Index funds have been recommended on LW before. I have a hard time understanding how it would work investing in one, though. Do you actually own the separate stocks on the index of the index fund, or do you technically own something else? Where does the dividend money go?
Nectanebo
Karma: 470
Took the survey. I always feel like I did the last one only recently.
One of the better AMAs I’ve read.
Peter is an interesting guy. Is his book worth reading?
If their ideas of friendliness are incompatible with each other, perhaps a conflict? Superintelligent war? It may be the case that one will be ‘stronger’ than the other, and that there will be a winner-take-all(-of-the-universe?) resolution?
If there is some compatibility, perhaps a merge, a la Three Worlds Collide?
Or maybe they co-operate, try not to interfere with each other? This would be more unlikely if they are in competition for something or other (matter?), but more likely if they have difficulties assessing risks to not co-operating, or if there is mutually assured destruction?
It’s a fun question, but I mean, Vinge had that event horizon idea, about how fundamentally unpredictable things are for us mere humans when we’re talking about hypothetical intelligences of this caliber, and I think he had a pretty good point on that. This question is taking a few extra steps beyond that, even.
Isn’t this kind of thing a subset of the design space of minds post? Like, we don’t know exactly what kind of intelligence could end up exploding and there are lots of different possible variations?
Apart from the fact that they wouldn’t say anything (because generally animals can’t speak our languages ;)), nature can be pretty bloody brutal. There are plenty of situations in which our species’ existence has made the lives of other animals much better than they would otherwise be. I’m thinking of veterinary clinics that often perform work on wild animals, pets that don’t have to be worried about predation, that kind of thing. Also I think there are probably a lot of species that have done alright for themselves since humans showed up, animals like crows and the equivalents in their niche around the world seem to do quite well in urban environments.
As someone who cares about animal suffering, is sympathetic to vegetarianism and veganism, and even somewhat sympathetic to more radical ideas like eradicating the world’s predators, I think that humanity represents a very real possibility to decrease suffering including animal suffering in the world, especially as we grow in our ability to shape the world in the way we choose. Certainly, I think that humanity’s existence provides real hope in this direction, remembering that the alternative is for animals to continue to suffer on nature’s whims perhaps indefinitely, rather than ours perhaps temporarily.
Yeah, I was thinking of Goertzel as well.
So you don’t think MIRI’s work is all that useful? What probability would you assign to hard-takeoff happening of the speed they’re worried about?
So is this is roughly one aspect of why MIRI’s position on AI safety concerns are different to similar parties? - that they’re generally more sympathetic to possibilities futher away from 1 than their peers? I don’t really know, but that’s what the pebblesorters/value-is-fragile strain of thinking seems to suggest for me.
All the more reason to try to only consume finished works.
I agree with the sentiment because it’s frustrating not being able to complete something right away, but with AnH I really did enjoy following it month by month. I think that some pieces of entertainment are suited to that style of consumption and are fun to follow, even if they don’t turn out to be very good in the end and aren’t worth it for those who would go back and consume it all at once.
I really liked it. I think it’s one of the best pieces of fiction I’ve ever read, I genuinely feel that strongly about it.
Can’t wait for whatever you write next.
The Metropolitan Man is finally complete. If you still haven’t read it and you’re on this site, I recommend you do. You likely won’t regret it.
This story was recommended in the last two media threads:
policy-makers and research funders will begin to respond to the AGI safety challenge, just like they began to respond to… synbio developments in the 2010s.
What are we referring to here? As in, what synbio developments and how did they respond to it?
I’m going to need some more examples, this sounds like it could be something but I’m not seeing how I could actually apply the concept to a situation.
I watched Shiki recently. I have no idea what I was doing to miss it back when it was airing in 2010, but I’m glad I eventually got to it. The quality of writing is unusually good for an anime, and I think it touches on a bunch of lw-relevant themes which is why I’m mentioning it here. I would hate to spoil anything for anyone so I won’t go into any details, but I definitely recommend a watch.
Some things you might be glad to be forewarned of before starting: a common complaint appears to be that this show has a slow start, so being aware of this might help. I would say that this is probably not a show you can make accurate judgements about based on only having seen a few early episodes. Also, the character design is a bit wacky. I like it and it helps to distinguish each individual in what is a large cast of characters, but regardless some may find it offputting. Finally, there are 2 bonus episodes (the ‘specials’) that originally came with the BD/DVD releases that you wouldn’t want to miss if you really liked the show proper.
p.s. I watched the coalgirls release (Japanese audio, 1080p). It was acceptable, if a bit bloated in terms of filesize.
I thought this was a wonderful post. Funny, made a bunch of lw-relevant points, and was informative in a summatory way on a particular topic. The story wasn’t that great, but I guess the post as a whole worked, so maybe I’m not giving it enough credit as an important set-up piece.
It’s a shame, but none of the extended strategies appeal to me very much, including for many reasons other than how dubiously viable they sounded. Then again, I’m not yet signed up for cryonics either, so that suggests I’m not as into revival strategies so much as a whole. I did take issue with the suggestion that people signed up for cryonics don’t pursue other life extension strategies, but since the topic seems centred on revival-based strats then if we assume that particular comment is made in that context, then I think it’s still a somewhat valid point. In any case, the people trying to meet “actuarial escape velocities” and the like would balk at the initial formulation’s suggestion. There are plenty of people trying plenty of different things in the attempt to live forever, and cryonics is often but one of many of the cards in their hand.
What would you consider the “very basics”?
there are a lot of misconceptions in this regard.
What are some of the most blatant? Sorry to ask a question so similar to Squark’s.
That is not my understanding.
Vote up if you think they are either overconfident or underconfident in their belief: any disagreement is valid disagreement.
I upvoted, mostly because of how low the estimate of the second claim was. I’m a bit more confident than that. The other factor was the “human-enough-way” phrasing.
It was a little difficult to choose how to vote because you put two fairly distinct claims in one post.
Many believe that the anime is a poor adaptation of the manga, or at the very least that the manga is the best medium the story is told in. What do you think about the subject?
Thanks for the detailed response. The link was very good, too.