doesn't compute.
yudkowsky is terrified of death -- his written descriptions of the fear of death sound precisely like a panic attack (HPMoR, chapter 56):
> Harry asked his dark side what it thought of death.
>
> And Harry's Patronus wavered, dimmed, almost went out upon the instant, for that desperate, sobbing, screaming terror, an unutterable fear that would do anything not to die, throw everything aside not to die, that couldn't think straight or feel straight in the presence of that absolute horror, that couldn't look into the abyss of nonexistence any more than it could have stared straight into the Sun, a blind terrified thing that only wanted to find a dark corner and hide and not have to think about it any more -
Harry later "confronts" death; there are multiple passages about this, but this one sticks out to me (HPMoR, 81):
> "The Dementors are Death, and the Patronus Charm works by thinking about happy thoughts instead of Death."
>
> If Harry's theory was correct, that one sentence would be all it took to pop the Aurors' Patronus Charms like a soap bubble, and ensure that nobody within reach of his voice could cast another one.
>
> Ignoring the gasps rising from behind him, Harry crossed the radius of the Patronuses, strode to a single pace from Death. Its unhindered fear burst around him like a whirlpool, like stepping next to the sucking drain of some huge bathtub emptying out its water; but with the false Patronuses no longer obscuring the level on which they interacted, Harry could reach the Dementor even as it could reach him. Harry looked straight into the pulling vacuum and [thought happy thoughts:]
>
> *the Earth among the stars*
>
> *all his triumph at saving Hermione*
>
> *someday the reality of which you are a shadow will cease to exist*
>
> Harry took all the silver emotion that fueled his Patronus Charm and shoved it at the Dementor; and expected Death's shadow to flee from him -
>
> - and as Harry did that, he flung his hands up and shouted "BOO!"
>
> The void retreated sharply away from Harry until it came up against the dark stone behind.
the tragedy of this passage is that yudkowsky recognizes the futility of his actions. He knows that "thinking happy thoughts" is not a true solution to the fear of death; his true fears can pop that defense "like a soap bubble". His solution?
think happy thoughts *harder*.
the problem is yudkowsky's attachment to his intellect. this is the root of his fears -- his intellect cannot fathom its own nonexistence! so he ends up ruminating, thinking in circles, trying helplessly to comprehend something incomprehensible, building up terror as it goes. eventually he bottoms out in a panic attack and has to hide.
the strongest defence he can find is one of offense. "i'm going to kill death", via superintelligence, his plan to create a god. this feels strong to him, because it is rooted in *action*, rather than thought. And it lets him transmute his fear into rage, which feels more comforting, at least for a while. ultimately, though, it's still just thoughts. it's not action; it doesn't solve the problem.
the reality is, human bodies and brains just aren't built to be preserved. the connectome changes second-to-second, cells are constantly dividing and changing and adjusting and repairing. Lack of oxygen destroys the functionality of your brain in a few minutes. cryonics is a pipe dream, for the forseeable future; it's just an expensive way for tech nerds to avoid contemplating death.
and superintelligence won't solve the problem. superintelligence, if we ever run into it, is going to be vastly stranger than the dreary homo economicus in a box that yudkowsky imagines. it's certainly not going to have the capacity to instantly "solve" death. it will ultimately be a physical entity, which means it will have physical constraints to how much computation it can do with a given amount of time and space. and "solving" death is a problem that ultimately comes down to solving a nigh-infinite list of molecular-scale problems. you know, entropy.
and putting that aside. even if his god-in-a-box plan *did* work -- even if he becomes an immortal, some whinging demigod hanging out on the dark side of the moon writing bad fanfiction for a billion years -- he'd still die, eventually, anyway. the probability of something ending tends to 1 over infinite time.
and he knows this, of course. it terrifies him. it's why he's so preoccupied with cryonics and superintelligence, he focuses on them to pretend that he's actually making progress towards solving his fears. but in the back of his mind, death always lurks. haunting him.
the solution, of course, is just to confront his real fears; accept that he will eventually die, meditate for a while, move on with his life. it'd be scary, but he'd get through it. that's got the tinge of religion to it, though, and his enlightenment self-conception won't allow that. so he just keeps on waiting for his computer angel to save him.
he really would make an excellent protagonist of a tragedy. i mean, he's whiny and obnoxious, but so was hamlet.
But it's an interesting confession of the usually only implicit attitude of servility that has always been at the core of the alt-right/IDW/rationalist/whatever thoughtspace.
It occurs to me that this might be the commonality that explains the otherwise peculiar enthusiasm of libertarians for authoritarianism: the libertarianism represents the fantasy of being an autonomous rule-giver, the authoritarianism represents a kind of vicarious satisfaction of this fantasy through servility toward an autonomous rule-giver.
these folk of the mid-level power elite, seemed happier and more
alive
Seeming happier and more alive is also a well known tell for cocaine
use. I searched symptoms of cocaine use and look
what I found:
They may seem excited and act more confident and exhibit a greater
sense of well-being. They may be more excited sexually and talkative.
Their energy will be pumped up and they probably will not have very much
appetite for food and will not have a normal sleep pattern.
At least I know my theory is based on nothing, unlike his theory of
maybe they’re better than us in every way and we’re too stupid or
envious to recognize that. I can’t imagine why reporters are hiding the
truth from us about how great the life force and aura is of super rich
people.
This is exactly what I thought on reading the description. Only, tech guys and hedge fund managers are probably on a whole lot more than cocaine. Like, custom made "smart" drugs and shit. They're all about "hacking" the body and all other kinds of cringeworthy bullshit intended to make them more productive. Which I'm sure won't have any long-term consequences, right?
