gerikson

joined 2 years ago
[–] gerikson@awful.systems 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, my starting position would be that it was obvious to any competent physicist at the time (although there weren't that many) that the potential energy release from nuclear fission was a real thing - the "only" thing to do to weaponise it or use it for peaceful ends was engineering.

The analogy to "runaway X-risk AGI" is there's a similar straight line from ELIZA to Acausal Robot God, all that's required is a bit of elbow grease and good ole fashioned American ingenuity. But my point is that apart from Yud and a few others, no serious person believes this.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (8 children)

noodling on a blog post - does anyone with more experience of LW/EA than me know if "AI safety" people are referencing the invention of nuclear weapons as a template for regulating/forbidding "AGI"?

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 5 points 4 months ago

Adderall will do that to a fellow

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

I'm increasingly convinced that this person is in a dark place mentally, and am fighting an internal battle to keep poking them for the lulz or just ignoring them.

https://lobste.rs/s/lgqwje/does_current_ai_represent_dead_end#c_cyrxm4

(I've seen this behavior on lobste.rs before and I think sometimes people literally get banned for their own good)

Edit bored on a train so I did the math, in the comment thread, this user has made 30% of the comments by count and 20% by "volume" (basically number of bytes in the plaintext).

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Back when I was an undergrad I saw a letter addressed to the department from a German gentleman who claimed to have invented a perpetual motion machine (this was the department of mechanics). I remember the letter being quite typographically florid and especially the author’s likeness in silhouette.

My advisor had fun finding the flaw in the proposal. Took a few minutes.

I often wondered if demolishing a PM suggestion would be a good extra credit question on an exam.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 7 points 4 months ago

He retweeted Ivanka praising him... 🤢

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 8 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I recognize everyone except Leopold. Increase my suffering by telling me who it is.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

enjoy your flags from outraged simps

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 7 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I just got a hit of esprit d'escalier, and wished I'd replied to this

But the road to Hackers News is paved with good intentions.

with

So too is the road to Roko's Basilisk.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 9 points 4 months ago (11 children)

as an amuse bouche for the horrors that will follow this year, please enjoy this lobste.rs reaching the melting down end stage after going full Karen at someone who agrees with a submitted post saying LLMs are a dead end when it comes to AI.

https://lobste.rs/s/lgqwje/does_current_ai_represent_dead_end#c_tefto4

Thankfully, accusing someone of being a crapto promoter is seen as an attack that is beyond the pale.

Highlights from the rest of the thread include bemoaning the lack of a downvote button for registering disapproval:

https://lobste.rs/s/lgqwje/does_current_ai_represent_dead_end#c_ft9mpj

unilaterally deciding to reply multiple times to one comment, neccesitating them to add a meta comment with hyperlinks

https://lobste.rs/s/lgqwje/does_current_ai_represent_dead_end#c_jjk5ei

And of course is a MoreWronger (moroner?)

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 21 points 4 months ago

If you stick around and do a bunch of research you will end up better informed and much unhappier.

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