Feel free to ask me (almost) anything. I’m not very interesting, but here are some possible conversation starters.
I’m a licensed substance abuse counselor and a small business owner (I can’t give away too many specifics about the business without making my identity easy to find, sorry about this.)
I’m a transhumanist, but mostly pessimistic about the future.
I support Seasteading-like movements (although I have several practical issues with the Thiel/Friedman Seasteading Institute.
I’m an ex-liberal and ex-libertarian. I was involved in the anti-war movement for several years as a teenager (2003-2009). I’ve read a lot of “neoreactionary” writings and find their political philosophy unconvincing.
Maybe you can give some common misconceptions about how people recover from / don’t recover from their addictions? That’s the sort of topic you tend to hear a lot of noise about which makes it tough to tell the good information from the bad.
Do you have any thoughts on wireheading?
Have you tried any 19th/20th century reactionary authors? Everyone should read Nietzsche anyway, and his work is really interesting if a little dense. His conception of Master/slave morality and nihilism is a much more coherent explanation for how history has turned out than the Cathedral, not to mention that the superman (I always translate it as posthuman in my head) as beyond good and evil is interesting from a transhumanist perspective.
Maybe you can give some common misconceptions about how people recover from / don’t recover from their addictions? That’s the sort of topic you tend to hear a lot of noise about which makes it tough to tell the good information from the bad.
I’m not sure if these are misconceptions, but here are some general thoughts on recovery:
Neural genetics probably matters a lot. I don’t know what to do with this, but I think neuroscience and genetics will produce huge breakthroughs in treatment of addiction in the next 20 years. People like me will probably be on the sidelines for this big change.
People who feel coerced into entering counseling will almost certainly relapse, and they’ll relapse faster and harder compared to people who enter willingly. However...
...this doesn’t make coercion totally pointless—counselors can plant the seeds of a sincere recovery attempt, and give clients the mental tools to recognize their patterns.
People who willingly enter counseling still usually relapse, multiple times. The people who keep coming back after a relapse stand a much better chance of getting to a high level of functioning. People who reenter therapy every time they relapse will usually succeed eventually. (I realize this is almost a tautology.)
Clients with other diagnosed disorders are much less likely to fully recover.)
Do you have any thoughts on wireheading?
Wireheading is somewhat fuzzy as a term.… The extreme form (being converted into “Orgasmium”) seems like it would be unappealing to practically everyone who isn’t suicidally depressed (and even for them it would presumably not be the best option in a transhuman utopia in which wireheading is possible.)
I think a modest version of wireheading (changing a person’s brain to raise their happiness set point) will be necessary if we want to bring everyone up to an acceptable level happiness.
Have you tried any 19th/20th century reactionary authors?
I’ve read a lot of excerpts and quotes, but not many full books. I read a large part of one of Carlyle’s books and one late 19th Century travelogue of the United States which Moldbug approvingly linked to. (I’ve read a fair amount of Nietzsche’s work, but I think calling him a reactionary is a bit like calling the Marquis de Sade a “libertarian.”)
The one concept from Nietzsche I see everywhere around me in the world is ressentiment. I think much of the master-slave morality stuff was too specific and now feels dated 130 years later, but ressentiment is the important core that’s still true and going to stay with us for a while; it’s like a powerful drug that won’t let humanity go. Ideological convictions and interactions, myths and movements, all tied up with ressentiment or even entirely based on it. And you’re right, I would have everyone read Nietzsche—not for practical advice or predictions, but to be able, hopefully, to understand and detect this illness in others and especially oneself.
It’s funny to me that you would say that, because the way I read it was mainly that slave morality is built on resentment whereas master morality was built on self-improvement. The impulse to flee suffering or to inflict it (even on oneself) is the the difference between the lamb and the eagle, and thus the common and the aristocratic virtues. I wouldn’t have thought to separate the two ideas.
But again, one of the reasons why he ought to be read more; two people reading it come away with five different opinions on it.
What are your practical issues about the Seasteading Institute? My major issue is that even if everything else works, governments are unlikely to tolerate real challenges to their authority.
What political theories, if any, do you find plausible?
I worry about a regression to the historical mean (Malthusian conditions, many people starving at the margins) and existential risk. I think extinction or return to Malthusian conditions (including Robin Hanson’s hardscrabble emulation future) are the default result and I’m pessimistic about the potential of groups like MIRI.
What are your practical issues about the Seasteading Institute?
As I see it, the main problem with SI is their over-commitment to small-size seastead designs because of their commitment to the principle of “dynamic geography.” The cost of small-seastead designs (in complexity, coordination problems, additional infrastructure) will be huge.