But why? Why is it considered better to be some hopped-up dynamo who works 18 hours a day, than to be a well-adjusted normal person who maybe doesn't manage a hedge fund, but also doesn't *want* to, doesn't want to be rich, and focuses instead on being a good parent, a good partner, a good *community member?* How is any of this not considered competence?
From someone who has actually contributed to science, and realizes
that creativity and intellect are subtler things than expressing the
proper cultural aesthetic at a rapid pace:
I had studied Weinberg’s relativity book and papers at length, and
heard some talks, but did not interact with him until Austin. I am
embarrassed to say that my first impression of him was that he was a
little slow: in talking with him, he seemed to get stuck on things that
seemed obvious. But before long I realized that this was part of his
genius. By not assuming things that everyone else took for granted, he
would time and again discover possibilities that had been
overlooked.
If Yudkowsky were left in a room with Steven Weinberg and a bay-area
Tesla salesman he’d probably think the latter were the Nobel
laureate.
Upper-class people are often good at aesthetically projecting
effortless superiority. It’s part of the social class, and it’s
meaningless. But I’m glad Yud got to go to a nice event once.
Hanson is the intellectual heavyweight of the rationalists because he actually got his fucking degree and is professionally qualified for his job
even if it is econ at GMU
Oh nice this post allows me to talk about how dense venture
capitalists are. So in his book Zucked Roger McNamee made a statement so
stupid that it prevented me from going any further. In his introduction
he states:
“It would never have occurred to me to be an anti-Facebook activist.
I was more like Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock’s Rear Window. He is minding
his own business, checking out the view from his living room, when he
sees what looks like a crime in progress, and then he has to ask himself
what he should do.”
To anyone who has seen Rear Window this statement is telling of two
facts: 1. McNamee is a dunce who didn’t understand the movie; and 2.
Silicon Valley is so anti-privacy that it’s residents can’t understand
the difference between a kind of skeevy voyeur and someone “minding
their own business.”
It’s less “if elites are so competent, why is the world screwed up?”
and more “if elites are so competent, why do they have all the
compassion of five Skeletors in a trenchcoat?”
I was invited once to a gathering of the mid-level power elite, where
around half the attendees were “CEO of something”—mostly technology
companies, but occasionally “something” was a public company or a
sizable hedge fund.
“Damn, I want to be a part of them!”
Even so, these people of the Power Elite were visibly much
smarter than average mortals. In conversation they spoke quickly,
sensibly, and by and large intelligently. When talk turned to deep and
difficult topics, they understood faster, made fewer mistakes, were
readier to adopt others’ suggestions.
“They even are just like I perceive myself! I so want to be
a part of them!”
I’ve never been to a gathering of the top-level elite (World
Economic Forum level), so I have no idea if people are even
more alive up there, or if the curve turns and starts heading
downward.
“The fact that they refuse to send me an invitation is basically
proof that the curve turns and goes downward again!”
Yea, can’t imagine why people who do intricate political and
mechanical games and rise above thousands of challengers to become the
best in their field, even if that field isn’t a kind one
are more alive than people who think the most significant thing in
their life is watching “Friends”
11 years old, this is so retro.
For most people their “child prodigy license” expires when they stop being a child, but I guess cult leaders are excluded from this.
“Arguments against cryonics don exist, you only think so because you are so stupid.” Is this the real meaning behind “strong opinions weakly held”?
🤮
This but all LW posts.
Seeming happier and more alive is also a well known tell for cocaine use. I searched symptoms of cocaine use and look what I found:
At least I know my theory is based on nothing, unlike his theory of maybe they’re better than us in every way and we’re too stupid or envious to recognize that. I can’t imagine why reporters are hiding the truth from us about how great the life force and aura is of super rich people.
From someone who has actually contributed to science, and realizes that creativity and intellect are subtler things than expressing the proper cultural aesthetic at a rapid pace:
If Yudkowsky were left in a room with Steven Weinberg and a bay-area Tesla salesman he’d probably think the latter were the Nobel laureate.
Upper-class people are often good at aesthetically projecting effortless superiority. It’s part of the social class, and it’s meaningless. But I’m glad Yud got to go to a nice event once.
What’s ironic is that Robin Hanson left a sensible comment on thid post.
Ah the old sparkly vampires counts post.
Oh nice this post allows me to talk about how dense venture capitalists are. So in his book Zucked Roger McNamee made a statement so stupid that it prevented me from going any further. In his introduction he states:
“It would never have occurred to me to be an anti-Facebook activist. I was more like Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock’s Rear Window. He is minding his own business, checking out the view from his living room, when he sees what looks like a crime in progress, and then he has to ask himself what he should do.”
To anyone who has seen Rear Window this statement is telling of two facts: 1. McNamee is a dunce who didn’t understand the movie; and 2. Silicon Valley is so anti-privacy that it’s residents can’t understand the difference between a kind of skeevy voyeur and someone “minding their own business.”
“My god, it’s full of stars” - Yud upon looking at a rich person
LMAO
It’s less “if elites are so competent, why is the world screwed up?” and more “if elites are so competent, why do they have all the compassion of five Skeletors in a trenchcoat?”
“Damn, I want to be a part of them!”
“They even are just like I perceive myself! I so want to be a part of them!”
“The fact that they refuse to send me an invitation is basically proof that the curve turns and goes downward again!”
Yea, can’t imagine why people who do intricate political and mechanical games and rise above thousands of challengers to become the best in their field, even if that field isn’t a kind one
are more alive than people who think the most significant thing in their life is watching “Friends”
can’t at all