The rationalist murders
newhumanist.org.uk
Several killings have been linked to a movement that calls itself “rationalist”. But what do they really believe?

despite the error of postulating that Luigi was there for the CEO’s coincidental bullet-involved collision, when he was at bible study with me, and you

  • blakestacey@awful.systemsMEnglish
    8·
    20 days ago

    The gateway into the online rationalist world is often effective altruism, which is grounded in the genuinely reasonable idea that those who donate to charity should get the most bang for their buck. […] The focus of the movement shifted to existential concerns around humanity’s survival, such as multi-planet living (so humanity could survive the end of Earth), and artificial intelligence – both to ensure it doesn’t wipe out humanity once it emerges, but also to make sure it does emerge, because of a belief in its massive potential to fix our societal issues.

    As so often happens, this downplays the extent to which the batshit was within them all along.

    That included a piece of rationalist Harry Potter fan fiction, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, written by the controversial AI theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky, which deconstructs the contradictions of the wizarding world.

    “AI theorist” really does just mean “guy who makes shit up”, doesn’t it? And that seems a generous description of HPMoR, which was really more about inventing problems that the HP books didn’t have while ignoring those that they did, since it was really based on fan wikis instead.

    • Soyweiser@awful.systemsEnglish
      3·
      19 days ago

      As so often happens, this downplays the extent to which the batshit was within them all along.

      Yep, i mean the whole thing started because an economics blogger convinced Yud to start his own site, and that blogger is the source of the great filter idea. (Or at least the farming, the idea precedes him). It started with Robin Hanson. This fear of being destroyed before we take our place in the stars has been in the LW community from the start.