gerikson @ gerikson @awful.systems

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1,451

Joined

2 yr. ago

Oh FFS, that couple have managed to break into Sweden's public broadcasting site

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/utrikes/har-ar-familjen-som-vill-foda-elitbarn-for-att-radda-manskligheten

Here's LWer "johnswentworth", who has more than 57k karma on the site and can be characterized as a big cheese:

My Empathy Is Rarely Kind

I usually relate to other people via something like suspension of disbelief. Like, they’re a human, same as me, they presumably have thoughts and feelings and the like, but I compartmentalize that fact. I think of them kind of like cute cats. Because if I stop compartmentalizing, if I start to put myself in their shoes and imagine what they’re facing… then I feel not just their ineptitude, but the apparent lack of desire to ever move beyond that ineptitude. What I feel toward them is usually not sympathy or generosity, but either disgust or disappointment (or both).

"why do people keep saying we sound like fascists? I don't get it!"

The artillery branch of most militaries has long been a haven for the more brainy types. Napoleon was a gunner, for example.

Oh, but LW has the comeback for you in the very first paragraph

Outside of niche circles on this site and elsewhere, the public's awareness about AI-related "x-risk" remains limited to Terminator-style dangers, which they brush off as silly sci-fi. In fact, most people's concerns are limited to things like deepfake-based impersonation, their personal data training AI, algorithmic bias, and job loss.

Silly people! Worrying about problems staring them in the face, instead of the future omnicidal AI that is definitely coming!

LessWronger discovers the great unwashed masses , who inconveniently still indirectly affect policy through outmoded concepts like "voting" instead of writing blogs, might need some easily digested media pablum to be convinced that Big Bad AI is gonna kill them all.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4unfQYGQ7StDyXAfi/someone-should-fund-an-agi-blockbuster

Cites such cultural touchstones as "The Day After Tomorrow", "An Inconvineent Truth" (truly a GenZ hit), and "Slaughterbots" which I've never heard of.

Listen to the plot summary

• Slowburn realism: The movie should start off in mid-2025. Stupid agents.Flawed chatbots, algorithmic bias. Characters discussing these issues behind the scenes while the world is focused on other issues (global conflicts, Trump, celebrity drama, etc). [ok so basically LW: the Movie]
• Explicit exponential growth: A VERY slow build-up of AI progress such that the world only ends in the last few minutes of the film. This seems very important to drill home the part about exponential growth. [ah yes, exponential growth, a concept that lends itself readily to drama]
• Concrete parallels to real actors: Themes like "OpenBrain" or "Nole Tusk" or "Samuel Allmen" seem fitting. ["we need actors to portray real actors!" is genuine Hollywood film talk]
• Fear: There's a million ways people could die, but featuring ones that require the fewest jumps in practicality seem the most fitting. Perhaps microdrones equipped with bioweapons that spray urban areas. Or malicious actors sending drone swarms to destroy crops or other vital infrastructure. [so basically people will watch a conventional thriller except in the last few minutes everyone dies. No motivation. No clear "if we don't cut these wires everyone dies!"]

OK so what should be shown in the film?

compute/reporting caps, robust pre-deployment testing mandates (THESE are all topics that should be covered in the film!)

Again, these are the core components of every blockbuster. I can't wait to see "Avengers vs the AI" where Captain America discusses robust pre-deployment testing mandates with Tony Stark.

All the cited URLS in the footnotes end with "utm_source=chatgpt.com". 'nuff said.

At this point in time, having a substack is in itself a red flag.

The targets are informed, via a grammatically invalid sentence.

Sam Kriss (author of the ‘Laurentius Clung’ piece) has posted a critique. I don’t think it’s good, but I do think it’s representative of a view that I ever encounter in the wild but haven’t really seen written up.

