Conversation

QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
it's worth acknowledging about the rationalists that they give lip service to empiricism but the Big Problem around which they nucleated, AI safety, was a problem where eliezer yudkowsky carefully explained that empiricism was impossible so theorizing was our only hope
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
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Replying to @QiaochuYuan @m_ashcroft and @sashachapin
brb starting my own version of LessWrong and calling it WhatIfWeActuallyLookedAtTheTerritory
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
which is not to say that there aren't empiricists among the rationalists. all of my empiricism about psychology comes from hanging out with CFAR. but the core premise was always "thinking really hard will save the world" and the core group was people drawn to that premise
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
which includes me btw, we are ragging on past-me here also. "hey you know all that math you've devoted your life to? what if math could literally save the world" would've been nice if it had worked out tbh
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
structurally eliezer's explanation that The Problem That Will Doom Civilization lives in a remote theoretical future only accessible through mathematics and computer science bears nonzero resemblance to the common cult explanation that The Problem lives in the spirit realm
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Lucre Snooker
@LucreSnooker
biologists tell me that the Thing That Makes People Sick can never be seen except with special equipment operated by biologists and they demand billions of dollars of funding from the public every year 🤔
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