Break it all down
Epistemic note: This essay conflates two related concepts, the tendency of humans to build civilization by exploiting Nature’s rules and the vulnerability of that same civilization to exploits in turn, under one name. I’d like a better name for these two concepts and am open to suggestions. There is a kind of mindset that pays … Read more
To avoid spoilers, skip the first section. Twenty Chapters in Twenty Sentences A boy named Milo feels lost and listless, until one day he opens a mysterious package containing a cardboard tollbooth and a one-sentence note. He drives his toy automobile through and finds himself in another world. He meets a curious dog named Tock, … Read more
You are a wise member of the proud and noble Clan Auran. You bear no love for your ancient enemies in Clan Irgentum, but nonetheless you hope to end the feud, because in your wisdom you know that violence begets only more violence. But you also know that among your family are rash young idealists … Read more
Yesterday I described an experience that impressed upon fifteen-year-old me the importance of speaking with urgency and courage when something awful is happening. I lived a fresh reminder of the importance of courage last week at PauseCon, a first-of-its-kind conference in Washington, DC run by PauseAI US. I was there in a personal capacity, and … Read more
The summer before my freshman year of high school, I attended a science-themed summer camp at the University of Florida. It was a cool week! I stood on top of a nuclear reactor. I accidentally sabotaged a lesson on overfishing and tragedy of the commons by independently reinventing the concept of community governance. (And militias. … Read more
Our civilization spends trillions of dollars each year on medicine to keep people alive. It seems to work pretty well; we live something like twice as long as our ancestors did, and although those years often face more limits than those of youth, it’s plain that living longer, healthier lives is worth pursuing. I don’t … Read more
Not so un-Noahble after all Noahpinion wrote a post about AI; by the confluence of AI doom discourse and terrible pun, I have been summoned and I answer. First, points of agreement. Noah is worried about AI-driven bioterrorism. Hard agree. Novel pathogens are scary, and we’ve already seen that global readiness for even ordinary pandemics … Read more
Yesterday, due to a clerical error, Amanda and I came within a week of losing our house. I.From our perspective, it began with a letter in mid-November. TAX SALE NOTICE, the letter said. It was from our local municipality, and it said we owed $400 for “Utility”. If we didn’t pay it, they’d sell our … Read more
I seem to be unusually resilient to heartbreak. I once had the following conversation with someone I seriously considered marrying (paraphrased, but as honestly as memory allows): Her: I don’t think this is going to work out. I think we need to break up. I’m sorry.Me: That sucks. But if you really think so, thanks … Read more
A senior Pentagon official was quoted yesterday saying “We’re going to invest in autonomous killer robots.” That is, perhaps, an alarming sentence to hear. The real threat is not the robots, however, but the autonomy. Quote in full: This administration cares about weapon systems and business systems and not ‘technologies.’ We’re not going to be … Read more