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XiXiDu comments on AALWA: Ask any LessWronger anything - Less Wrong
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You can ask me anything.
Okay, I'll bite. Do you think any part of what MIRI does is at all useful?
It now seems like a somewhat valuable research organisation / think tank. Valuable because they now seem to output technical research that is receiving attention outside of this community. I also expect that they will force certain people to rethink their work in a positive way and raise awareness of existential risks. But there are enough caveats that I am not confident about this assessment (see below).
I never disagreed with the basic idea that research related to existential risk is underfunded. The issue is that MIRI's position is extreme.
Consider the following fictive and actual positions people take with respect to AI risks in ascending order of perceived importance:
Someone should actively think about the issue in their spare time.
It wouldn’t be a waste of money if someone was paid to think about the issue.
It would be good to have a periodic conference to evaluate the issue and reassess the risk every year.
There should be a study group whose sole purpose is to think about the issue. All relevant researchers should be made aware of the issue.
Relevant researchers should be actively cautious and think about the issue.
There should be an academic task force that actively tries to tackle the issue.
It should be actively tried to raise money to finance an academic task force to solve the issue.
The general public should be made aware of the issue to gain public support.
The issue is of utmost importance. Everyone should consider to contribute money to a group trying to solve the issue.
Relevant researchers that continue to work in their field, irrespective of any warnings, are actively endangering humanity.
This is crunch time. This is crunch time for the entire human species. And it’s crunch time not just for us, it’s crunch time for the intergalactic civilization whose existence depends on us. Everyone should contribute all but their minimal living expenses in support of the issue.
Personally, most of the time, I alternate between position 3 and 4.
Some people associated with MIRI take positions that are even more extreme than position 11 and go as far as banning the discussion of outlandish thought experiments related to AI. I believe that to be crazy.
Extensive and baseless fear-mongering might very well cause MIRI's value to be overall negative.
Upvoted solely for the handy scale.
How should I fight a basilisk?
Every basilisk is different. My current personal basilisk pertains measuring my blood pressure. I have recently been hospitalized as a result of dangerously high blood pressure (220 systolic, mmHg / 120 diastolic, mmHg). Since I left the hospital I am advised to measure my blood pressure.
The problem I have is that measuring causes panic about the expected result, which increases the blood pressure. Then if the result turns out to be very high, as expected, the panic increases and the next measurement turns out even higher.
Should I stop measuring my blood pressure because the knowledge hurts me or should I measure anyway because knowing it means that I know when it reaches a dangerous level and thus requires me to visit the hospital?
Measure every hour. Or every ten minutes. Your hormonal system can't sustain the panic state for long, plus seeing high values and realizing that you are not dead yet will desensitize you to these high values.
As someone who's had both high blood pressure and excessive worrying — I second this advice.
Do you do any sort of meditation?
No. Do you have any recommendations on what to read/try? Given the side effects of anxiety disorder medications such as pregabalin, meditation was one of the alternatives I thought about besides marijuana.
I have a bunch of recommendations, but I'm no expert.
Generic advice: sit or stand with your back straight and unsupported. If sitting, your knees should be below your hips. This means straight chair (soles of feet on the ground), cross-legged on a cushion, or full lotus.
Pay attention to something low-stress. Your breath (possibly just the feeling of it going in and out of your nostrils), a candle flame, your heart beat (if low stress), counting from one to four and back again.
20 minutes is commonly recommended, but I don't think it's crazy to work up from 5 or 10 minutes if 20 is intolerable.
Meditation isn't easy. One of the useful parts of the training is gently putting your attention back where you want it when you notice you're thinking about something else. It may help to have a few simple categories like thought, memory, imagination, sensation to just label thoughts as they go by.
I recommend The Way of Energy by Lam Kam Chuen-- it's an introduction to Daoist meditation (mosly standing). I'm not going to say it's the best ever (I haven't investigated the field), but it's got a good reputation and I've gotten good results from it.
There. Now that I've said some things, I predict that other meditators will come in with more advice.
One more thing: Only do 70% as much as you think you can. I think this applies to meditation as well as (non-emergency) physical activities. It improves the odds that you won't make yourself sick of it.
Looks like I was wrong about getting replies.
That advice is reasonable. The hospital/Doctor may be able to refer you to a local Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. Many people find the social support of meditating in a group, helpful.
I hope you make a speedy recovery to full health, XiXiDu.