I don’t think dynamic geography is what makes seasteading valuable as a concept. The ability to create new country projects by itself is the most important aspect. I think large seastead designs (or even land-building) would be more cost-effective and a better overall direction.
My major issue is that even if everything else works, governments are unlikely to tolerate real challenges to their authority.
I’ve always thought the risk from existing governments isn’t that big. I don’t think governments will consider seasteading to be a challenge until/unless governments are losing significant revenues from people defecting to seasteads. By default, governments don’t seem to care very much about things that take place outside of their borders. Governments aren’t very agent-y about considering things that are good for the long term interests of the government.
Seasteads would likely cost existing governments mainly by people attracting revenue-producing citizens away from them and into seasteads, and it will take a long time before that becomes a noticeable problem. Most people who move to seasteads will still retain the citizenship of their home country (at least in the beginning), and for the US that means you must keep paying some taxes. Other than the US, there aren’t a lot of countries that have the ability to shut down a sea colony in blue water. By the time the loss of revenue becomes institutionally noticeable, the seasteads are likely to be too big to easily shut down (i.e. it would require a long term deployment and would involve a lot of news footage of crying families being forced onto transport ships).
What political theories, if any, do you find plausible?
I like the overall meta-political ethos of seasteading. I think any good political philosophy should start with accepting that there are different kinds of people and they prefer different types of governments/social arrangements.You could call this “meta-libertarianism” or “political pluralism.”
My take on drug abuse is that it isn’t primarily the drugs themselves that are the problem but the user. That is to say the drugs have powerful and harmful effects, but the buck ultimately stops with the user who chooses to imbibe them. As physically addictive as some drugs can be, not everyone will; A) Be addicted if they try it once, and, B) Actually want to use the drug to begin with. It’s the people who are depressed, self-harming, etc, who have drug problems. I think my point can be easily confused so i’ll give an analogy: a magnetic sea mine is terribly destructive and can blow me to pieces (swap for drugs), but being a human of flesh and blood (swap for healthy life and psychology), there will be no magnetic attraction and we won’t be drawn towards each other. On the other hand if I was a steel ship (depressed, etc), the magnet will be drawn to me and devastation will be the result. To recap again in one sentence; the mainstream point of view seems to be that drugs are like a virus which can effect anyone and are the problem in themselves where as I see the users as the ‘problem’ and the drugs as one (of many) destructive outcomes of this.
My question is basically; do you agree with the above?
Feel free to ask me (almost) anything. I’m not very interesting, but here are some possible conversation starters.
I’m a licensed substance abuse counselor and a small business owner (I can’t give away too many specifics about the business without making my identity easy to find, sorry about this.)
I’m a transhumanist, but mostly pessimistic about the future.
I support Seasteading-like movements (although I have several practical issues with the Thiel/Friedman Seasteading Institute.
I’m an ex-liberal and ex-libertarian. I was involved in the anti-war movement for several years as a teenager (2003-2009). I’ve read a lot of “neoreactionary” writings and find their political philosophy unconvincing.
Maybe you can give some common misconceptions about how people recover from / don’t recover from their addictions? That’s the sort of topic you tend to hear a lot of noise about which makes it tough to tell the good information from the bad.
Do you have any thoughts on wireheading?
Have you tried any 19th/20th century reactionary authors? Everyone should read Nietzsche anyway, and his work is really interesting if a little dense. His conception of Master/slave morality and nihilism is a much more coherent explanation for how history has turned out than the Cathedral, not to mention that the superman (I always translate it as posthuman in my head) as beyond good and evil is interesting from a transhumanist perspective.
I’m not sure if these are misconceptions, but here are some general thoughts on recovery:
Neural genetics probably matters a lot. I don’t know what to do with this, but I think neuroscience and genetics will produce huge breakthroughs in treatment of addiction in the next 20 years. People like me will probably be on the sidelines for this big change.
People who feel coerced into entering counseling will almost certainly relapse, and they’ll relapse faster and harder compared to people who enter willingly. However...
...this doesn’t make coercion totally pointless—counselors can plant the seeds of a sincere recovery attempt, and give clients the mental tools to recognize their patterns.
People who willingly enter counseling still usually relapse, multiple times. The people who keep coming back after a relapse stand a much better chance of getting to a high level of functioning. People who reenter therapy every time they relapse will usually succeed eventually. (I realize this is almost a tautology.)
Clients with other diagnosed disorders are much less likely to fully recover.)
