posted on November 24, 2018 03:07 AM by
u/zhezhijian
19
u/N0_B1g_De4l25 pointsat 1543030864.000000
What in the hell is “liberal radicalism”? Isn’t liberalism by its
nature opposed to the notion of radicalism?
Also donating cryptocurrency to MIRI is the most stereotypically
rationalist thing I can imagine. Well, not quite. Posting an angry blog
post that uses misunderstood philosophy and mathematics to explain why
donating cryptocurrency to MIRI is literally the highest possible moral
good would be the most stereotypically rationalist thing I could
imagine.
> What in the hell is "liberal radicalism"? Isn't liberalism by its nature opposed to the notion of radicalism?
Robespierre was both radical and a liberal. But yes, in a time where most countries have some sort of republican system for a government there's not much for liberals to be radical about.
An ideology based around a new market-based decision-making process known as quadratic voting, where you "vote" for collective actions by assigning some fraction of your taxes/membership-fees towards them, and, very roughly speaking, your contribution to funding for each action is proportional to the square root of what you pay. Under some drastic simplifying assumptions, this maximizes each participant's marginal utility for the good/service they're voting for.
I doubt it's going to lead to more effective governance, but I'm glad people are experimenting with ideas like this.
My third thought: I guess some kind of cryptocurrency?
My fourth thought: OK it’s Ethereum
Note that my field is theoretical computer science - which
should also be MIRI’s field - and ETH does not mean Ethereum to
theoretical computer scientists.
**Exponential time hypothesis**
In computational complexity theory, the exponential time hypothesis is an unproven computational hardness assumption that was formulated by Impagliazzo & Paturi (1999). The hypothesis states that 3-SAT (or any of several related NP-complete problems) cannot be solved in subexponential time in the worst case. The exponential time hypothesis, if true, would imply that P ≠ NP, but it is a stronger statement. It can be used to show that many computational problems are equivalent in complexity, in the sense that if one of them has a subexponential time algorithm then they all do.
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I wrote up [his foray into pseudomathematics.](https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/buterins-quantum-quest/) I hope the last paragraph makes clear who I blame for this particular stupidity.
Good writeup, but I have a nit to pick. Your last sentence calls inverting cryptographic hash functions on a classical computer a mathematical impossibility:
>He now puts the probability at “<0.1%”, though competent observers would likely consider even that on the high side for a mathematical impossibility.
But there is no proof that SHA256 cannot be inverted on a classical computer. Also, depending on the definition of "simulate," there is also no proof that a classical computer cannot simulate a quantum computer (we cannot show BQP does not equal P).
The real reason to believe SHA256 cannot be inverted is not a mathematical proof, but the sheer number of people who have tried and failed to do it (plus the billions of dollars of bounty placed on this task through cryptocurrencies). 0.1% is still ridiculously high because a couple of teenagers cannot do what the rest of the world couldn't, not even with 0.1% probability.
To give him credit, he's become considerably more reality-based and things-that-actually-work-a-bit oriented now that he finds himself leading a big project that's a huge fucking deal.
I'm entirely unconvinced Ethereum is *useful* or *a good idea*, but it is IMO *interesting*, and it does have billions of (notional) dollars swilling around in it, so I'm glad he's shaping up a bit.
You can buy stuff with ETH, you know. It’s as much real money as the
green slips of paper (cotton? idk they’re plastic over here) you pretend
are worth anything.
What in the hell is “liberal radicalism”? Isn’t liberalism by its nature opposed to the notion of radicalism?
Also donating cryptocurrency to MIRI is the most stereotypically rationalist thing I can imagine. Well, not quite. Posting an angry blog post that uses misunderstood philosophy and mathematics to explain why donating cryptocurrency to MIRI is literally the highest possible moral good would be the most stereotypically rationalist thing I could imagine.
My first thought: The Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich
My second thought: The Exponential Time Hypothesis
[reading the rest of the tweet]
My third thought: I guess some kind of cryptocurrency?
My fourth thought: OK it’s Ethereum
Note that my field is theoretical computer science - which should also be MIRI’s field - and ETH does not mean Ethereum to theoretical computer scientists.
Taking donations in ETH is proof that MIRI isn’t an intentionally deceptive cult, but instead, high on its own supply.
I’d been wondering if there was any crossover between the AI nutters and the crypto nutters. Now I know.
wtf does any of this mean.
You can buy stuff with ETH, you know. It’s as much real money as the green slips of paper (cotton? idk they’re plastic over here) you pretend are worth anything.