WoodSwordSquire
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WoodSwordSquire has not written any posts yet.
WoodSwordSquire has not written any posts yet.
This probably isn't anything you didn't already know, but since no one else responded - you might try Hacker News, to run it by startup-interested people.
I can't up vote because I'm new, but I wanted to say that in addition to being a good insight, I really liked your use of examples. The diagrams, and the agents' human-like traits (like being in only one place at one time) made the article more accessible.
Also, do not forget how the body influences the brain. Just look back on what happened to you during puberty, when sex desire overwhelmed you, making you impossible to remain calm. This happened thanks to chemicals, but it's still very interesting to see how a single chemical can have a huge influence on your consciousness.
This sometimes falls by the wayside in discussions of whole brain emulation, but I think it's really interesting. I talked to a transgender person once, who said that she felt like a different person while taking hormones vs. not taking them, to the point that her memories of times she was off her medication felt like someone else's... (read more)
I've been thinking about alternative reasons why people living in rich neighborhoods of poor counties are happier.
Maybe the happiness-promoting physical qualities of neighborhoods (green space, lack of noise, feeling safe) correlate with income when they vary between counties, but not when they vary within counties.
I'd expect the poorest part of Pittsburgh to be about equal to the poorest part of northern New Jersey, and the same for the richest parts. (Perhaps less fancy, but I suspect granite doesn't affect happiness that much.) The New Jersey county is more expensive because it's near high paying NYC jobs, not because it's that much nicer.
People move to neighborhoods based on niceness, but counties based on job proximity (mostly). The market reflects this, by putting a premium on job availability but not other county-wide traits, like weather. (If this wasn't true, I'd expect southern US real estate to be more expensive in relation to average income than northern real estate.)
For reference:
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
The... (read more)
Would an AI that simulates a physical human brain be less prone to FOOM than a human-level AI that doesn't bother simulating neurons?
It sounds like it might be harder for such an AI to foom, since it would have to understand the physical brain well enough before it could improve on its' simulated version. If such an AI exists at all, that knowedge would probably be available somewhere, so it could still happen if you simulated someone smart enough to learn it (or simulated one of the people who helped build it). The AI should at least be boxable if it doesn't know much about neurology or programming, though.
Maybe the catch is that a boxed human simulation that can't self-modify isn't very useful. It'd be good as assistive technology or immortality, but you probably can't learn much about any other kind of AI by studying a simulated human. (The things you could learn from it, are mostly ones you could learn about as easily from studying a physical human.)
I tried to brainstorm what they might be thinking.
That's a good way of describing how the difference in my own thinking felt - when I was Christian I had enough of a framework to try to do things, but they weren't really working. (It's not a very good framework for working toward utilitarian values in.) Then I bumbled around for a couple years without much direction. LW gave me a framework again, and it was one that worked a lot better for my goals.
I'm not sure I can say the same thing about other people, though, so we might not be talking about the same thing. (Though I tend not to pay as much attention to the intelligence or "level" of others as much as most people seem to, so it might just be that.)
The one improvement that I'm fairly certain I can contribute to lesswrong/HPMOR/etc is getting better at morality. First, being introduced to and convinced up utilitarianism helped me get a grip on how to reason about ethics. Realizing that morality and "what I want the world to be like, when I'm at my best" are really similar, possibly the same thing, was also helpful. (And from there, HPMOR's slytherins and the parts of objectivism that EAs tend to like were the last couple ideas I needed to learn how to have actual self esteem.)
But as to the kinds of improvements you're interested in. I'm better at thinking strategically, often just from using some... (read more)
http://lesswrong.com/lw/7am/rational_home_buying/ Does this help?
Other things that come to mind: being able to walk to places, lack of little things that take more mental energy than they should (on street alternate parking is one of those for me).
Your housing should make it easy and enjoyable to do things you value. Live near a gym or a beautiful park if you want to exercise more. Make sure the kitchen is decent if you want to eat out less. I know that socializing is good for me, but I'm bad about making plans and starting conversations. So I live with introverted, nerdy... (read more)