Epistemology

TagLast edit: 16 Nov 2024 1:45 UTC by Ben Pace

Epistemology is the study of how we know the world. It’s both a topic in philosophy and a practical concern for how we come to believe things are true.

The Problem of the Criterion

Gordon Seidoh Worley21 Jan 2021 15:05 UTC

61 points

63 comments10 min readLW link

Local Validity as a Key to Sanity and Civilization

Eliezer Yudkowsky7 Apr 2018 4:25 UTC

212 points

68 comments13 min readLW link 5 reviews

Why the Problem of the Criterion Matters

Gordon Seidoh Worley30 Oct 2021 20:44 UTC

24 points

9 comments8 min readLW link

On Solving Problems Before They Appear: The Weird Epistemologies of Alignment

adamShimi11 Oct 2021 8:20 UTC

110 points

10 comments15 min readLW link

Making Beliefs Pay Rent (in Anticipated Experiences)

Eliezer Yudkowsky28 Jul 2007 22:59 UTC

473 points

267 comments4 min readLW link

Epistemological Framing for AI Alignment Research

adamShimi8 Mar 2021 22:05 UTC

58 points

7 comments9 min readLW link

The Lens That Sees Its Flaws

Eliezer Yudkowsky23 Sep 2007 0:10 UTC

336 points

45 comments3 min readLW link

Incorrect hypotheses point to correct observations

Kaj_Sotala20 Nov 2018 21:10 UTC

167 points

40 comments4 min readLW link

(kajsotala.fi)

By Which It May Be Judged

Eliezer Yudkowsky10 Dec 2012 4:26 UTC

95 points

941 comments11 min readLW link

Physics is Ultimately Subjective

Gordon Seidoh Worley14 Jul 2023 22:19 UTC

5 points

34 comments3 min readLW link

The Map-Territory Distinction Creates Confusion

Gordon Seidoh Worley4 Jan 2022 15:49 UTC

25 points

50 comments4 min readLW link

Radical Probabilism

abramdemski18 Aug 2020 21:14 UTC

182 points

49 comments35 min readLW link 1 review

On the nature of purpose

Nora_Ammann22 Jan 2021 8:30 UTC

29 points

15 comments9 min readLW link

The space of systems and the space of maps

Jan_Kulveit, rosehadshar, Nora_Ammann and clem_acs

22 Mar 2023 14:59 UTC

39 points

0 comments5 min readLW link

Epistemic Legibility

Elizabeth9 Feb 2022 18:10 UTC

306 points

30 comments20 min readLW link 1 review

(acesounderglass.com)

How to Convince Me That 2 + 2 = 3

Eliezer Yudkowsky27 Sep 2007 23:00 UTC

151 points

409 comments3 min readLW link

Why You Should Never Update Your Beliefs

Arjun Panickssery29 Jul 2023 0:27 UTC

75 points

17 comments4 min readLW link

(arjunpanickssery.substack.com)

Rule Thinkers In, Not Out

Scott Alexander27 Feb 2019 2:40 UTC

226 points

67 comments4 min readLW link 4 reviews

(slatestarcodex.com)

Epistemic Strategies of Selection Theorems

adamShimi18 Oct 2021 8:57 UTC

33 points

1 comment12 min readLW link

Three enigmas at the heart of our reasoning

Alex Flint21 Sep 2021 16:52 UTC

56 points

66 comments9 min readLW link 1 review

What’s important in “AI for epistemics”?

Lukas Finnveden24 Aug 2024 1:27 UTC

41 points

0 comments28 min readLW link

(lukasfinnveden.substack.com)

Magic Shoes

onur24 Mar 2021 21:14 UTC

11 points

0 comments3 min readLW link

Trust the (local) expert

rk9 Apr 2018 10:22 UTC

14 points

12 comments7 min readLW link

Reflective Bayesianism

abramdemski6 Apr 2021 19:48 UTC

62 points

27 comments13 min readLW link

The Sense-Making Web

Chris_Leong4 Jan 2021 6:17 UTC

41 points

21 comments6 min readLW link

My Model of Epistemology

adamShimi31 Aug 2024 17:01 UTC

35 points

0 comments8 min readLW link

(epistemologicalfascinations.substack.com)

Wittgenstein and ML — parameters vs architecture

Cleo Nardo24 Mar 2023 4:54 UTC

44 points

9 comments5 min readLW link

[Question] What am I missing? (quantum physics)

kithpendragon21 Aug 2020 12:39 UTC

10 points

11 comments1 min readLW link

Communicating effectively under Knightian norms

Richard_Ngo3 Apr 2023 22:39 UTC

93 points

54 comments6 min readLW link

Good Bings copy, great Bings steal

dr_s21 Apr 2024 9:52 UTC

31 points

6 comments9 min readLW link

Looking Deeper at Deconfusion

adamShimi13 Jun 2021 21:29 UTC

62 points

13 comments15 min readLW link

Mixed Reference: The Great Reductionist Project

Eliezer Yudkowsky5 Dec 2012 0:26 UTC

61 points

358 comments9 min readLW link

A Pragmatic Epistemology

StephenR5 Aug 2014 5:43 UTC

2 points

21 comments6 min readLW link

Toward a New Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation

abramdemski16 Feb 2018 0:44 UTC

86 points

36 comments18 min readLW link 1 review

Excusing a Failure to Adjust

Ronny Fernandez26 Aug 2020 13:51 UTC

14 points

2 comments1 min readLW link

The Problematic Third Person Perspective

abramdemski5 Oct 2017 20:44 UTC

28 points

3 comments4 min readLW link

Cryptanalysis as Epistemology? (paging cryptonerds)

