in the common cult construction an important part of how it works is you say that Our Glorious Leader has a unique ability to commune with the spirits so your ability to verify for yourself what is happening in the spirit realm is restricted. you have to take their word for it
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the restriction in rationality is not quite as tight but loosely it works out to "you have to know a certain minimum amount of math / CS to reason about what AIs can and can't do and if you can't do that you have to take other people's words for it who do"
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this pitch has a specific effect on people who consider themselves to know enough math / CS to reason about what AIs can and can't do, and a very different effect on people who are... i don't have a nice way to say this... insecure about their intelligence
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there's a pattern i've seen mostly women fall into in the rationalist scene, where it seems like they're looking for... how do i say this... epistemic daddies. father figures to tell them what is true and also validate them for being smart
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that's a bit of a digression from my main point but it ties into this broader issue in rationalist epistemics around who is considered "smart" enough that you have to defer to their opinions, and the extent to which "intelligence" is framed as gating access to important truths
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if you seriously buy the AI safety pitch *and* you feel insecure about your intelligence / your ability to do math you're in an uncomfortable position. the entire shape of your future is being dictated by forces you don't feel capable of understanding. wat do?
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there's always been this huge divide in the rationalists i never really understood but this is helping me clarify it; it's between the rationalists who believe they can do math and the rationalists who don't. only the first group of rationalists has unfiltered access to Truth
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and they end up functioning as a de facto priest class for the second group, who end up as kind of... hangers-on? groupies? it confused me for a long time (i didn't understand what the second group was getting out of this arrangement) but i think i kinda get it more now
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anyway, in case it helps to hear me say it: anyone is capable of doing math. some of you have, for lack of a better word, "math trauma," and that trauma can be resolved, and you too can directly access the platonic realm, you don't have to take anyone else's word for it
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Replying to @nosilverv and @ben_r_hoffman
@Morphenius has a post which talks about something that I think = "'pure' understanding of Reason":
> Math — REAL math — is the sacred art of relating to truth on your own terms, free of illusions and confusion and social pressure.
free on his patreon:
patreon.com/posts/wise-kno
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