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Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

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Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#251

Post by wizzwizz4 »

mncharity wrote: post #220
jjmarr wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No learning linear systems without learning how to do linear approximation of systems in a mostly non-linear world. That's why Common Core trains kids on estimation from Grade 2. Instead of adding 12 + 23 = 35, you add 10 + 20 = 30 to get a number close to the right answer. This plants the idea "I can simplified numbers to get the answer if I don't need the last digit, which lets me solve problems faster". Which ge…

Nod. A random TIL from Friday, courtesy to qwen.ai: In contrast to USA educational estimation, which emphasizes point estimates, China reportedly emphasizes directional estimation to establish an envelope, upper and lower (strict) bounds - Da Gu and Xiao Gu. I've long though we'd be better off doing incremental bounding, hard and soft, in part because the group discourse dynamics are so much better. "Ok, who can sugg…

This kind of market shopping is common in grant-funded domains. There's a project that you know is a good, but nobody wants to pay for it… but grant body X will pay for component A, which can be slightly modified into component A' which grant body Y will be enthused by, and fund components B, C and D; and component C isn't very useful, but you can make sure to develop a generic architecture that makes implementing component E easy, and now you have a basic BEAD product…

A little more effort than VC-funded work, but there are fewer strings attached.

Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#252

Post by ETH_start »

flir wrote: post #179
ETH_start wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not making a normative claim. I'm saying that the narrative in the article — that the private sector has taken over functions of the government and the government has been in retreat — is exactly the opposite of what the statistics show.

Fair enough. But why stats from 1950?

The end of World War II to the present is a fairly stable regime, so it can be instructive to see what changed over the course of that era.

In any case, no matter what two points of time you choose, you see the role of government in society increase, whether you want to look at government spending as a share of GDP or the compliance costs paid by corporations as a share of the revenue or the percentage of the workforce who specialize in navigating government-constructed regulations.

Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#253

Post by avmich »

beloch wrote: post #247
techblueberry wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I listened to a few Marc Andreesen interviews and occasioned some Thiel talks, and one thing I realized is the difference between philosophy as obligation or compass and philosophy as tool. I realized that when Marc Andreesen said things - specifically he was talking about the political realignment after the 2024 election. He wasn’t making an observation. He was manifesting - to borrow a new age term. It wasn’t propa…

This is simply speaking of something you wish to be true as though it already were. It's a very old trick of con artists. People make bad assumptions about the ultra-rich. e.g. "We should listen carefully to whatever Elon Musk says because he had to be really smart and wise to have become the world's richest man!" No. He was unethical, opportunistic, and very, very lucky. What he says is frequently imbecilic. Every b…

Why don't you think that those successful people - or at least some of them - are also very smart?

Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#254

Post by lostmsu »

jfengel wrote: post #61
epgui wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of “shallow philosophy” seems more like “pseudo-philosophy”. I feel like a lot of people just take “thoughts” and label that philosophy.

People really don't get how poorly freshman philosophy presents the field. It's not even a survey of an introduction to a prologue. So every passing thought feels like "philosophy".

State of the art of philosophy is IMHO Popper and scientific method.

Everything that came after is BS, everything that came before is obsolete.

Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#256

Post by zombot »

> what dominates today is this 19th-century notion of technological progress as the only kind of progress, and therefore all technological change is progress, as opposed to — objectively, it’s only progress if things are getting better.

And, worse, our technological change has converged to enshittification on all fronts, but it's still called progress. The idea that it's only progress if things are getting better is actively being fought against.

Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#257

Post by KPGv2 »

lisper wrote: post #239
KPGv2 wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it has no criterion for separating the wheat from the chaff This comment does nothing but make you look ignorant.

Then by all means please do enlighten me: what is that criterion?

You're basically pointing at RFK Jr's speeches and saying, "See? Biology is bullshit."

I trust you are smart enough to immediately extrapolate more than I would be able to type in the same amount of time.

That being said, I don't get the feeling you're acting in good faith, which is why I'm not spending more time on this.

Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#258

Post by [deleted] »

defrost wrote: post #237
KPGv2 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's ironically telling about your opinion on philosophy that your argument is illogical and boils down to: 1. people who aren't philosophers said some bullshit 2. don't you dare point out people who don't do philosophy shouldn't have their ramblings labeled philosophy Ayn Rand, a 20th century writer without a university education; Paul Graham, a computer scientist; and the Austrian School, an economics movem…

> Neither Rand nor Graham is educationally equipped to plumb that depth In his defence, Graham does hold a BA (Philosophy) from Cornell University in 1986. Is your distaste here due to BA degrees rather than PhDs, a dislike of Cornell, or that Graham didn't chase academic philosophy and join a philosophy department?

[deleted]

Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#259

Post by KPGv2 »

lisper wrote: post #240
KPGv2 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's ironically telling about your opinion on philosophy that your argument is illogical and boils down to: 1. people who aren't philosophers said some bullshit 2. don't you dare point out people who don't do philosophy shouldn't have their ramblings labeled philosophy Ayn Rand, a 20th century writer without a university education; Paul Graham, a computer scientist; and the Austrian School, an economics movem…

> people who aren't philosophers said some bullshit Wow, I didn't expect to be vindicated quite so definitively when I predicted: "The most likely outcome of that exercise would be for you to invoke the no-true-scotsman fallacy." > That's no a No True Scotsman fallacy. It absolutely is: > the definition of philosophy, a deep analysis of certain specific topics. I see nothing in that definition about writing in a part…

> You exclude economics and computer science from your list of "certain topics" but you don't say what topics are allowed or on what basis this assessment of admissibility is to be made

Oh, so you're not at all engaging in good faith. Thanks for wasting my time. It breaks credulity when you try to argue that economics is a field of philosophy in some attempt to demonstrate I'm engaging in a NTS fallacy.

Re: Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

#260

Post by Gud »

lovich wrote: post #201
hibikir wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At which point, GDP growth sinks like a rock, and those rich people become poorer in absolute terms. It's the typical outcome in the vast majority of autocracies. It's all over development economics literature, based on purely empirical studies. There's little reason to believe that the US is somehow an outlier. Weaken trust in the system, go from a system of laws to a system of deals, and watch growth go away, with…

> At which point, GDP growth sinks like a rock, and those rich people become poorer in absolute terms. While I think these guys have an addiction to wealth, I also think they are even more addicted to having more than anyone else. I’m like 80/20 on if these guys would take living in the medieval era but we’re the king or emperor vs being a regular citizen in a Star Trek level of technology and post scarcity society.…

There is no way these individuals would want to be demoted to "regular citizen" in Star Trek compared to being a medieval feudal lord. You don't even have to make them emperors.
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