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Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

futureofhumanityinstitute.org

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Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#231

Post by stainablesteel »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #82
stainablesteel wrote: post #25

i'm honestly glad, there seems to be a lot of places that may as well be called "the institute of impending doom for all of humanity" and i just don't care for this fear-based grant entrenchment, it gets us nowhere. people who are pioneering the front lines of any technology understand risk better than people who write about it

> people who are pioneering the front lines of any technology understand risk better than people who write about it That's far from guaranteed, and we have a long history of lessons written in blood that says otherwise. The people pioneering a technology are going to be self-selected to be the most optimistic about its potential and the most dismissive of its negative impacts.

this isn't chemistry in the 1800s this is computer science

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#232

Post by frozenseven »

nybsjytm wrote: post #208
esafak wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not read any paper by Tegmark that seems hacky: https://arxiv.org/search/cs?searchtype=author&query=Tegmark,... Could you point to some?

Before turning to AI, Tegmark's claim to public fame was his "mathematical universe" hypothesis, which is complete drivel

>"mathematical universe" hypothesis, which is complete drivel

How so? I would like to hear your argument.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#233

Post by exo-pla-net »

gizajob wrote: post #151
IncreasePosts wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if these people ever paused to consider they aren't as smart as they think they are, if they're just figuring out some basics of human communication in their mid 20s that my 8 year old has known for years.

Bostrom has always had the air of knowing he’s phenomenally intelligent and absolutely brilliant and almost certainly the smartest person in any room. Yet his work smacks of grind and storytelling rather than genius.

[flagged]

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#234

Post by StressedDev »

arduanika wrote: post #92

Good riddance to these ideologues. It's a shame that the announcement shows no trace of remorse for the crimes they inspired (e.g. at FTX) or the lives that have been ruined by the cults to which they lent academic legitimacy. Instead, their demise is chalked up to some bland moaning about "administrative headwinds". Realistically, we're probably only looking at a brief respite before they regroup under some other be…

I really don't think you can blame Effective Alterism (EA) or these guy for FTX. FTX was a fraud and it occurred because Sam Bankman-Fried used customer money to prop up his failing investment company (Almeada Research). To be blunt he stole from his customers to try and prop up a failing business. He also lied, used customer money to fund a lavish lifestyle, used customer money to donate to political causes, etc.

Basically, I doubt Effective Altruism condoned stealing from people to prop up businesses, fund personal causes, and enrich oneself.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#235

Post by StressedDev »

arduanika wrote: post #149
rurp wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite a leap to assume that SBF only turned to a life of crime because the EA movement lured him into it. There are legitimate criticisms of EA and I'm not personally a follower of the movement but your post comes off as way too generally dismissive. Many of the people involved seem to have good intentions and a lot of money has been donated to objectively good causes. The longtermism stuff is more squishy, but…

> to assume that SBF only turned to a life of crime because the EA movement lured him into it. It's not an assumption. It's a matter of record, understood by anyone who knows the basics of the FTX saga. SBF is a lifelong utilitarian, and his co-conspirators were also committed EAs. Anyone who obscures that fact is abetting the campaign of obfuscation. > Many of the people involved seem to have good intentions Yup. Th…

The grandparent poster stated that "grandparent poster statement that "to assume that SBF only turned to a life of crime because the EA movement lured him into it." and you responded "It's not an assumption. It's a matter of record, understood by anyone who knows the basics of the FTX saga. SBF is a lifelong utilitarian, and his co-conspirators were also committed EAs. Anyone who obscures that fact is abetting the campaign of obfuscation." Your response never responded to the grandparent's statement because you never showed which parts of Effective Altruism encouraged crime. Instead, you showed that the FTX criminals claimed they believed in Effective Altruism.

Every movement, religion, organization, company, and government has bad apples. Just because Sam Bankman-Fried and his executives said they followed Effective Altruism does not mean they really did. Could you please cite some evidence that the Effective Altruism belief encourages crime? Also, could you please explain why a belief or movement should be judged by what a few members do?

I am making this post because I do not like seeing groups, organizations, and movements blamed for what a few members do. It's unjust and unhelpful.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#236

Post by gizajob »

exo-pla-net wrote: post #233
gizajob wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bostrom has always had the air of knowing he’s phenomenally intelligent and absolutely brilliant and almost certainly the smartest person in any room. Yet his work smacks of grind and storytelling rather than genius.

[flagged]

The fuck are you on about

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#237

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

stainablesteel wrote: post #231
mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people who are pioneering the front lines of any technology understand risk better than people who write about it That's far from guaranteed, and we have a long history of lessons written in blood that says otherwise. The people pioneering a technology are going to be self-selected to be the most optimistic about its potential and the most dismissive of its negative impacts.

this isn't chemistry in the 1800s this is computer science

What does that matter?

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#239

Post by sandspar »

malfist wrote: post #130
itronitron wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The additional context you provide suggests that the smear was taken out of context in order to hide the fact that the smear was in fact covering a skid mark over a shit stain.

Yeah, I don't get how that context makes anything better. All it says to me is Bostrom is trying to claim he's not racist because he knows his racist view will get him called a racist and therefor he's not racist. The argument doesn't make sense. You don't get to claim your view that black people are inferior to "mankind" isn't racist just because someone calls you a racist

He said that black people have lower IQ, which is true. You are the one who translated that to "black people are inferior". You are the one who is equating intelligence with superiority. You are projecting this belief onto him. Reasonable people can simultaneously believe two truths: "black people have lower IQ" and "black people are not inferior".

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#240

Post by sandspar »

mise_en_place wrote: post #127
exo-pla-net wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a smear taken out of context. What Bostrom actually had to say is both accurate and mild: > “I have always liked the uncompromisingly objective way of thinking and speaking: the more counterintuitive and repugnant a formulation, the more it appeals to me given that it is logically correct,” the quoted excerpt begins. “Take for example the following sentence: Blacks are more stupid than whites. I like that sen…

Most people are not ready to have an honest discussion about the correlation between race and IQ. It sadly gets muddied by various political ministrations. But it seems like a genuine effect that should be studied more. If we truly want equality of opportunity, we must understand what is causing certain races to be on the left side of the normal distribution. Is it nutrition? Social status? Lack of parenting? A combi…

The truth is that intelligence is largely genetic. Nobody knows how to handle the society-wide and global-wide implications of that.
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