Open thread, Mar. 23 - Mar. 31, 2015

MrMind

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

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Rationality: From AI to Zombies is a nice name, but unfortunately, the "from A... to Z..." aspect sometimes does not survive translation. Specifically, in Slovak, the translation of "artificial intelligence" does not start with "A". (At least the "zombies" part is okay.)

Are there other words that could be used instead of "AI" in this context? (Please check in the Google Translate link whether they start with "A" after translation.) Thanks!

Other names we considered included "Rationality: From A to Z" (note there are 26 sequences in the book, lettered from A to Z), "From Atoms (atómy) to Zombies", "From Algorithms (algoritmy) to Zombies." It sounds like "automatov" below would work better, but I don't speak Slovak so I can't comment on these options connotations/associations.

10garabik11y

"Od automatov po zombie" ? Not an ideal variant, but I am afraid there are not many possibilities here...

1[anonymous]11y

Funny how I too was thinking about translating that book, to a language used in the same broader region. I think I will end up making a proposal to EY that it would rather be making a derivative work with his permission than a direct translation. For example, I don't want to use the term "rational", due to its Straw Vulcan connotations. I would rather use terms that could be roughly translated back as "according to reason" or "reasonable". I think my audience would consider AI and Zombies far too geeky, so I would title that book "living according to reason" or "making reasonable decisions". I would also rip out the examples taken from science and rather use the more everday-life examples gleaned from the threads on LW. I too would recommend you to not try a direct translation. It would not go down well. Write a simplified and culturally more compatible book with different terminology. Avoid using the the word rational. I mean, if I would tell a peasant look this is not a rational way to go about planning your agriculture he would tell me to fuck off you intellectual city snob. If I would rather say the equivalent of this is not a reasonable or sensible or clever way, he would be more likely to listen. Rationality (the term) carries too much "Enlightenmentist" connotations in this region, it feels like enlightened absolutism, from King Joe II to the Soviets. Part of the issue being rationality has always been a foreign import in this region and it rubs people's pride the wrong way. However, people like the idea of being "shrewd", outsmarting others, or solving problems the clever way, finding backdoors, cheat codes, low hanging fruits, you just need to present it as something a vulpine, "pfiffig", street-smart shepherd kid would do (like in The Simple Truth), rather than something a high-brow academic would do which feels too foreign and too haughty in this region. People here tend to associate the term "rational" with Marcos Sophisticus from the The Simple Trut