more in the comments
I already disliked the original [Harry Potter] for its lack of rationality as a child (how can they have magic and poverty at the same time?) so I loved the flip.
OK so does HPMOR solve poverty? (Q is rhetorical don’t answer)
If you didn’t like HP check out Grossman’s The Magicians. A lot of graduating magicians there join non-profits or hedge funds.
but but but don’t call it strawmanning!!!
My real opponent lives in Canada. And no, you can’t meet him.
Per contemptum ad astra.
just a peeve
here’s a personal blogpost on LW entitled “Three types of AI risk: why (some) leftists are against (some) AI regulations” (by “sudo-nym” which I admit is a great nick)
First sentence
You may have seen factions of the left being opposed to current attempts to regulate the AI industry, despite the fact that they clearly also want to stop AI.
OK Mr Sudo-Nym, if that is your real name, imma gonna stop you right there
Which “factions”?
Are these factions actually in existence, or are they just Xhitter/Bluesky handles? If you’re provide like, I dunno, sources, we could maybe evaluate this ourselves. It would also clarify whether these are US leftists as opposed to leftists in other countries which are in my experience a bit more attuned to both political realities and have a more theoretical foundation.
As it is it feels as if you’re fighting windmills in your imagination.
Commenters point out that the “frontier labs” are actually raging capitalists so there’s that.
Not only are they grade-school level awful, he totally misses the point of the original
I think the advent of photography decimated a particular genre of painting - portraits, but it was still a tail-off. The middle classes could get photo portraits done but they were only B&W and small (a Daguerreotype is basically twice as big as a standard photo print) and still quite expensive. So if you wanted a big color portrait of a loved one, you still had to commission a painting. Same for landscapes.
LW is freaking out over the Russian plague leak/quarantine, but no-one else seems to be fazed. Sweden’s health authority are chill https://www.svt.se/nyheter/utrikes/uppgifter-laboratorieanstalld-dod-efter-pestsmitta and to be honest, Russia has a functioning health system unlike the US badum-tish
I’m starting to believe that Sam Altman’s reputation as a genius salesman is a bit overrated
Accept ‘bad things’ in return for benefits of AI, says Sam Altman
More disucssion about AI safety over at LGM
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/10/ai-safety
comments are a mix, some smart generalists incorrecting each other. I have not bothered to comment because I’m not an active part of the community, but I’ll share here that Rofer’s recommendations about safety we can apply now would presumably help us contain Robot Satan should it deign to be created. Lots of commenters don’t really draw that conclusion. This is pointing out the yawning void between the intense interest among Rats to devise the perfect alignment and their disinterest at mitigating harms ocurring right now.
I think deep down these people think PR is unethical , because the world is always better if everyone tells the Truth, so having to massage the message is Bad. Same think for voter preferences - having to appeal to the average voter instead of only listening to the people who have read and internalized the Sequences feels deeply wrong and I really don’t think these people have enough imagination or empathy to change that.
reminder that “censorship” is 90% advertisers and donors not wanting to get bad PR
Did Christ actually talk that much about the literal end of the world? Isn’t that more something that John of Patmos came up with after bingeing on the local mushrooms?
Heinlein was in many ways a bit of a dick, but this plan to “write” a sequel to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is deranged
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4mtqQKvmHpQJ4dgj7/daniel-tan-s-shortform?commentId=Du24ppBLK77ZHP7Bn
So you’re saying this time it’s different?
Protos: Trump’s AI name change sparks insider domain trading claims
surprise level: zero
someone stop me before I petition Lobste.rs to rename the “vibecoding” tag to “si”
Timnit Gebru gets the Right Livelihood award this year
https://rightlivelihood.org/the-change-makers/find-a-laureate/timnit-gebru/
“For challenging concentrated power in artificial intelligence and pioneering digital technology rooted in justice, lived experience and human agency.”
I got this via Dagens Nyheter, the premiere broadsheet here in Sweden which calls the award “the alternative Nobel Prize” because it’s Sweden and we need a standard to compare to.
Let’s see what the rats think of it. Yet another example of p0Lar1z@tion
these people are gonna get affinity-frauded so hard once grifter realize how easy it will be to gain their trust
Yet another country TLD is gonna become toxic
Foreign Policy: How Trump Is Sparking a Slovenian Website Boom
(spoiler it is Slovenia’s .si, for “SuPEr iNteLligEnCE”)
unlike trepanation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trepanning#Voluntary_trepanation