Ok, maybe my last post was a bit harsh(it’s tricky to express oneself over the Internet). I will elaborate further. Eliezer said:
“So here are the traditional values of capitalism as seen by those who regard it as noble—the sort of Way spoken of by Paul Graham, or P. T. Barnum (who did not say “There’s a sucker born every minute”), or Warren Buffett:”
I don’t know much about the latter two but I have read Paul Graham extensively. It sounds like a strawman to me when Eliezer says:
“I regard finance as more of a useful tool than an ultimate end of intelligence—I’m not sure it’s the maximum possible fun we could all be having under optimal conditions. I’m more sympathetic than this to people who lose their jobs, because I know that retraining, or changing careers, isn’t always easy and fun. I don’t think the universe is set up to reward hard work; and I think that it is entirely possible for money to corrupt a person.”
So if we come back to Paul Graham, while reading his essays I’ve never got the impression that he…
-regards finance as the ultimate end of intelligence,
-thinks capitalism is the maximum possible fun we could all be having under optimal conditions,
-is not sympathetic to people who lose their jobs,
-thinks the universe is set up to reward hard work(proportionately as a physical law),
-or that money doesn’t corrupt people.
That’s why I think the post gives off the vibe of a strawman. Look, capitalism isn’t perfect but you need better arguments to dismiss it. Am I being too harsh again? Alright, maybe Eliezer isn’t trying to dismiss capitalism in his post but then what is he actually trying to say? All I got from the post was a weak attempt at refuting things nobody actually believes. If I misunderstand please explain.
As a matter of fact, Graham explicitly denies that the universe is set up to reward hard work. Then again, we know what Eliezer thinks about the universe:
Unfortunately the universe doesn’t agree with me. We’ll see which one of us is still standing when this is over.
Ok, maybe my last post was a bit harsh(it’s tricky to express oneself over the Internet). I will elaborate further. Eliezer said:
“So here are the traditional values of capitalism as seen by those who regard it as noble—the sort of Way spoken of by Paul Graham, or P. T. Barnum (who did not say “There’s a sucker born every minute”), or Warren Buffett:”
I don’t know much about the latter two but I have read Paul Graham extensively. It sounds like a strawman to me when Eliezer says:
“I regard finance as more of a useful tool than an ultimate end of intelligence—I’m not sure it’s the maximum possible fun we could all be having under optimal conditions. I’m more sympathetic than this to people who lose their jobs, because I know that retraining, or changing careers, isn’t always easy and fun. I don’t think the universe is set up to reward hard work; and I think that it is entirely possible for money to corrupt a person.”
So if we come back to Paul Graham, while reading his essays I’ve never got the impression that he… -regards finance as the ultimate end of intelligence, -thinks capitalism is the maximum possible fun we could all be having under optimal conditions, -is not sympathetic to people who lose their jobs, -thinks the universe is set up to reward hard work(proportionately as a physical law), -or that money doesn’t corrupt people.
That’s why I think the post gives off the vibe of a strawman. Look, capitalism isn’t perfect but you need better arguments to dismiss it. Am I being too harsh again? Alright, maybe Eliezer isn’t trying to dismiss capitalism in his post but then what is he actually trying to say? All I got from the post was a weak attempt at refuting things nobody actually believes. If I misunderstand please explain.
As a matter of fact, Graham explicitly denies that the universe is set up to reward hard work. Then again, we know what Eliezer thinks about the universe: