How we're using confirmation bias to credit one out of 8 billion people with special skills.
Interview with gwern
11–20 of 262 posts
Re: Interview with gwern
#12>Wait if you’re doing $900-1000/month and you’re sustaining yourself on that, that must mean you’re sustaining yourself on less than $12,000 a year. What is your lifestyle like at $12K?"
>I live in the middle of nowhere. I don't travel much, or eat out, or have health insurance, or anything like that. I cook my own food. I use a free gym. There was this time when the floor of my bedroom began collapsing. It was so old that the humidity had decayed the wood. We just got a bunch of scrap wood and a joist and propped it up. If it lets in some bugs, oh well! I live like a grad student, but with better ramen. I don't mind it much since I spend all my time reading anyway.
Not sure what to think of that. On one hand, it's so impressive that gwern cares only about the intellectual pursuit. On the other hand, it's sad that society does not reward it as much as excel sheet work.
Re: Interview with gwern
#13I really don’t understand why we give credit to this pile of wishful thinking about the AI corporation with just one visionary at the top.
First: actual visionary CEOs are a niche of a niche. Second: that is not how most companies work. The existence of the workforce is as important as what the company produces Third: who will buy or rent those services or products in a society where the most common economy driver (salaried work) is suddenly wiped out?
I am really bothered by these systematic thinkers whose main assumption is that the system can just be changed and morphed willy nilly as if you could completely disregard all of the societal implications.
We are surrounded by “thinkers” who are actually just glorified siloed-thinking engineers high on their own supply.
Re: Interview with gwern
#14>Wait if you’re doing $900-1000/month and you’re sustaining yourself on that, that must mean you’re sustaining yourself on less than $12,000 a year. What is your lifestyle like at $12K?" >I live in the middle of nowhere. I don't travel much, or eat out, or have health insurance, or anything like that. I cook my own food. I use a free gym. There was this time when the floor of my bedroom began collapsing. It was so ol…
Or maybe, you know, that is not true and it’s part of a character?
Re: Interview with gwern
#15>Wait if you’re doing $900-1000/month and you’re sustaining yourself on that, that must mean you’re sustaining yourself on less than $12,000 a year. What is your lifestyle like at $12K?" >I live in the middle of nowhere. I don't travel much, or eat out, or have health insurance, or anything like that. I cook my own food. I use a free gym. There was this time when the floor of my bedroom began collapsing. It was so ol…
Or maybe, you know, that is not true and it’s part of a character?
Could be, but he does not strike as someone who is looking for fame.
Plus the whole discussion about why he would like to move to SF but can't seems pretty authentic.
Re: Interview with gwern
#16I really don’t understand why we give credit to this pile of wishful thinking about the AI corporation with just one visionary at the top. First: actual visionary CEOs are a niche of a niche. Second: that is not how most companies work. The existence of the workforce is as important as what the company produces Third: who will buy or rent those services or products in a society where the most common economy driver (s…
Someone probably said the exact same thing when the first cars appeared.
Where is the data showing that more jobs get destroyed than created by technological disruption?
Re: Interview with gwern
#17www.gwern.net Something I've noticed in spending time online is that there's a "core group" of a few dozen people who seem to turn up everywhere there are interesting discussions. Gwern (who also posts here) is probably at the top of that list.
There have been multiple times where I read a comment somewhere; thought to myself, wow, this guy is brilliant, let me see who wrote it so I can see if there are other things they've written; and, lo and behold, gwern.
Re: Interview with gwern
#18www.gwern.net Something I've noticed in spending time online is that there's a "core group" of a few dozen people who seem to turn up everywhere there are interesting discussions. Gwern (who also posts here) is probably at the top of that list.
There have been multiple times where I read a comment somewhere; thought to myself, wow, this guy is brilliant, let me see who wrote it so I can see if there are other things they've written; and, lo and behold, gwern.
Yeah. Nick Szabo used to show up a lot, too.
Re: Interview with gwern
#19I really don’t understand why we give credit to this pile of wishful thinking about the AI corporation with just one visionary at the top. First: actual visionary CEOs are a niche of a niche. Second: that is not how most companies work. The existence of the workforce is as important as what the company produces Third: who will buy or rent those services or products in a society where the most common economy driver (s…
Someone probably said the exact same thing when the first cars appeared. Where is the data showing that more jobs get destroyed than created by technological disruption?
There is no data, just hyperbole from those same "visionaries" who keep claiming their stochastic parrots will replace everyone's jobs and we therefore need UBI
Re: Interview with gwern
#20I really don’t understand why we give credit to this pile of wishful thinking about the AI corporation with just one visionary at the top. First: actual visionary CEOs are a niche of a niche. Second: that is not how most companies work. The existence of the workforce is as important as what the company produces Third: who will buy or rent those services or products in a society where the most common economy driver (s…
Someone probably said the exact same thing when the first cars appeared. Where is the data showing that more jobs get destroyed than created by technological disruption?
Didn’t say that.
If you posit that the future of the corporation is having a visionary CEO with a few minion middle managers and a swath of AI employees, then tell me, what do you do with the thousands of lost and no longer existing salaried jobs?
Or are you saying that the future is a multitude of corporations of one?
We can play with this travesties of intellectual discourse as long as you like, but we’re really one step removed from some stoners’ basement banter