SilasBarta6 Apr 2011 19:06 UTC

17 points

42 comments1 min readLW link

David Wolpert on Knowledge

Alex Flint21 Sep 2021 1:54 UTC

33 points

3 comments13 min readLW link

Intelligence, epistemics, and sanity, in three short parts

ozziegooen15 Oct 2021 4:01 UTC

14 points

2 comments3 min readLW link

Relabelings vs. External References

Chris_Leong20 Sep 2019 2:20 UTC

12 points

4 comments3 min readLW link

Seeking a “Seeking Whence ‘Seek Whence’” Sequence

Will_Newsome25 Jun 2012 11:10 UTC

39 points

33 comments3 min readLW link

[Question] Worst Commonsense Concepts?

abramdemski15 Nov 2021 18:22 UTC

73 points

34 comments3 min readLW link

Seeking Truth Too Hard Can Keep You from Winning

Gordon Seidoh Worley30 Nov 2021 2:16 UTC

27 points

8 comments3 min readLW link

Radical Probabilism [Transcript]

abramdemski and Ben Pace

26 Jun 2020 22:14 UTC

48 points

12 comments6 min readLW link

The Problem of the Criterion is NOT an Open Problem

Gordon Seidoh Worley6 Jan 2022 16:31 UTC

9 points

6 comments2 min readLW link

Some limitations of reductionism about epistemology

Richard_Ngo14 Feb 2022 8:50 UTC

19 points

7 comments4 min readLW link

(thinkingcomplete.blogspot.com)

Becoming Unusually Truth-Oriented

abramdemski3 Jan 2020 1:27 UTC

89 points

20 comments10 min readLW link

An analogy as the midwife of thermodynamics

adamShimi16 Feb 2022 21:34 UTC

30 points

10 comments7 min readLW link

What The Foucault

adamShimi19 Feb 2022 22:48 UTC

39 points

6 comments3 min readLW link

The Art and Science of Intuition Pumping

adamShimi22 Feb 2022 0:18 UTC

26 points

3 comments9 min readLW link

Butterfly Ideas

Elizabeth22 Feb 2022 7:40 UTC

187 points

10 comments3 min readLW link 2 reviews

(acesounderglass.com)

Cryptoepistemology

davidad24 Feb 2022 20:34 UTC

30 points

3 comments2 min readLW link

Zen and Rationality: Trust in Mind

Gordon Seidoh Worley11 Aug 2020 20:23 UTC

25 points

3 comments4 min readLW link

Shotgun Book Reviews: Against Method, The Knowledge Machine and Understanding Nature

adamShimi14 Mar 2022 8:13 UTC

28 points

2 comments8 min readLW link

Replacing Natural Interpretations

adamShimi16 Mar 2022 13:05 UTC

19 points

0 comments7 min readLW link

Do Sufficiently Advanced Agents Use Logic?

abramdemski13 Sep 2019 19:53 UTC

48 points

10 comments9 min readLW link

Epistemic Slipperiness

Raemon11 Apr 2022 1:48 UTC

56 points

18 comments7 min readLW link

Dragon Agnosticism

jefftk1 Aug 2024 17:00 UTC

99 points

73 comments2 min readLW link

(www.jefftk.com)

Circular Reasoning

abramdemski5 Aug 2024 18:10 UTC

91 points

36 comments8 min readLW link

I only believe in the paranormal

Malmesbury24 May 2022 12:15 UTC

94 points

8 comments2 min readLW link

Public beliefs vs. Private beliefs

Eli Tyre1 Jun 2022 21:33 UTC

143 points

30 comments5 min readLW link

What can we learn from Bayes about reasoning?

jasoncrawford5 May 2023 15:52 UTC

21 points

11 comments1 min readLW link

Epistemological Vigilance for Alignment

adamShimi6 Jun 2022 0:27 UTC

65 points

11 comments10 min readLW link

Limits to Legibility

Jan_Kulveit29 Jun 2022 17:42 UTC

138 points

11 comments5 min readLW link 1 review

Fundamental Uncertainty: Chapter 8 - When does fundamental uncertainty matter?

Gordon Seidoh Worley26 Apr 2024 18:10 UTC

11 points

2 comments32 min readLW link

How much do you believe your results?

Eric Neyman6 May 2023 20:31 UTC

467 points

14 comments15 min readLW link

(ericneyman.wordpress.com)

Levels of Pluralism

adamShimi27 Jul 2022 9:35 UTC

37 points

0 comments14 min readLW link

Review: “The Case Against Reality”

David Gross29 Oct 2024 13:13 UTC

19 points

9 comments5 min readLW link

Shapes of Mind and Pluralism in Alignment

adamShimi13 Aug 2022 10:01 UTC

33 points

2 comments2 min readLW link

The Treacherous Path to Rationality

Jacob Falkovich9 Oct 2020 15:34 UTC

206 points

116 comments11 min readLW link 1 review

No One-Size-Fit-All Epistemic Strategy

adamShimi20 Aug 2022 12:56 UTC

24 points

2 comments2 min readLW link

On the Role of Proto-Languages

adamShimi22 Sep 2024 16:50 UTC

54 points

1 comment4 min readLW link

(epistemologicalfascinations.substack.com)

[Linkpost] Silver Bulletin: For most people, politics is about fitting in

Gunnar_Zarncke1 May 2024 18:12 UTC

18 points

4 comments1 min readLW link

(www.natesilver.net)

Methodological Therapy: An Agenda For Tackling Research Bottlenecks

adamShimi, Lucas Teixeira and remember

22 Sep 2022 18:41 UTC

54 points

6 comments9 min readLW link

Fundamental Uncertainty: Chapter 1 - How can we know what’s true?

