, “I study the economic implications of advanced artificial inteligence,” to people?

Halfwitz 14 Jan 2014 1:38 UTC
9 points
on: Stupid Questions Thread—January 2014
How much does a genius cost? MIRI seems intent on hiring a team of geniuses. I’m curious about what the payroll would look like. One of the conditions of Thiel’s donations was that no one employed by MIRI can make more than one-hundred thousand a year. Is this high enough? One of the reasons I ask is I just read a story about how Google pays an extremely talented programmer over 3 million dollars per year—doesn’t MIRI also need extremely talented programmers? Do they expect the most talented to be more likely to accept a lower salary for a good cause?

Halfwitz 4 Jan 2014 0:30 UTC
4 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: January 2014 Media Thread
For those of you who haven’t watched Sherlock and don’t feel like committing to the whole miniseries, I recommend A Scandal in Belgravia as the only episode you need watch, as it’s by far the best of them. It’s a good adventure story, has a very entertaining romance wrapped in, and it plays like a self-contained film.

Halfwitz 3 Jan 2014 18:15 UTC
6 points
in reply to: Moss_Piglet’s comment on: January 2014 Media Thread
Ha, both. I really enjoyed it though.

Halfwitz 3 Jan 2014 16:22 UTC
6 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: January 2014 Media Thread
I just finished Neon Genesis Evangelion. If you haven’t seen it yet, it lives up to its reputation.

Halfwitz 2 Jan 2014 1:13 UTC
3 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: January 2014 Media Thread
Sorry. Retracted. Didn’t read the rules (as the thread seemed self-explanatory) or notice that all the thread posts were made by you.

Halfwitz 1 Jan 2014 22:20 UTC
0 points
on: January 2014 Media Thread
Manga Thread