Wireheading is somewhat fuzzy as a term.… The extreme form (being converted into “Orgasmium”) seems like it would be unappealing to practically everyone who isn’t suicidally depressed (and even for them it would presumably not be the best option in a transhuman utopia in which wireheading is possible.)
I think a modest version of wireheading (changing a person’s brain to raise their happiness set point) will be necessary if we want to bring everyone up to an acceptable level happiness.
I’ve read a lot of excerpts and quotes, but not many full books. I read a large part of one of Carlyle’s books and one late 19th Century travelogue of the United States which Moldbug approvingly linked to. (I’ve read a fair amount of Nietzsche’s work, but I think calling him a reactionary is a bit like calling the Marquis de Sade a “libertarian.”)
The one concept from Nietzsche I see everywhere around me in the world is ressentiment. I think much of the master-slave morality stuff was too specific and now feels dated 130 years later, but ressentiment is the important core that’s still true and going to stay with us for a while; it’s like a powerful drug that won’t let humanity go. Ideological convictions and interactions, myths and movements, all tied up with ressentiment or even entirely based on it. And you’re right, I would have everyone read Nietzsche—not for practical advice or predictions, but to be able, hopefully, to understand and detect this illness in others and especially oneself.
It’s funny to me that you would say that, because the way I read it was mainly that slave morality is built on resentment whereas master morality was built on self-improvement. The impulse to flee suffering or to inflict it (even on oneself) is the the difference between the lamb and the eagle, and thus the common and the aristocratic virtues. I wouldn’t have thought to separate the two ideas.
But again, one of the reasons why he ought to be read more; two people reading it come away with five different opinions on it.
Why are you pessimistic about the future?
What are your practical issues about the Seasteading Institute? My major issue is that even if everything else works, governments are unlikely to tolerate real challenges to their authority.
What political theories, if any, do you find plausible?
I worry about a regression to the historical mean (Malthusian conditions, many people starving at the margins) and existential risk. I think extinction or return to Malthusian conditions (including Robin Hanson’s hardscrabble emulation future) are the default result and I’m pessimistic about the potential of groups like MIRI.
As I see it, the main problem with SI is their over-commitment to small-size seastead designs because of their commitment to the principle of “dynamic geography.” The cost of small-seastead designs (in complexity, coordination problems, additional infrastructure) will be huge.
I don’t think dynamic geography is what makes seasteading valuable as a concept. The ability to create new country projects by itself is the most important aspect. I think large seastead designs (or even land-building) would be more cost-effective and a better overall direction.
I’ve always thought the risk from existing governments isn’t that big. I don’t think governments will consider seasteading to be a challenge until/unless governments are losing significant revenues from people defecting to seasteads. By default, governments don’t seem to care very much about things that take place outside of their borders. Governments aren’t very agent-y about considering things that are good for the long term interests of the government.
Seasteads would likely cost existing governments mainly by people attracting revenue-producing citizens away from them and into seasteads, and it will take a long time before that becomes a noticeable problem. Most people who move to seasteads will still retain the citizenship of their home country (at least in the beginning), and for the US that means you must keep paying some taxes. Other than the US, there aren’t a lot of countries that have the ability to shut down a sea colony in blue water. By the time the loss of revenue becomes institutionally noticeable, the seasteads are likely to be too big to easily shut down (i.e. it would require a long term deployment and would involve a lot of news footage of crying families being forced onto transport ships).
I like the overall meta-political ethos of seasteading. I think any good political philosophy should start with accepting that there are different kinds of people and they prefer different types of governments/social arrangements.You could call this “meta-libertarianism” or “political pluralism.”
What are warning signs someone should look out for (in themselves) in avoiding addiction?
My take on drug abuse is that it isn’t primarily the drugs themselves that are the problem but the user. That is to say the drugs have powerful and harmful effects, but the buck ultimately stops with the user who chooses to imbibe them. As physically addictive as some drugs can be, not everyone will; A) Be addicted if they try it once, and, B) Actually want to use the drug to begin with. It’s the people who are depressed, self-harming, etc, who have drug problems. I think my point can be easily confused so i’ll give an analogy: a magnetic sea mine is terribly destructive and can blow me to pieces (swap for drugs), but being a human of flesh and blood (swap for healthy life and psychology), there will be no magnetic attraction and we won’t be drawn towards each other. On the other hand if I was a steel ship (depressed, etc), the magnet will be drawn to me and devastation will be the result. To recap again in one sentence; the mainstream point of view seems to be that drugs are like a virus which can effect anyone and are the problem in themselves where as I see the users as the ‘problem’ and the drugs as one (of many) destructive outcomes of this. My question is basically; do you agree with the above?