FWIW the search term 'Laurentius Clung' gets no hits on LW, so I'm to assume everyone there also is Extremely Online on Xitter and instantly knows the reference.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3GbM9hmyJqn4LNXrG/yams-s-shortform?commentId=MzkAjd8EWqosiePMf

This was a good read. I also read the post/story/essay that got the rats upset and it's good too.

https://samkriss.substack.com/p/the-law-that-can-be-named-is-not

Yud's sputtering reaction can be read here among the comments here

https://xcancel.com/captgouda24/status/1946398995556819149

Remember FizzBuzz? That was originally a simple filter exercise some person recruiting programmers came up with to weed out everyone with multi-year CS degrees but zero actual programming experience.

The argument would be stronger (not strong, but stronger) if he could point to an existing numbering system that is little-endian and somehow show it's better

The guy who thinks it's important to communicate clearly (https://awful.systems/comment/7904956) wants to flip the number order around

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KXr8ys8PYppKXgGWj/english-writes-numbers-backwards

I'll consider that when the Yanks abandon middle-endian date formatting.

Edit it's now tagged as "Humor" on LW. Cowards. Own your cranks.

So here's a poster on LessWrong, ostensibly the space to discuss how to prevent people from dying of stuff like disease and starvation, "running the numbers" on a Lancet analysis of the USAID shutdown and, having not been able to replicate its claims of millions of dead thereof, basically concludes it's not so bad?

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qgSEbLfZpH2Yvrdzm/i-tried-reproducing-that-lancet-study-about-usaid-cuts-so

No mention of the performative cruelty of the shutdown, the paltry sums involved compared to other gov expenditures, nor the blow it deals to American soft power. But hey, building Patriot missiles and then not sending them to Ukraine is probably net positive for human suffering, just run the numbers the right way!

Edit ah it's the dude who tried to prove that most Catholic cardinals are gay because heredity, I think I highlighted that post previously here. Definitely a high-sneer vein to mine.

Enjoy this LW answer about "myths that encapsulate eternal truths". No. 3 will surprise you!

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/nB79uLT4uRWYAKrxK/what-are-some-good-examples-of-myths-that-encapsulates?commentId=qv8ySAWsDxYmPawZX

No replies and somehow that screen name just screams "troll" to me.

Not that I really care, git can go DIAF as far as I'm concerned.

janitorai - which seems to be a hosting site for creepy AI chats - is blocking all UK visitors due to the OSA

https://blog.janitorai.com/posts/3/

I'm torn here, the OSA seems to me to be massive overreach but perhaps shielding limeys from AI is wroth it

Guys, how about we made the coming computer god a fan of Robert Nozick, what could go wrong?

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/us8ss79mWCgTcSKoK/a-night-watchman-asi-as-a-first-step-toward-a-great-future

Vegemite?

I'll get my coat.

Here's an example of normal people using Bayes correctly (rationally assigning probabilities and acting on them) while rats Just Don't Get Why Normies Don't Freak Out:

For quite a while, I've been quite confused why (sweet nonexistent God, whyyyyy) so many people intuitively believe that any risk of a genocide of some ethnicity is unacceptable while being… at best lukewarm against the idea of humanity going extinct.

(Dude then goes on to try to game-theorize this, I didn't bother to poke holes in it)

The thing is, genocides have happened, and people around the world are perfectly happy to advocate for it in diverse situations. Probability wise, the risk of genocide somewhere is very close to 1, while the risk of "omnicide" is much closer to zero. If you want to advocate for eliminating something, working to eliminating the risk of genocide is much more rational than working to eliminate the risk of everyone dying.

At least on commenter gets it:

Most people distinguish between intentional acts and shit that happens.

(source)

Edit never read the comments (again). The commenter referenced above obviously didn't feel like a pithy one liner adhered to the LW ethos, and instead added an addendum wondering why people were more upset about police brutality killing people than traffic fatalities. Nice "save", dipshit.

yeah but have you considered how much it's worth that gramma can vibecode a todo app in seconds now???

Haven't really kept up with the pseudo-news of VC funded companies acquiring each other, but it seems Windsurf (previously been courted by OpenAI) is now gonna be purchased by the bros behind Devin.