Gordon Seidoh Worley13 Aug 2023 18:55 UTC

17 points

4 comments12 min readLW link

What we Know vs. How we Know it?

Elizabeth6 Jan 2020 0:30 UTC

45 points

0 comments2 min readLW link

(acesounderglass.com)

Crisis of Faith case study: beyond reductionism?

MalcolmOcean8 Jun 2023 6:11 UTC

6 points

9 comments19 min readLW link

What does it mean to “trust science”?

jasoncrawford16 Aug 2023 14:56 UTC

34 points

9 comments1 min readLW link

(rootsofprogress.org)

Science and Math

lsusr27 Nov 2022 4:05 UTC

19 points

6 comments1 min readLW link

Some Claims Are Just Too Extraordinary

Eliezer Yudkowsky20 Jan 2007 7:14 UTC

36 points

12 comments2 min readLW link

Confusing the goal and the path

adamShimi12 Dec 2022 16:42 UTC

44 points

7 comments1 min readLW link

(epistemologicalvigilance.substack.com)

Psychological Disorders and Problems

adamShimi and Gabriel Alfour

12 Dec 2022 18:15 UTC

39 points

6 comments1 min readLW link

Proof as mere strong evidence

adamShimi14 Dec 2022 8:56 UTC

28 points

16 comments2 min readLW link

(epistemologicalvigilance.substack.com)

Triangulating My Interpretation of Methods: Black Boxes by Marco J. Nathan

adamShimi9 Oct 2024 19:13 UTC

8 points

0 comments6 min readLW link

(formethods.substack.com)

Using Points to Rate Different Kinds of Evidence

ozziegooen25 Aug 2023 20:11 UTC

18 points

3 comments6 min readLW link

(forum.effectivealtruism.org)

The Evidence for Question Decomposition is Weak

niplav28 Aug 2023 15:46 UTC

22 points

6 comments5 min readLW link

Contra Common Knowledge

abramdemski4 Jan 2023 22:50 UTC

52 points

31 comments16 min readLW link

Brute Force Manufactured Consensus is Hiding the Crime of the Century

Roko3 Feb 2024 20:36 UTC

216 points

156 comments9 min readLW link

Nothing New: Productive Reframing

adamShimi7 Jan 2023 18:43 UTC

44 points

7 comments3 min readLW link

(epistemologicalvigilance.substack.com)

Reification bias

adamShimi and Gabriel Alfour

9 Jan 2023 12:22 UTC

25 points

6 comments2 min readLW link

The special nature of special relativity

adamShimi9 Jan 2023 17:30 UTC

37 points

1 comment3 min readLW link

(epistemologicalvigilance.substack.com)

Confusing the ideal for the necessary

adamShimi16 Jan 2023 17:29 UTC

79 points

6 comments1 min readLW link

(epistemologicalvigilance.substack.com)

Group-level Consequences of Psychological Problems

adamShimi and Gabriel Alfour

19 Jan 2023 9:27 UTC

28 points

3 comments2 min readLW link

Lost in Innovation: The Case of Phlogiston

adamShimi20 Jan 2023 12:19 UTC

19 points

8 comments4 min readLW link

(epistemologicalvigilance.substack.com)

Rounding Someone Off

David Udell24 Jan 2023 0:03 UTC

25 points

0 comments5 min readLW link

Assigning Praise and Blame: Decoupling Epistemology and Decision Theory

adamShimi and Gabriel Alfour

27 Jan 2023 18:16 UTC

59 points

5 comments3 min readLW link

Doxa, Episteme, and Gnosis Revisited

Gordon Seidoh Worley20 Nov 2019 19:35 UTC

19 points

2 comments9 min readLW link

The Law of Identity

Chris_Leong6 Feb 2023 2:59 UTC

5 points

5 comments4 min readLW link

ClearerThinking’s Fact-Checking 2.0

Stefan_Schubert22 Oct 2015 21:16 UTC

35 points

40 comments4 min readLW link

Multiple Factor Explanations Should Not Appear One-Sided

Stefan_Schubert7 Aug 2014 14:10 UTC

55 points

32 comments6 min readLW link

On Investigating Conspiracy Theories

Zvi20 Feb 2023 12:50 UTC

116 points

38 comments5 min readLW link

(thezvi.wordpress.com)

Fundamental Uncertainty: Chapter 5 - How do we know what we know?

Gordon Seidoh Worley28 Dec 2022 1:28 UTC

10 points

2 comments12 min readLW link

Fundamental Uncertainty: Chapter 6 - How can we be certain about the truth?

Gordon Seidoh Worley6 Mar 2023 13:52 UTC

10 points

18 comments16 min readLW link

In defence of epistemic modesty

Thrasymachus29 Oct 2017 20:00 UTC

31 points

20 comments36 min readLW link

Anti-epistemology: an explanation

Basil Marte8 Jul 2020 16:34 UTC

3 points

12 comments3 min readLW link

What problems do African-Americans face? An initial investigation using Standpoint Epistemology and Surveys

tailcalled12 Mar 2023 11:42 UTC

41 points

26 comments15 min readLW link

No Causation without Reification

Gordon Seidoh Worley23 Oct 2020 20:28 UTC

21 points

38 comments3 min readLW link

The epistemic virtue of scope matching

jasoncrawford15 Mar 2023 13:31 UTC

85 points

15 comments5 min readLW link

(rootsofprogress.org)

[Question] Change My Mind: Thirders in “Sleeping Beauty” are Just Doing Epistemology Wrong

DragonGod16 Oct 2024 10:20 UTC

8 points

67 comments6 min readLW link

The Living Planet Index: A Case Study in Statistical Pitfalls

Jan_Kulveit24 Jun 2024 10:05 UTC

24 points

0 comments4 min readLW link

(www.nature.com)

Some rationality tweets

Peter_de_Blanc30 Dec 2010 7:14 UTC

62 points

80 comments2 min readLW link

Uncertainty in all its flavours

Cleo Nardo9 Jan 2024 16:21 UTC

27 points

6 comments35 min readLW link

Many Weak Arguments vs. One Relatively Strong Argument

JonahS4 Jun 2013 3:32 UTC

35 points

87 comments11 min readLW link

 Theories of Knowledge

Zero Contradictions11 Aug 2024 8:55 UTC

−1 points

5 comments1 min readLW link

(thewaywardaxolotl.blogspot.com)

Referencing the Unreferencable

Chris_Leong4 Apr 2020 10:42 UTC

16 points

5 comments3 min readLW link

Bad business advice

Logan Kieller14 Feb 2024 17:01 UTC

12 points

2 comments3 min readLW link

(logankieller.substack.com)

“On Bullshit” and “On Truth,” by Harry Frankfurt

Callmesalticidae28 Aug 2020 0:44 UTC

20 points

3 comments6 min readLW link

False Majorities

JamesAndrix3 Feb 2010 18:43 UTC

42 points

39 comments1 min readLW link

Fundamental Uncertainty: Chapter 7 - Why is truth useful?

Gordon Seidoh Worley30 Apr 2023 16:48 UTC

10 points

3 comments10 min readLW link

Reversed Stupidity Is Not Intelligence

Eliezer Yudkowsky12 Dec 2007 22:14 UTC

182 points

120 comments3 min readLW link

Timeless Modesty?

abramdemski24 Nov 2017 11:12 UTC

17 points

2 comments3 min readLW link

Simultaneous Overconfidence and Underconfidence

abramdemski3 Jun 2015 21:04 UTC

37 points

6 comments5 min readLW link

Epistemology of HCH

adamShimi9 Feb 2021 11:46 UTC

17 points

2 comments10 min readLW link

A List of Nuances

abramdemski10 Nov 2014 5:02 UTC

67 points

24 comments10 min readLW link

Bayesian Injustice

Kevin Dorst14 Dec 2023 15:44 UTC

124 points

10 comments6 min readLW link

(kevindorst.substack.com)

‘Empiricism!’ as Anti-Epistemology

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Mar 2024 2:02 UTC

171 points

90 comments25 min readLW link

What I’d change about different philosophy fields

Rob Bensinger8 Mar 2021 18:25 UTC

55 points

52 comments4 min readLW link

AXRP Episode 5 - Infra-Bayesianism with Vanessa Kosoy

DanielFilan10 Mar 2021 4:30 UTC

35 points

12 comments36 min readLW link

Extended Picture Theory or Models inside Models inside Models

Chris_Leong10 Mar 2021 13:24 UTC

13 points

3 comments2 min readLW link

JFK was not assassinated: prior probability zero events

Stuart_Armstrong27 Apr 2016 11:47 UTC

38 points

38 comments3 min readLW link

The Use of Many Independent Lines of Evidence: The Basel Problem

JonahS3 Jun 2013 4:42 UTC

38 points

44 comments5 min readLW link

Epistemic vs. Instrumental Rationality: Approximations

Peter_de_Blanc28 Apr 2009 3:12 UTC

30 points

29 comments1 min readLW link

Ethics has Evidence Too

Jack6 Feb 2010 6:28 UTC

26 points

57 comments3 min readLW link

Erdős Problems in Algorithmic Probability

Aidan Rocke11 Sep 2023 16:44 UTC

13 points

4 comments2 min readLW link

Rationalist Role in the Information Age

byrnema30 Apr 2009 18:24 UTC

7 points

19 comments3 min readLW link

rationalistic probability(litterally just throwing shit out there)

NotaSprayer ASprayer4 Oct 2023 17:46 UTC

−30 points

8 comments2 min readLW link

How to tell apart science from pseudo-science in a field you don’t know ?

kilobug2 Sep 2012 10:25 UTC

34 points

71 comments1 min readLW link

The Prediction Hierarchy

RobinZ19 Jan 2010 3:36 UTC

28 points

38 comments3 min readLW link

Dutch Books and Decision Theory: An Introduction to a Long Conversation

Jack21 Dec 2010 4:55 UTC

30 points

102 comments7 min readLW link

The First Sample Gives the Most Information

Mark Xu24 Dec 2020 20:39 UTC

134 points

16 comments1 min readLW link 1 review

(markxu.com)

Fittingness: Rational success in concept formation

Polytopos10 Jan 2021 15:58 UTC

6 points

9 comments6 min readLW link

Bayesian inference on 1st order logic

Daniel Abolafia3 Feb 2021 1:03 UTC

11 points

6 comments18 min readLW link

Objective truth?

pchvykov15 Feb 2021 21:47 UTC

1 point

0 comments2 min readLW link

Heliocentrism in the ancient era

ForensicOceanography16 Feb 2021 8:34 UTC

17 points

6 comments6 min readLW link

(forensicoceanography.wordpress.com)

How Strong is Our Connection to Truth?

anorangicc17 Feb 2021 0:10 UTC

1 point

5 comments3 min readLW link

Are dogs bad?

qbolec11 Mar 2021 8:11 UTC

18 points

1 comment1 min readLW link

The secret of Wikipedia’s success

Aaron Bergman14 Apr 2021 22:18 UTC

68 points

11 comments6 min readLW link

(aaronbergman.substack.com)

Research Motivations and “The Division of Cognitive Labor”

Aidan_Kierans16 May 2021 0:00 UTC

4 points

3 comments5 min readLW link

On “Epistemic Trespassing” and Intellectual Modesty

Aidan_Kierans16 May 2021 0:40 UTC

9 points

7 comments9 min readLW link

Christenson’s “Epistemology of Disagreement: The Good News”

