Qiaochu_Yuan

Privileging the Question

Related to: Privileging the Hypothesis > Remember the exercises in critical reading you did in school, where you had to look at a piece of writing and step back and ask whether the author was telling the whole truth? If you really want to be a critical reader, it turns out you have to step back one step further, and ask not just whether the author is telling the truth, but why he's writing about this subject at all. -- Paul Graham > There's an old saying in the public opinion business: we can't tell people what to think, but we can tell them what to think about. -- Doug Henwood > Many philosophers—particularly amateur philosophers, and ancient philosophers—share a dangerous instinct: If you give them a question, they try to answer it. -- Eliezer Yudkowsky Here are some political questions that seem to commonly get discussed in US media: should gay marriage be legal? Should Congress pass stricter gun control laws? Should immigration policy be tightened or relaxed? These are all examples of what I'll call privileged questions (if there's an existing term for this, let me know): questions that someone has unjustifiably brought to your attention in the same way that a privileged hypothesis unjustifiably gets brought to your attention. The questions above are probably not the most important questions we could be answering right now, even in politics (I'd guess that the economy is more important). Outside of politics, many LWers probably think "what can we do about existential risks?" is one of the most important questions to answer, or possibly "how do we optimize charity?" Why has the media privileged these questions? I'd guess that the media is incentivized to ask whatever questions will get them the most views. That's a very different goal from asking the most important questions, and is one reason to stop paying attention to the media. The problem with privileged questions is that you only have so much attention to spare. Attention paid to a question tha

231Apr 29, 2013

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Trialing for the machine learning living library position at MIRI and occasional volunteer instructor and mentor at CFAR.

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Rationalist Lent is over

Rationalist Lent is over. How did it go for everyone? Did you learn anything about yourself / superstimuli / pica / etc.? I had a pretty good time giving up porn, which I stuck to. I also masturbated much more sparingly, which had interesting and pleasant effects on my sex...

Mar 30, 201821

The Math Learning Experiment

Last Sunday I and a small group of volunteers ran an experiment. We got a bunch of CFAR alumni together and asked half of them to tutor the other half in math (in a broad sense, so including computer science) while paying close attention to what was happening in the...

Mar 21, 201856

Deciphering China's AI Dream

> This report examines the intersection of two subjects, China and artificial intelligence, both of which are already difficult enough to comprehend on their own. It provides context for China’s AI strategy with respect to past science and technology plans, and it also connects the consistent and new features of...

Mar 18, 201812

Are you the rider or the elephant?

Some recent threads seem to me to be pointing at a really fundamental tension that I don't know how to articulate in full. But here's a chunk of it: When you think of your mind as divided into your System 1 / fast / unconscious / nonverbal / intuitive /...

Feb 21, 201838

Rationalist Lent

It's that time of year again. Pick something to give up for 40 days as an experiment / comfort zone expansion. Post about it here. Good luck and have fun! Edit: For anyone who wants it, here are some prompts for brainstorming things to try giving up (set a 5-minute...

Feb 13, 201841

Paper Trauma

Andrew Critch thinks people should be spending more time than they currently are using paper as a working memory aid while thinking, especially large paper (for even more working memory). It is really astonishing how helpful this can be. We consistently encourage people to do it at CFAR workshops nearly...

Jan 31, 201877

CFAR workshop with new instructors in Seattle, 6/7-6/11

CFAR is running its first workshop in Seattle! Over the past several months, CFAR has been training a new batch of instructors, including me. We're now running a workshop, without the core instructors, in Seattle from June 7th to June 11th. You can apply here, and we have an FAQ...

May 20, 201715

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Qiaochu_Yuan

Qiaochu_Yuan

Qiaochu_Yuan

Privileging the Question

Boring Advice Repository

Paper Trauma

Against utility functions

Qiaochu_Yuan

Rationalist Lent is over

The Math Learning Experiment

Deciphering China's AI Dream

Are you the rider or the elephant?

Rationalist Lent

Paper Trauma

CFAR workshop with new instructors in Seattle, 6/7-6/11

Privileging the Question

Boring Advice Repository

Paper Trauma

Against utility functions

Rationalist Lent is over

The Math Learning Experiment

Deciphering China's AI Dream

Are you the rider or the elephant?

Rationalist Lent

Paper Trauma

CFAR workshop with new instructors in Seattle, 6/7-6/11