A while ago I made some custom MTG cards. I don’t play Magic and I definitely don’t know how to balance a Magic card, so these are just conceptual explorations. In these cards, I was more interested in off-beat mechanics, rather than anything to do with actual MTG play. Purple knocks things out of place, and messes with time a bit, making things disjointed or throwing things out of their usual…
Table of Contents 1 Static pressure gradients?? 2 Spouts and acceleration 3 Height paradox thingy 4 Deducing the equivelocity curve? 5 Sideways pressure? 6 Generalizing I’ve been reading various things about fluid mechanics so that I can think about microfluidics. But I haven’t really been studying it like I used to study a math area (instead just kinda getting various impressions). I’d like to…
Table of Contents 1 Arguments for fast AGI progress 2 Intuition pumps for being close to AGI 3 Synthetic life as an intuition pump 4 Some things I like about this analogy [Previously: “ Views on when AGI comes and on strategy to reduce existential risk ”, “ Do confident short timelines make sense? ”] [Whenever discussing when AGI will come, it bears repeating: If anyone builds AGI, everyone dies;…
Table of Contents 1 The flight recorder 2 Altered states and lost information 3 The black box recorder skill 4 Why black box info matters 5 Conclusion Very short summary: It’s especially valuable to Notice while in mental states that make Noticing especially difficult, so it’s valuable to learn that skill. Short summary: If you’re going to enter, or are currently in, a cognitive state that is very…
Note: Fictional! To preempt any unnecessary disappointment and/or fears of dystopia, be aware that this is not a real product, I don’t know of plans to develop it, and it is infeasible in many respects. There are some related products under search terms like “kids GPS smartwatch” and “safety monitor”. Do you want your child to have free rein to wander in nature or explore the town? Are you worried…
Table of Contents 1 Context 2 The question 3 Some examples 4 Assorted thoughts 1 Context Inequality is a common and legitimate worry that people have about reprogenetic technology. Will rich people have super healthy smart kids, and leave everyone else behind over time? Intuitively, this will not happen. Reprogenetics will likely be similar to most other technologies: At first it will be very…
Table of Contents 1 Context 1.1 Questions for the reader 1.2 Caveats 2 What is HIA? 2.1 Vague definitions of intelligence and HIA 2.2 HIA as a general access good 2.3 HIA and reprogenetics 3 AGI X-risk 3.1 Background assumptions 3.2 Red vs. Blue AGI capabilities research 4 An ontology of effects of interventions on world processes 4.1 The meaning of “acceleration” 4.2 Effects of HIA on a single…
Events are already set for catastrophe, they must be steered along some course they would not naturally go. [...] Are you confident in the success of this plan? No, that is the wrong question, we are not limited to a single plan. Are you certain that this plan will be enough, that we need essay no others? Asked in such fashion, the question answers itself. The path leading to disaster must be…
Some things are sort of intrinsically dynamic, and this can be scary but might have to be confronted. 1. Example 1: Snowboarding I've only been snowboarding twice, but a key lesson I had to learn / unlearn was that doing something more slowly, or in a way that's more stop-safe, is NOT necessarily safer. If there's a steep part of the hill, you have two options: You could go down it with the board…
[Note: This is a draft for a contest submission. I'm publishing it before it's fully edited because of the Inkhaven deadline. You may or may not want to wait some days before reading it.] [After a few small tweaks, this is now probably as edited as it will get.] [This is a draft script for a hypothetical video; it's written in a different style from what I normally write.] 1. [intro about AI]…
1. Introduction 2. Why I am so clever 3. Why I am so verbose 4. Why I make such excellent memes 5. Why I am so tired 6. Endnotes 7. thanks 1. Introduction Alright! I did it! I've published 30 posts in 30 days for INKHAVEN 2025 . Or, I mean, I hereby, via this post, am doing it. Am having done it? I am have-doning it. Unless I need another day to edit my contest submission post, in which case this…
1. Background 2. Why even talk about values? 2.1. Correlated coverage tends to be founded on values 2.2. Corrigibility handles are founded on values 2.3. Constraints, handles, desiderata, antidesiderata 2.4. Constraints and handles related to values 3. Where do values come from? 4. The fact-value distinction 4.1. The basic fact-value distinction 4.2. Complications with the distinction 4.3. What is…
1. Background 2. Capable minds with specifiable effects 3. The idea of values is promissory 3.1. Using the idea of values to specify effects 3.2. Human wanting 3.3. Aside on ideas vs. concepts 3.4. Promissoriness asks for holding off on demarcation 4. Are values essentially diasystemic? 4.1. Example: Self-regenerating friendship 4.2. Human values are diasystemic 4.3. Values require reference 4.4.…