Aidan_Kierans16 May 2021 3:58 UTC

1 point

0 comments5 min readLW link

Good Macro, Bad Micro

Ilemauzar4 Jun 2021 4:30 UTC

14 points

2 comments1 min readLW link

Paper Review: Mathematical Truth

Alex Hollow30 May 2021 20:25 UTC

5 points

14 comments3 min readLW link

(alexhollow.wordpress.com)

Mainstream Epistemology for LessWrong, Part 1: Feldman on Evidentialism

ChrisHallquist16 Nov 2013 16:16 UTC

30 points

84 comments6 min readLW link

Neo-Mohism

Bae's Theorem16 Jun 2021 21:57 UTC

5 points

11 comments7 min readLW link

CGP Grey on the difficulty of knowing what’s true [audio]

DanielFilan13 Jul 2021 20:40 UTC

23 points

5 comments1 min readLW link

(www.relay.fm)

In Praise (and Defence) of The People

Olitness27 Jul 2021 7:13 UTC

−8 points

4 comments14 min readLW link

(olitness.wordpress.com)

More Useful Way of Answering “Mind vs. Body” Problem

Olitness27 Jul 2021 7:13 UTC

9 points

4 comments2 min readLW link

(olitness.wordpress.com)

Request for comment on a novel reference work of understanding

ender12 Aug 2021 0:06 UTC

3 points

0 comments9 min readLW link

Truthful AI: Developing and governing AI that does not lie

Owain_Evans, owencb and Lukas Finnveden

18 Oct 2021 18:37 UTC

82 points

9 comments10 min readLW link

[Linkpost] Danger of motivatiogenesis in interdisciplinary work

particlemania25 Nov 2021 0:13 UTC

9 points

0 comments1 min readLW link

COVID Skepticism Isn’t About Science

jaspax29 Dec 2021 17:53 UTC

128 points

76 comments7 min readLW link

Becoming Stronger as Epistemologist: Introduction

adamShimi15 Feb 2022 6:15 UTC

30 points

2 comments4 min readLW link

Effects are correlated, policy outcomes are not, and multi-factor explanations are hard

Thomas Kehrenberg9 Mar 2022 15:30 UTC

16 points

2 comments14 min readLW link

(tm.kehrenberg.net)

Magic, tricks, and high-dimensional configuration spaces

pchvykov26 Mar 2022 19:14 UTC

8 points

2 comments2 min readLW link

The Explanatory Gap of AI

David Valdman7 Apr 2022 18:28 UTC

1 point

0 comments4 min readLW link

Curating “The Epistemic Sequences” (list v.0.1)

Andrew_Critch23 Jul 2022 22:17 UTC

65 points

12 comments7 min readLW link

“What Mistakes Are You Making Right Now?”

David Udell15 Aug 2022 21:19 UTC

13 points

2 comments1 min readLW link

Alignment’s phlogiston

Eleni Angelou18 Aug 2022 22:27 UTC

10 points

2 comments2 min readLW link

Ideas of the Gaps

Q Home13 Sep 2022 10:55 UTC

4 points

3 comments12 min readLW link

There is no royal road to alignment

Eleni Angelou18 Sep 2022 3:33 UTC

4 points

2 comments3 min readLW link

Truth-Seeking: Reason vs. Intuition

sakraf30 Sep 2022 12:12 UTC

4 points

7 comments4 min readLW link

confusion about alignment requirements

Tamsin Leake6 Oct 2022 10:32 UTC

39 points

10 comments3 min readLW link

(carado.moe)

Method of statements: an alternative to taboo

Q Home16 Nov 2022 10:57 UTC

7 points

0 comments41 min readLW link

Motivated Cognition and the Multiverse of Truth

Q Home22 Nov 2022 12:51 UTC

8 points

16 comments24 min readLW link

Tradeoffs in complexity, abstraction, and generality

remember and Gabriel Alfour

12 Dec 2022 15:55 UTC

32 points

0 comments2 min readLW link

I believe some AI doomers are overconfident

FTPickle20 Dec 2022 17:09 UTC

8 points

15 comments2 min readLW link

Mental acceptance and reflection

remember and Gabriel Alfour

22 Dec 2022 14:32 UTC

34 points

1 comment2 min readLW link

Theodicy and the simulation hypothesis, or: The problem of simulator evil

philosophybear26 Dec 2022 18:55 UTC

6 points

12 comments19 min readLW link

(philosophybear.substack.com)

Optimizing Human Collective Intelligence to Align AI

Shoshannah Tekofsky7 Jan 2023 1:21 UTC

12 points

5 comments6 min readLW link

Guesstimate: Why and how to use it

brook and chanamessinger

24 Jan 2023 16:24 UTC

8 points

0 comments3 min readLW link

(forum.effectivealtruism.org)

Jordan Peterson: Guru/Villain

Bryan Frances3 Feb 2023 9:02 UTC

−14 points

6 comments9 min readLW link

A multi-disciplinary view on AI safety research

Roman Leventov8 Feb 2023 16:50 UTC

43 points

4 comments26 min readLW link

Medlife Crisis: “Why Do People Keep Falling For Things That Don’t Work?”

RomanHauksson21 Feb 2023 6:22 UTC

12 points

5 comments1 min readLW link

(www.youtube.com)

What kind of place is this?

Jim Pivarski25 Feb 2023 2:14 UTC

24 points

24 comments8 min readLW link

Rationalism and social rationalism

philosophybear10 Mar 2023 23:20 UTC

17 points

5 comments10 min readLW link

(philosophybear.substack.com)

Three levels of exploration and intelligence

Q Home16 Mar 2023 10:55 UTC

9 points

3 comments21 min readLW link

[Question] What are some ideas that LessWrong has reinvented?

