Host of the Mind Killer podcast and Philadelphia ACX meetup. More at https://tinyurl.com/yournewfriendwes
Wes F
Karma: 107
I requested that AskWho make an audio version of this. Please let me know if you have any objection
Philadelphia – ACX Meetups Everywhere Spring 2025
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA – ACX Meetups Everywhere Spring 2023
Nevermind. Another comments explained it. I would greatly appreciate that option also being put under settings! I would have found it much easier.
I would love an option to say “I don’t want to read another word about AI alignment ever”
What? How? I’ve found like 3 different “customize” options, and none of them are this.
Side note: I’ve noticed that web & app developers these days try to make settings “intuitive” instead of just putting them all in one place, which I think is silly. Just put all settings under settings. Why on Earth are there multiple “customize” options?
I read via RSS, and I mostly just skip LW articles because it’s almost all AI-related, and I’m not interested in that. It would be very nice if I could get a non-AI RSS feed (or even better—a customizable RSS feed where I can include or exclude certain tags).
It really does feel to me, though, that LessWrong is not for me because I’m not interested in AI alignment. LW doesn’t strike me as a rationality-focused site. It’s a site for talking about AI alignment that offers some rationality content as an afterthought. It sounds like you don’t really want to change that, though, so it is what it is.
I disagree with this comment. Veaux seems awful, but a bad messenger doesn’t make a bad message and his coauthor (one of his ex-partners and accusers) AFAICT, still endorses the book. In any case, I continue to believe it contains good relationship advice.
What is a Glowfic?
For anyone wanting to see what postrat twitter is all about but doesn’t know where to start, I made of list of the people I was able to identify as ingroup, and I regularly add people. You can follow it here: https://twitter.com/i/lists/1502790013725163524
The LW podcast list seemed a little outdated and didn’t provide much information, so I made a list of rationalist podcast. If you have a podcast and would like it added to the list, please let me know. For now I’m only including podcasts that are currently updating regularly http://livingwithinreason.com/rationalist-podcasts/
wfenza’s Shortform
I’m not understanding your disagreement. Of course popularity is just a prior. The less popular a given position, the stronger your prior should be against the other person holding it. Doing that will lead you to be less wrong about what the other person means by what they’re saying.
What is the difference between what you said and “your prior for whether someone believes an unpopular position should be lower the less popular the position is, and you should update your prior based on how clear their statement was”?
Bayesian Charity
I think “Survival Day” evokes the themes you’re going for
I love this idea. Some of my thoughts:
I would like if the script for the event had some fill in the blanks where people can express themselves. Reading from a script can build connection, but more so if people are encouraged to show some of their own uniqueness as part of it.
Perhaps there could be a tradition where 20-30 or so people are invited and attend, but anyone is welcome to observe (i.e. join the video stream, but as read only or just have their mic muted). The worries about event size are real, but also it would be nice if people who didn’t have an event to attend could still participate somehow, and technology allows that to happen in a non-intrusive way .
Why Are So Many Rationalists Polyamorous?
Welcome to SSC Meetup Philadelphia [Edit With Your Details]
I do not fully understand the point you are making in (1). I don’t see anything specifically to disagree with, but also don’t see how it’s in conflict with anything in the OP. I hold that my feelings are my basic unit of value because that’s what I care about. If a different person cares about different things, that’s their decision. My feelings are in constant flux, and will often change. Is that somehow in conflict with something I’ve said? My thoughts on egoism are more fully fleshed out in the linked post.
I’m mostly ignoring (2) because it will get me off on a tangent about evopsych, and that’s not the discussion I want to get into at the moment. Suffice it to say that I think when I admit that the idea of human flourishing makes me smile, I am admitting to not being completely selfish.
On (3), I again don’t have much disagreement. I’m not advocating for selfishness in the sense of not caring about anyone else. I’m just asking us to recognize that our preferences are subjective and not binding on anyone else. Those preferences are obviously complicated and sometimes self-contradictory. Egoism is not Objectivism.
I’ve actually found Oliver to be a rather good counterparty, especially when I’ve had disagreements or conflicts with him (and I have had a few). My experience is that he takes extreme care to behave in good faith, and that while my and his values do not completely align, he is safe to coordinate with. I have mixed feelings about him gaining more power, but that’s simply because we have a difference in values, not because I expect him to lie, cheat, or steal.
In your story, Oliver sounds like he behaved reasonably. In fact, I find it remarkable that you felt you could publish this while staying in a venue partially owned by Oliver at an event partially run by Oliver, and be confident that you won’t be retaliated against. I feel that in itself speaks to his good faith.