Unrelated but I really wish there were an easier way to read PDFs on mobile devices.
I made the web version optimized to use with mobile reader mode
The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
11–20 of 164 posts
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#12So when I think “every important thing in my life is scarce”, that is just incorrect imagination? 11 billion people can live on a lake with perfect child and health care?
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#13I am happy to see discussion of the them here though I'm not in complete agreement with the article.
One interesting quote: "The question of “Alignment” then is an Absurd question - as humanity cannot align internally due to our structural impediments"
I agree in the sense that I think "alignment" is a poor conceptualization of the problem of avoiding destructive AGIs. But I don't think the conclusion here is you don't have to worry about destructive AGIs. I mean, if an AGIs could be constructed by present day "training" - feeding large swaths of data so it had average qualities of human but it's behavior was underpredictable, then it's change of acting with awful malice would be quite high. Because humans often act that way, social/societal are the primary limits to this and an entity of this sort might effectively not have those limits.
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#14[deleted]
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#15At some point in population growth you run out of land to grow food on. Surely, there are limits?
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#16I prefer the Forward to the UNEP 2024 Global Resources Outlook (181 pages): Natural resources are the basis on which all economies and societies are built, making their sustainable management critical to ending poverty and reducing inequalities. They are also essential to drive the transition to net-zero. To stay below a 2°C temperature rise by 2050, we will need over three billion tonnes of energy transition mineral…
Extreme taxes on luxury physical goods? How can these goals be reached?
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#17At some point in population growth you run out of land to grow food on. Surely, there are limits?
We're already well past that point now given the volume of nonrenewable inputs required to sustain current agricultural yields.
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#18So when I think “every important thing in my life is scarce”, that is just incorrect imagination? 11 billion people can live on a lake with perfect child and health care?
Living on a lake is a prestige goal, not a requirement for existence. There is no meaningful scarcity at tier 1 of Maslow's hierarchy.
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#19I cannot think of an audience that needs to hear this more than Hacker News.
I cannot think of an audience more primed to ignore every word of this than Hacker News. See also: the lakehouse guy upthread.
Re: The Myth of Scarcity and Its Threats to Human Society [pdf] (2023)
#20Pure ideology.