RomanHauksson14 Mar 2023 22:27 UTC

4 points

13 comments1 min readLW link

Against Deep Ideas

YafahEdelman19 Mar 2023 3:04 UTC

53 points

14 comments2 min readLW link

Epistemic Motif of Abstract-Concrete Cycles & Domain Expansion

Dalcy10 Oct 2023 3:28 UTC

26 points

2 comments3 min readLW link

Distributed Strategic Epistemology

StrivingForLegibility28 Dec 2023 22:12 UTC

11 points

0 comments3 min readLW link

An Ontology for Strategic Epistemology

StrivingForLegibility28 Dec 2023 22:11 UTC

9 points

0 comments5 min readLW link

Building Trust in Strategic Settings

StrivingForLegibility28 Dec 2023 22:12 UTC

24 points

0 comments7 min readLW link

Epistemic Hell

rogersbacon27 Jan 2024 17:13 UTC

70 points

20 comments14 min readLW link

Clarifying the free energy principle (with quotes)

Ryo 29 Oct 2023 16:03 UTC

8 points

0 comments9 min readLW link

Clickbait Soapboxing

DaystarEld13 Mar 2024 14:09 UTC

24 points

15 comments3 min readLW link

(daystareld.com)

What’s happening behind the scenes with my HowTruthful project

Bruce Lewis15 Feb 2024 18:27 UTC

7 points

0 comments3 min readLW link

Carlo: uncertainty analysis in Google Sheets

ProbabilityEnjoyer19 Mar 2024 17:59 UTC

6 points

0 comments1 min readLW link

(carlo.app)

[Linkpost] Leif Wenar’s The Deaths of Effective Altruism

Arden27 Mar 2024 19:17 UTC

8 points

1 comment1 min readLW link

(www.wired.com)

Idea black holes

Logan Kieller28 Mar 2024 15:17 UTC

0 points

1 comment11 min readLW link

(logankieller.substack.com)

My PhD thesis: Algorithmic Bayesian Epistemology

Eric Neyman16 Mar 2024 22:56 UTC

257 points

14 comments7 min readLW link

(arxiv.org)

Effectively Handling Disagreements—Introducing a New Workshop

Camille Berger 15 Apr 2024 16:33 UTC

37 points

2 comments7 min readLW link

Out-of-body reasoning (OOBR)

Jon Zero9 Jan 2021 16:10 UTC

5 points

0 comments4 min readLW link

Jonothan Gorard:The territory is isomorphic to an equivalence class of its maps

Daniel C7 Sep 2024 10:04 UTC

17 points

18 comments2 min readLW link

(x.com)

Collapsing the Belief/Knowledge Distinction

Jeremias11 Sep 2024 21:24 UTC

−7 points

8 comments1 min readLW link

Quantum Web Hypothesis (QWH): Exploring the Intersection of Human-AI Collaboration and Speculative Physics

SystematicApproach13 Aug 2024 18:01 UTC

1 point

0 comments9 min readLW link

Reality Testing

Ben Turtel13 Jul 2024 15:20 UTC

−2 points

1 comment6 min readLW link

(bturtel.substack.com)

The problem with psychology is that it has no theory.

Nicholas D.27 Jul 2024 19:36 UTC

2 points

7 comments4 min readLW link

(nicholasdecker.substack.com)

Collapsing “Collapsing the Belief/Knowledge Distinction”

Jeremias20 Sep 2024 16:11 UTC

3 points

0 comments4 min readLW link

Piling bounded arguments

momom219 Sep 2024 22:27 UTC

7 points

0 comments4 min readLW link

Solutions to problems with Bayesianism

B Jacobs31 Jul 2024 14:18 UTC

6 points

0 comments21 min readLW link

(bobjacobs.substack.com)

An Unmeasured Song of Measurement

jan Sijan21 Sep 2024 15:08 UTC

−3 points

0 comments4 min readLW link

Meno’s Paradox

Hudjefa8 Aug 2024 5:59 UTC

0 points

10 comments1 min readLW link

Gell-Mann checks

Cleo Scrolls26 Sep 2024 22:45 UTC

20 points

7 comments3 min readLW link

Information dark matter

Logan Kieller1 Oct 2024 15:05 UTC

33 points

4 comments28 min readLW link

(logankieller.substack.com)

AI: The Philosopher’s Stone of the 21st Century

HNX11 Oct 2024 16:55 UTC

0 points

2 comments29 min readLW link

(open.substack.com)

Inverse Problems In Everyday Life

silentbob15 Oct 2024 11:42 UTC

14 points

2 comments8 min readLW link

Your memory eventually drives confidence in each hypothesis to 1 or 0

Crazy philosopher28 Oct 2024 9:00 UTC

3 points

6 comments1 min readLW link

[Question] somebody explain the word “epistemic” to me

KvmanThinking28 Oct 2024 16:40 UTC

7 points

8 comments1 min readLW link

Truthseeking is the ground in which other principles grow

Elizabeth27 May 2024 1:09 UTC

242 points

16 comments16 min readLW link

Higher Order Signs, Hallucination and Schizophrenia

Nicolas Villarreal2 Nov 2024 16:33 UTC

3 points

0 comments13 min readLW link

(nicolasdvillarreal.substack.com)

Capabilities Denial: The Danger of Underestimating AI

Christopher King21 Mar 2023 1:24 UTC

6 points

5 comments3 min readLW link

Goal alignment without alignment on epistemology, ethics, and science is futile

Roman Leventov7 Apr 2023 8:22 UTC

20 points

2 comments2 min readLW link

[Question] Is it correct to frame alignment as “programming a good philosophy of meaning”?

