Third rate stuff. I only listened to the end to have solid ground to criticize it. Well, that and a case of akrasia.
Speaking of the low-quality luxuries of our era, extended half-assed pontificating is mental and emotional white sugar.
Onwards from the simple pleasure of insults to the more complex pleasure of addressing issues. Aurini splits the world into the left-wing and the right-wing minds, with all the conscientiousness on the right-wing side. He says that right-wingers mistrust pleasure and are dedicated to work and heroism, whereas the left thinks nothing is better than pleasure. He says the left wins because we’re so temporarily wealthy that being the coolest person rather than the most useful person gets victory.
This does not resemble the people I know—there’s conscientiousness on both sides of the political divide. Furthermore, in the spirit of Less Wrong, if you need to seem cool to win, and winning is important, then part of conscientiousness is learning how to look cool.
He talks about ems being happy to spend ten years doing nothing but investigating a mathematical theorem. Part of what’s wrong here is that ems are pretty much unmodified human minds living in computers. They’re going to need varied stimulation as much as carbon humans do, though the whole process will be cheaper, and Aurini is probably right that there will be selection for people who need less down time. On the other hand, they might not want difficult art—it takes more processing to appreciate. Maybe the ability to really enjoy old jokes is what’s going to survive.
The other thing is that he wants to preserve creativity, but that takes room to make mistakes—not a world lived on the Malthusian margin.
Some cool new videos by Aurini a fellow LessWrong user and reader:
Transhumanism, Mind Replication, Right Wing Attitudes, & Left Wing Opulence
An interesting take on Em World Scenario and Forager vs. Farmer distinction by Robin Hanson. It is obviously a political take however.
Third rate stuff. I only listened to the end to have solid ground to criticize it. Well, that and a case of akrasia.
Speaking of the low-quality luxuries of our era, extended half-assed pontificating is mental and emotional white sugar.
Onwards from the simple pleasure of insults to the more complex pleasure of addressing issues. Aurini splits the world into the left-wing and the right-wing minds, with all the conscientiousness on the right-wing side. He says that right-wingers mistrust pleasure and are dedicated to work and heroism, whereas the left thinks nothing is better than pleasure. He says the left wins because we’re so temporarily wealthy that being the coolest person rather than the most useful person gets victory.
This does not resemble the people I know—there’s conscientiousness on both sides of the political divide. Furthermore, in the spirit of Less Wrong, if you need to seem cool to win, and winning is important, then part of conscientiousness is learning how to look cool.
He talks about ems being happy to spend ten years doing nothing but investigating a mathematical theorem. Part of what’s wrong here is that ems are pretty much unmodified human minds living in computers. They’re going to need varied stimulation as much as carbon humans do, though the whole process will be cheaper, and Aurini is probably right that there will be selection for people who need less down time. On the other hand, they might not want difficult art—it takes more processing to appreciate. Maybe the ability to really enjoy old jokes is what’s going to survive.
The other thing is that he wants to preserve creativity, but that takes room to make mistakes—not a world lived on the Malthusian margin.