1. Background 2. Explicating etymons 3. Want 4. Try, attempt 5. Plan 6. Intent, interest 7. Matter 8. Desire 9. Care 10. Pursue, control 11. Will, volition, wield, value 12. Select, decide 13. Choose, taste, aesthetic 14. Drive, motive 15. Moral 16. Free, proper 17. Yearn 18. Wish 19. Aim 20. Need 1. Background This is a first essay in what may or may not be a series of essays, under the title "A…
Variations on a theme. 1. Art vs. entertainment In " An Elevated Wind Music " (2000), one of the great American composers Charles Wuorinen writes: In any medium—music, literature, poetry, theatre, dance, the visual arts—entertainment is that which we can receive and enjoy passively, without effort, without our putting anything into the experience. Art is that which requires some initial effort…
I've used my own hand-rolled artisanal notetaking system for most of my work, for almost a decade. Here's a few takeaways. (If you're a notetaking veteran, my guess is that the most interesting section for you would be " 6. Contexts ". 1. Background Like many, I've always been interested in "tools for thinking". I read Lion Kimbro's " How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought You Think ",…
My old project, called radix , is still the best cognate-forest grower in the world, but unfortunately it's nowhere near good enough. It uses wiktionary entries to tell you what words are related to what other words through etymological descent. This is a very-quickly-written better-than-nothing partial state-share about the project, in case anyone's interested in solving the problem of…
[The year is 2031. Unscoped AI development has been frozen at 2029 levels by an international treaty. The growing awareness of the abstract general problem of the abject state of group rationality spurs the creation of a new kind of forum—by, of, and for forum powerusers—aimed at hot-swapping collective sensemaking structures until a good one is developed.] 0722 on the West Coast, I log in. First,…
Loved ones who are gone leave many letters—all the letters of their name, their sayings, the whole book of their life. The letters start to go too. They leave spaces. You start to call her on the phone and remember that she can't pick up, and you can't hear her customary greeting; you think of what you wanted to work with him to build, but that plan is a car with half its parts missing, and tubes…
What happens when you work closely with someone on a really difficult project—and then they seem to just fuck it up? This is a post about two Chess variants; one very special emotion; and how life is kinda like Chess Bughouse. Let's goooooo! 1. Crazyhouse My favorite time-waster is Crazyhouse Chess. Crazyhouse Chess is mostly like regular Chess. In regular Chess, players take turns making a move,…
This some quickly-written, better-than-nothing advice for people who want to make progress on the hard problems of technical AGI alignment. 1. Background assumptions 2. Dealing with deference 3. Sacrifices 4. True doubt 5. Iterative babble and prune 6. Learning to think 7. Grappling with the size of minds 8. Zooming 9. Generalize a lot 10. Notes to mentors 11. Object level stuff 1. Background…
[Caveat lector: this is a very long, rambling meditation on concepts and coordination. It's not cut down for size or well-organized. That said, I had several insights while writing it.] 1. Case 1: Is an embryo a person? 1.1. A big blob of subquestions 1.2. Difficult questions produce uncertain, sticky, varied opinions 1.3. A multi-question blob does not have "an answer" 1.4. Coordination about X…
[This is a message I have, several times, wanted to send to commenters (mainly on public forums). I'm putting it here so I can link to it.] For whatever reason, in order for me to actively independently desire to continue this thread of discussion, I would probably need something from you. What I would need from you is something like more evidence that you're genuinely trying to understand what…
[Epistemic status: !! 🚨 Drama Alert 🚨 !! discoursepoasting, LWslop] 1. Case 1: You only get six words 2. Case 2: Trees may be cool but how should concepts work in general?? 3. Case 3: The Bannination 4. The Pattern 5. Conclusion 1. Case 1: You only get six words In 2024, the MATS team published a post, originally titled " Talent Needs in Technical AI Safety ". I, a hero, made this comment and…
1. Introduction 2. Extended table of contents 3. Notice when you might be deferring 4. Just say that you might be deferring 5. Factor out and fortify endorsed deference 6. Respect the costs of independent investigation 7. Give stewardship, not authority 8. Take me to your leader 9. Recount your sources 10. Expose cruxes about deference 11. Distinguish your independent components 12. Retreat to…