XiXiDu comments on The Singularity Institute's Arrogance Problem - Less Wrong

63 Post author: lukeprog 18 January 2012 10:30PM

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Comment author: XiXiDu 19 January 2012 10:08:26AM *  38 points [-]

Since EY claims to be doing math, he should be posting at least a couple of papers a year on arxiv.org...

Even Greg Egan managed to copublish papers on arxiv.org :-)

ETA

Here is what John Baez thinks about Greg Egan (science fiction author):

He's incredibly smart, and whenever I work with him I feel like I'm a slacker. We wrote a paper together on numerical simulations of quantum gravity along with my friend Dan Christensen, and not only did they do all the programming, Egan was the one who figured out a great approximation to a certain high-dimensional integral that was the key thing we were studying. He also more recently came up with some very nice observations on techniques for calculating square roots, in my post with Richard Elwes on a Babylonian approximation of sqrt(2). And so on!

That's actually what academics should be saying about Eliezer Yudkowsky if it is true. How does an SF author manage to get such a reputation instead?

Comment author: gwern 25 January 2012 04:05:35AM 3 points [-]

That actually explains a lot for me - when I was reading The Clockwork Rocket, I kept thinking to myself, 'how the deuce could anyone without a physics degree follow the math/physics in this story?' Well, here's my answer - he's still up on his math, and now that I check, I see he has a BS in math too.

Comment author: arundelo 26 January 2012 04:23:46PM *  2 points [-]

I thought this comment by Egan said something interesting about his approach to fiction:

A few reviewers [of Incandescence] complained that they had trouble keeping straight the physical meanings of the Splinterites' [direction words]. This leaves me wondering if they've really never encountered a book before that benefits from being read with a pad of paper and a pen beside it, or whether they're just so hung up on the idea that only non-fiction should be accompanied by note-taking and diagram-scribbling that it never even occurred to them to do this. I realise that some people do much of their reading with one hand on a strap in a crowded bus or train carriage, but books simply don't come with a guarantee that they can be properly enjoyed under such conditions.

(I enjoyed Incandescence without taking notes. If, while I was reading it, I had been quizzed on the direction words, I would have done OK but not great.)

Edit: The other end of the above link contains spoilers for Incandescence. To understand the portion I quoted, it suffices to know that some characters in the story have their own set of six direction words (instead of "up", "down", "north", "south", "east", and "west").

Edit 2: I have a bit of trouble keeping track of characters in novels. When I read on my iPhone, I highlight characters' names as they're introduced, so I can easily refresh my memory when I forgot who someone is.

Comment author: gwern 26 January 2012 04:45:52PM 1 point [-]

Yes, he's pretty unapologetic about his elitism - if you aren't already able to follow his concepts or willing to do the work so you can, you are not his audience and he doesn't care about you. Which isn't a problem with Incandescence, whose directions sound perfectly comprehensible, but is much more of an issue with TCR, which builds up an entire alternate physics.

Comment author: mwengler 19 January 2012 03:55:49PM 4 points [-]

To be fair Eliezer gets good press from Professor Robin Hanson. This is one of the main bulwarks of my opinion of Eliezer and SIAI. (Other bulwarks include having had the distinct pleasure of meeting lukeprog at a few meetups and meeing Anna at the first meetup I ever attended. Whatever else is going on at SIAI, there is a significant amount of firepower in the rooms).

Comment author: ScottMessick 21 January 2012 11:47:14PM 5 points [-]

Yes, and isn't it interesting to note that Robin Hanson sought his own higher degrees for the express purpose of giving his smart contrarian ideas (and way of thinking) more credibility?

Comment author: Pablo_Stafforini 21 March 2014 07:28:09PM 1 point [-]

What's the source for that quote? A quick Google search failed to yield any relevant results.

Comment author: XiXiDu 22 March 2014 09:41:15AM 1 point [-]

What's the source for that quote? A quick Google search failed to yield any relevant results.

Private conversation with John Baez (I asked him if I am allowed to quote him on it). You can ask him to verify it.

Comment author: Viliam_Bur 19 January 2012 03:09:16PM 0 points [-]

How does an SF author manage to get such a reputation instead?

By publishing his results at a place where scientists publish.

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