Util7 Apr 2023 23:16 UTC

2 points

3 comments1 min readLW link

How Large Language Models Nuke our Naive Notions of Truth and Reality

Sean Lee17 Apr 2023 18:08 UTC

0 points

23 comments11 min readLW link

On urgency, priority and collective reaction to AI-Risks: Part I

Denreik16 Apr 2023 19:14 UTC

−10 points

15 comments5 min readLW link

An open letter to SERI MATS program organisers

Roman Leventov20 Apr 2023 16:34 UTC

26 points

26 comments4 min readLW link

z is not the cause of x

hrbigelow23 Oct 2023 17:43 UTC

6 points

2 comments9 min readLW link

Doubt Certainty

RationalDino2 Nov 2023 17:43 UTC

4 points

13 comments3 min readLW link

Good businesses create epistemic monopolies

Logan Kieller15 Nov 2023 14:04 UTC

−2 points

2 comments4 min readLW link

(logankieller.substack.com)

The impossibility of rationally analyzing partisan news

RationalDino16 Nov 2023 16:19 UTC

4 points

4 comments1 min readLW link

[Question] Accuracy of arguments that are seen as ridiculous and intuitively false but don’t have good counter-arguments

Christopher King29 Apr 2023 23:58 UTC

30 points

39 comments1 min readLW link

Mathematics as a lossy compression algorithm gone wild

Shmi6 Jun 2014 23:53 UTC

53 points

82 comments5 min readLW link

Chains, Bottlenecks and Optimization

curi21 Jul 2020 2:07 UTC

14 points

12 comments4 min readLW link

Bottleneck Examples

curi23 Jul 2020 18:23 UTC

11 points

0 comments9 min readLW link

[Question] Godel in second-order logic?

Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir26 Jul 2020 7:16 UTC

6 points

4 comments1 min readLW link

Undiscriminating Skepticism

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Mar 2010 23:23 UTC

137 points

1,361 comments9 min readLW link

“No evidence” as a Valley of Bad Rationality

Adam Zerner28 Mar 2020 23:45 UTC

106 points

21 comments2 min readLW link 1 review

Argument, intuition, and recursion

paulfchristiano5 Mar 2018 1:37 UTC

44 points

13 comments9 min readLW link 1 review

Weird question: could we see distant aliens?

paulfchristiano20 Apr 2018 6:40 UTC

31 points

78 comments3 min readLW link

What is Evidence?

Eliezer Yudkowsky22 Sep 2007 6:43 UTC

177 points

61 comments3 min readLW link

Against Modest Epistemology

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Nov 2017 20:40 UTC

71 points

48 comments15 min readLW link

Epistemic Luck

Alicorn8 Feb 2010 0:02 UTC

108 points

133 comments3 min readLW link

The Importance of Saying “Oops”

Eliezer Yudkowsky5 Aug 2007 3:17 UTC

250 points

35 comments2 min readLW link

The Skeptic’s Trilemma

Scott Alexander15 Mar 2009 0:12 UTC

84 points

15 comments5 min readLW link

Epistemic Viciousness

Eliezer Yudkowsky13 Mar 2009 23:33 UTC

106 points

93 comments3 min readLW link

Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom

Eliezer Yudkowsky8 Jul 2008 10:16 UTC

123 points

81 comments10 min readLW link

Infinite Certainty

Eliezer Yudkowsky9 Jan 2008 6:49 UTC

84 points

129 comments4 min readLW link

How Much Evidence Does It Take?

Eliezer Yudkowsky24 Sep 2007 4:06 UTC

149 points

33 comments4 min readLW link

The Fundamental Question—Rationality computer game design

Kaj_Sotala13 Feb 2013 13:45 UTC

61 points

68 comments9 min readLW link

The Pyramid And The Garden

Scott Alexander5 Nov 2016 6:03 UTC

53 points

12 comments7 min readLW link

In defence of epistemic modesty [distillation]

Luise10 May 2023 9:44 UTC

17 points

2 comments9 min readLW link

Novum Organum: Preface

Francis Bacon19 Sep 2019 22:51 UTC

54 points

5 comments7 min readLW link

The Principle of Predicted Improvement

Ronny Fernandez23 Apr 2019 21:21 UTC

70 points

17 comments3 min readLW link

Form Your Own Opinions

Ben Pace28 Apr 2018 19:50 UTC

34 points

1 comment4 min readLW link

[Question] Have epistemic conditions always been this bad?

Wei Dai25 Jan 2020 4:42 UTC

210 points

106 comments4 min readLW link 1 review

A Sketch of Answers for Physicalists

Chris_Leong14 Mar 2020 2:27 UTC

23 points

15 comments3 min readLW link

Argument Screens Off Authority

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Dec 2007 0:05 UTC

127 points

86 comments5 min readLW link

The absurdity of un-referenceable entities

jessicata14 Mar 2020 17:40 UTC

22 points

21 comments4 min readLW link

(unstableontology.com)

An Overview of Formal Epistemology (links)

lukeprog6 Jan 2011 19:57 UTC

63 points

5 comments1 min readLW link

Robin Hanson on Simple, Evidence Backed Models

Raemon16 Apr 2019 22:22 UTC

36 points

11 comments1 min readLW link

(www.overcomingbias.com)

The Tragedy of the Social Epistemology Commons

Roko21 May 2010 12:42 UTC

66 points

91 comments4 min readLW link

Fundamental Doubts

Eliezer Yudkowsky12 Jul 2008 5:21 UTC

38 points

87 comments4 min readLW link

But Somebody Would Have Noticed

Alicorn4 May 2010 18:56 UTC

38 points

258 comments4 min readLW link

This Territory Does Not Exist

ike13 Aug 2020 0:30 UTC

7 points

197 comments7 min readLW link

Many-worlds versus discrete knowledge

jessicata13 Aug 2020 18:35 UTC

20 points

27 comments1 min readLW link

(unstableontology.com)

