If you would care to be bitten by a rabid skunk or raccoon and so verify the non existence of such a virus? I will be interested to observe your experiment.
The suggestion to commit suicide via rabies was aimed at the person quoted here:
"the actual existence of viruses is actually looking like a scam in and of itself, for about 150 years, now, for the sake of pocket-linings. The study of virology is a shameful scam of unscientific nonsense, it seems clear to me."
Yes, harsh and hasty. I've grown short tempered with those who learned their virology from YouTube University and/or have a political stance causing them to say such things.
As far as the suggested reading? I skimmed it. Yes, there are a good number of people who might benefit from the range of concepts you condensed into that piece.
One of my parents had a PhD in physics, the other has a PhD in psychology. I usually read my rather undemanding public school lessons & books with a lot of time to spare, my parents books were plentiful and I liked to read. This lead to... interesting interactions with my (1960s - 70s, small town in Midwestern USA) highschool teachers. Those in charge of telling true lies to children?
I did not grow up without internalizing the inevitable relationship between my "personal algorithms" and the real(ish) universe I've dimly apprehended a few swatches of with my limited senses and processed with an evolutionarily skewed neural network, overlaid by my (somewhat less than optimal?) educational & socialization based programing.
Oh yeah, I'm aware of Dunning Kreuger (your stated interpretation is not exactly mine, but still!) and I do understand the utility of Feynman's tactic. Yes, I do try to just be "less wrong". And catch me on a bad day, I'll still be tempted to haul up the Jolly Roger and start slitting throats...
-----------
May I suggest some light reading to you? See if you can guess why this series appealed to me (warning, 123 chapters. First 5 should give the flavor).
"World domination is such an ugly phrase. I prefer to call it world optimisation."
The author is Eliezer Yudkowski. If you had not run up against him before, he's been involved with theoretical work on AI safety (which should be much on people's minds of late) and "rationality" (see "less wrong").
Another quote from elsewhere:
"The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else."
Surely EVERYONE is apprehensive of what the World would be like if AI is extensively employed. Disturbing, but interesting for the moment, as it feels sufficiently remote (at my age).
AI is being extensively employed already, largely for warfare. Which should not be a great surprise, considering war has driven a huge % of technical innovation these last 200 years or so-
State level actors quite definitely are using AI for work like front running influence/mis/dis information ops on line to sculpt public opinion (information warfare, it is happening right here on Substack as we write). Also to allow suicide drones self selection of and initiation of attacks without "man in the loop" on targets beyond "first person video" control ranges and despite battle front ECM/jamming of the first generation levels of FPV drone weaponry. Yes, "Terminator" is another step closer to reality, the day they automate the weapons factories with AI in charge, things nay become "interesting"?
AI is certainly being used to interpret every kind of data a technically competent military or government would be interested in, from satellite reconnaissance to social media trends/emerging "meat sack influencers"/counterintelligence/surveillance. # of human eyes available to the warden is no longer a constraint, welcome to the Panopticon.
That scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where the heroine discovers she is INSIDE a ghost story? "You're in it". But it's a dystopian science fiction story, I'm afraid. Possibly by an edgy author who doesn't DO happy endings...
i would be asking you to go and look after an ebola patient without any protection and get back to me, but i wouldnt expect to see you again :/
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/esmallpox/biohazard_alibek.pdf
(Tongue -inhcheek, I'm sure ... but I must just make sure you appreciate that I said that I didn't know, not that I believed they didn't exist.)
If you would care to be bitten by a rabid skunk or raccoon and so verify the non existence of such a virus? I will be interested to observe your experiment.
There is a difference between not believing things and disbelieving things. For a full, informative account, see (read or listen to)
https://whatdoino.substack.com/p/coping-with-disagreement-and-being?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
One commenter described it as life-changing!
@Jonathan Reece
The suggestion to commit suicide via rabies was aimed at the person quoted here:
"the actual existence of viruses is actually looking like a scam in and of itself, for about 150 years, now, for the sake of pocket-linings. The study of virology is a shameful scam of unscientific nonsense, it seems clear to me."
Yes, harsh and hasty. I've grown short tempered with those who learned their virology from YouTube University and/or have a political stance causing them to say such things.
As far as the suggested reading? I skimmed it. Yes, there are a good number of people who might benefit from the range of concepts you condensed into that piece.
One of my parents had a PhD in physics, the other has a PhD in psychology. I usually read my rather undemanding public school lessons & books with a lot of time to spare, my parents books were plentiful and I liked to read. This lead to... interesting interactions with my (1960s - 70s, small town in Midwestern USA) highschool teachers. Those in charge of telling true lies to children?
I did not grow up without internalizing the inevitable relationship between my "personal algorithms" and the real(ish) universe I've dimly apprehended a few swatches of with my limited senses and processed with an evolutionarily skewed neural network, overlaid by my (somewhat less than optimal?) educational & socialization based programing.
Oh yeah, I'm aware of Dunning Kreuger (your stated interpretation is not exactly mine, but still!) and I do understand the utility of Feynman's tactic. Yes, I do try to just be "less wrong". And catch me on a bad day, I'll still be tempted to haul up the Jolly Roger and start slitting throats...
-----------
May I suggest some light reading to you? See if you can guess why this series appealed to me (warning, 123 chapters. First 5 should give the flavor).
https://hpmor.com/chapter/1
I'm impressed you had a look: thanks.
I find that the impression of urbane rationalism I try to cultivate is sometimes shown to be a veneer by my temper!
iv had a quick glance at your suggestion, before bed: it looks ambitious and fun. Thank you.
(quote)
"World domination is such an ugly phrase. I prefer to call it world optimisation."
The author is Eliezer Yudkowski. If you had not run up against him before, he's been involved with theoretical work on AI safety (which should be much on people's minds of late) and "rationality" (see "less wrong").
Another quote from elsewhere:
"The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else."
Surely EVERYONE is apprehensive of what the World would be like if AI is extensively employed. Disturbing, but interesting for the moment, as it feels sufficiently remote (at my age).
AI is being extensively employed already, largely for warfare. Which should not be a great surprise, considering war has driven a huge % of technical innovation these last 200 years or so-
State level actors quite definitely are using AI for work like front running influence/mis/dis information ops on line to sculpt public opinion (information warfare, it is happening right here on Substack as we write). Also to allow suicide drones self selection of and initiation of attacks without "man in the loop" on targets beyond "first person video" control ranges and despite battle front ECM/jamming of the first generation levels of FPV drone weaponry. Yes, "Terminator" is another step closer to reality, the day they automate the weapons factories with AI in charge, things nay become "interesting"?
AI is certainly being used to interpret every kind of data a technically competent military or government would be interested in, from satellite reconnaissance to social media trends/emerging "meat sack influencers"/counterintelligence/surveillance. # of human eyes available to the warden is no longer a constraint, welcome to the Panopticon.
That scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where the heroine discovers she is INSIDE a ghost story? "You're in it". But it's a dystopian science fiction story, I'm afraid. Possibly by an edgy author who doesn't DO happy endings...