• 22 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 6th, 2023

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  • It’s a really good article. This part stuck out to me:

    If you are seriously, legitimately concerned that an emergent technology is about to exterminate humanity within the next three years, wouldn’t you find yourself compelled to do more than argue with the converted about the particular elements of your end times scenario? Some folks were involved in pushing for SB 1047, but that stalled out; now what? Aren’t you starting an all-out effort to pressure those companies to shut down their operations ASAP? That all these folks are under the same roof for three days, and no one’s being confronted, or being made uncomfortable, or being protested—not even a little bit—is some of the best evidence I’ve seen that all the handwringing over AI Safety and x-risk really is just the sort of amped-up cosplaying its critics accuse it of being.





  • That’s a question I ask myself sometimes. It usually ends with “I focused too much on trying to make easy cash”.

    I studied computer science because I was a huge computer nerd growing up. I always loved programming and learning everything I could about how computers worked. Learning new programming languages felt like uncovering a new universe of knowledge – knowledge I could use to create things. I spent endless hours studying computers and learning to do amazing things with them. It was fun. It still is.

    So when I see people using LLMs to create things instead of doing it themselves, I can’t relate. Why do that when you can get the pleasure from doing it yourself? I guess if making money is the primary motivating factor, then it makes sense. But for me it is totally self-defeating.


  • In the case of O’Connor and people like him, I think it’s about much more than his philosophy background. He’s a YouTube creator who creates content on a regular schedule and makes a living off it. Once you start doing that, you’re exposed to all the horrible incentives of the YouTube engagement algorithm, which inevitably leads you to start seeking out other controversial YouTubers to platform and become friendly with. It’s an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” situation dialed up to 11.

    The same thing has happened to Sabine herself. She’s been captured by the algorithm, which has naturally shifted her audience to the right, and now she’s been fully captured by that new audience.

    I fully expect Alex O’Connor to remain on this treadmill. <remind me in 12months>