Bayesian Flame

cousin_it26 Jul 2009 16:49 UTC

41 points

163 comments4 min readLW link

Common sense as a prior

Nick_Beckstead11 Aug 2013 18:18 UTC

56 points

215 comments27 min readLW link

You only need faith in two things

Eliezer Yudkowsky10 Mar 2013 23:45 UTC

46 points

86 comments2 min readLW link

Expert trap: What is it? (Part 1 of 3) – how hindsight, hierarchy, and confirmation biases break conductivity and accuracy of knowledge

Paweł Sysiak9 Jun 2023 23:00 UTC

6 points

2 comments8 min readLW link

Expert trap: Why is it happening? (Part 2 of 3) – how hindsight, hierarchy, and confirmation biases break conductivity and accuracy of knowledge

Paweł Sysiak9 Jun 2023 23:00 UTC

3 points

0 comments7 min readLW link

cloud seeding doesn’t work

bhauth10 Jun 2023 5:14 UTC

7 points

2 comments1 min readLW link

The Importance of Judging: A Reflection on Rational Thought

CrimsonChin20 Jun 2023 22:49 UTC

2 points

0 comments4 min readLW link

Natural Laws Are Descriptions, not Rules

pragmatist8 Aug 2012 4:27 UTC

33 points

237 comments9 min readLW link

Individual vs. Group Epistemic Rationality

Wei Dai2 Mar 2010 21:46 UTC

33 points

54 comments2 min readLW link

[LINK] Why taking ideas seriously is probably a bad thing to do

David_Gerard5 Jan 2013 23:37 UTC

31 points

39 comments1 min readLW link

Frugality and working from finite data

Snowyowl3 Sep 2010 9:37 UTC

35 points

47 comments4 min readLW link

Epistemology and the Psychology of Human Judgment

badger28 May 2011 5:15 UTC

44 points

9 comments11 min readLW link

Quantitative cruxes in Alignment

Martín Soto2 Jul 2023 20:38 UTC

19 points

0 comments23 min readLW link

Sources of evidence in Alignment

Martín Soto2 Jul 2023 20:38 UTC

20 points

0 comments11 min readLW link

Look Under the Light Post

Gordon Seidoh Worley16 Jul 2018 22:19 UTC

22 points

8 comments4 min readLW link

Definitions are about efficiency and consistency with common language.

Nacruno9610 Jul 2023 23:46 UTC

1 point

0 comments4 min readLW link

Some clarifications concerning my “many weak arguments” post

JonahS7 Jun 2013 19:34 UTC

8 points

2 comments4 min readLW link

The Short Case for Verificationism

ike11 Sep 2020 18:48 UTC

6 points

57 comments1 min readLW link

Kenshō

Valentine20 Jan 2018 0:12 UTC

73 points

296 comments6 min readLW link

Epistemic Tenure

Scott Garrabrant18 Feb 2019 22:56 UTC

89 points

27 comments3 min readLW link

Expert trap – Ways out (Part 3 of 3)

Paweł Sysiak22 Jul 2023 13:06 UTC

4 points

0 comments9 min readLW link

“Not Necessarily”

Benjamin Hendricks31 Jul 2023 15:19 UTC

24 points

2 comments2 min readLW link

Kolmogorov’s theory of Algorithmic Probability

Aidan Rocke3 Aug 2023 0:58 UTC

5 points

2 comments2 min readLW link

(keplerlounge.com)

Real Meaning of life has been found. Eliezer discovered it in 2000′s.

Jorterder9 Aug 2023 18:13 UTC

−15 points

1 comment1 min readLW link

(docs.google.com)

Memetic Judo #1: On Doomsday Prophets v.3

Max TK18 Aug 2023 0:14 UTC

25 points

17 comments3 min readLW link

Memetic Judo #2: Incorporal Switches and Levers Compendium

Max TK14 Aug 2023 16:53 UTC

19 points

6 comments17 min readLW link

The Universe Doesn’t Have to Play Nice

Chris_Leong6 Jan 2020 2:08 UTC

21 points

8 comments2 min readLW link

Listen For What You Don’t Hear: The Case for Contrarianism

Yashvardhan Sharma14 Aug 2023 2:53 UTC

1 point

1 comment5 min readLW link

Memetic Judo #3: The Intelligence of Stochastic Parrots v.2

Max TK20 Aug 2023 15:18 UTC

8 points

33 comments6 min readLW link

“Dirty concepts” in AI alignment discourses, and some guesses for how to deal with them

Nora_Ammann and peckzy

20 Aug 2023 9:13 UTC

65 points

4 comments3 min readLW link

Separate the truth from your wishes

Jacob G-W23 Aug 2023 0:52 UTC

6 points

3 comments1 min readLW link

(jacobgw.com)

The Epistemic Authority of Deep Learning Pioneers

Dylan Bowman29 Aug 2023 18:14 UTC

8 points

2 comments3 min readLW link

Bead Jar Guesses

Alicorn4 May 2009 18:59 UTC

22 points

134 comments2 min readLW link

More thoughts on assertions

Scott Alexander25 Mar 2010 1:39 UTC

28 points

31 comments6 min readLW link

Raven Paradox Revisited

Chris_Leong15 Apr 2018 0:08 UTC

5 points

12 comments2 min readLW link

Hygienic Anecdotes

badger29 Mar 2009 5:46 UTC

10 points

11 comments1 min readLW link

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