Tripitaka comments on Cult impressions of Less Wrong/Singularity Institute - Less Wrong

29 Post author: John_Maxwell_IV 15 March 2012 12:41AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (247)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: XiXiDu 15 March 2012 10:54:49AM *  7 points [-]

There seem to be more and more people who think sacrificing their life to help build FAI is an ethical imperative.

I have always been extremely curious about this. Do people really sacrifice their lifes or is it largely just empty talk?

It seems like nobody who wouldn't do anything else anyway is doing something. I mean, I don't think Eliezer Yudkowsky or Luke Muehlhauser would lead significantly different lifes if there were no existential risks. They are just the kind of people who enjoy doing what they do.

Are there people who'd rather play games all day but sacrifice their lifes to solve friendly AI?

Comment author: Tripitaka 15 March 2012 06:15:47PM *  6 points [-]
  1. Due to comparative advantage not changing much is actually a relativly good, straightforward strategy: just farm and redirect money.
  2. As an example of these Altruistic Ones user Rain been mentioned, so they are out there. They all be praised!
  3. Factor in time and demographics. A lot of LWlers are young people, looking for ways to make money; they are not able to spend much yet, and haven't had much impact yet. Time will have to show whether these stay true to their goals, or wether they are tempted to go the vicious path of always-growing investments into status.