dclayh

Replying toThe Orange Head Joke

dclayh15y

The Orange Head Joke

Yes, that's how it should be.

Replying toThe Orange Head Joke

dclayh15y

The Orange Head Joke

Oh, a paper written in chicken. (PLIF was a great comic, incidentally.)

Replying toThe Orange Head Joke

dclayh15y

The Orange Head Joke

Ah, a particularly involved shaggy-dog story.

Replying toThe Orange Head Joke

dclayh15y

The Orange Head Joke

That joke is like the Aristocrats insofar as it's an opportunity for improvisation (at as great a length as you can get away with). Also analogously, I've usually heard it as the "'Fuck you, clown' joke" (or just the "clown joke" if you really care about spoilarz).

And in the versions I've heard, the clown calls the guy down to the stage, and asks "Sir, are you a horse's head?" "No." "Are you a horse's leg?" "No." "Are you a horse's tail?" "No." "Well then, it seems to me that you must be a horse's ass!" which is both funnier (to me) and (importantly) longer.

Replying toHarry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 7

dclayh15y

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 7

For Draco, you forgot Knowledge: wizard society and Status: Noble and Most Ancient House.

ETA: And Status: Boy-Who-Lived for Harry, of course.

Replying toHarry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 7

dclayh15y

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 7

Ch. 68:

Hermione wears makeup? On a regular basis?! Has this been mentioned before, in MoR or canon? Seems somewhat-to-very out of character to me.

ETA: Eliezer has now removed the reference.

Replying toThe Singularity in the Zeitgeist

dclayh15y

The Singularity in the Zeitgeist

Admittedly the comic seems to assume malevolence rather than the more likely indifference...but it's still a comic about a self-improving superhuman intelligence that destroys humanity.

Replying toThe Singularity in the Zeitgeist

dclayh15y

The Singularity in the Zeitgeist

Yesterday's SMBC presents SIAI-style uFAI fears as essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy.

-3

Replying toHarry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 6

dclayh15y

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 6

I was more interested in Quirrell's statement about the note. Have we seen evidence before that the lawyer/genie style of not-technically-lying is particularly relevant in the magical world? Veritaserum, perhaps?

Replying toRationality Quotes: January 2011

dclayh15y

Rationality Quotes: January 2011

Cf. the Peter de Blanc tweet

As soon as you notice a pattern in your work, automate it.

The Singularity in the Zeitgeist

dclayh

15y

As a part of public relations, I think it's important to keep tabs on how the Singularity and related topics (GAI, FAI, life-extension, etc.) are presented in the culture at large. I've posted links to such things in the past, but I think there should be a central clearinghouse, and a discussion-level post seems like the right place.

So: in the comments, post examples of references to Singularity-related topics that you've found, ideally with a link and a few sentences' description of what the connection is and how it's presented (whether seriously or as an object of ridicule, for instance).

There should probably be a similar post for rationality references, but let's see how this one goes first.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2

dclayh

16y

ETA: There is now a third thread, so send new comments there.

Since the first thread has exceeded 500 comments, it seems time for a new one, with Eliezer's just-posted Chapter 33 & 34 to kick things off.

From previous post:

Spoiler Warning: this thread contains unrot13'd spoilers for Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality up to the current chapter and for the original Harry Potter series. Please continue to use rot13 for spoilers to other works of fiction, or if you have insider knowledge of future chapters of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

A suggestion: mention at the top of your comment which chapter you're commenting on, or what chapter you're up to, so that people can understand the context of your comment even after more chapters have been posted. This can also help people avoid reading spoilers for a new chapter before they realize that there is a new chapter.

703

Loleliezers

dclayh

16y

Previously: Eliezer Yudkowsky facts, and Kevin's prediction.

A bit of silliness for the day. Below the fold to spare those with delicate sensibilities.

Please contribute your own in the comments. (Lolrobinhansons, etc., would also be welcome.) Unfortunately I have no special source of Eliezer photos to offer beyond Google Images.

Comic about the Singularity

dclayh

16y

Today's Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. (Which incidentally is a very funny webcomic I read regularly.) Mouseover the red button for a bonus panel.

Clearly the author hasn't read the proper Eliezer essay(s) on post-Singularity life.

The utility curve of the human population

dclayh

16y

"Whoever saves a single life, it is as if he had saved the whole world."
—The Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:5

That was the epigraph Eliezer used on a perfectly nice post reminding us to shut up and multiply when valuing human lives, rather than relying on the (roughly) logarithmic amount of warm fuzzies we'd receive. Implicit in the expected utility calculation is the idea that the value of human lives scales linearly: indeed, Eliezer explicitly says, "I agree that one human life is of unimaginably high value. I also hold that two human lives are twice as unimaginably valuable."

However, in a comment on Wei Dai's brilliant recent post comparing boredom and altruism, Vladimir Nesov... (read 442 more words →)

Probability distributions and writing style

dclayh

17y

In his recent post, rhollerith wrote,

I am more likely than not vastly better off than I would have been if <I had made decision X>

This reminded me of the slogan for the water-filtration system my workplaces uses,

We're 100% sure it's 99.9% pure!

because both sentences make a claim and give an associated probability for it. Now in this second example, the actual version is better than the expectation-value-preserving "We're 99.9% sure it's 100% pure", because the actual version implies a lower variance in outcomes (and expectation values being equal, a lower variance is nearly always better). But this leads to the question of why rhollerith didn't write something like "I am almost certainly... (read more)

Fiction of interest

dclayh

17y

The fiction piece in this week's New Yorker deals with some of the same themes as Eliezer's "Three Worlds Collide"; viz., the clash of value systems (and the difficulty of seeing those with a different value system as rational), and the idea of humanity developing in ways that seem bizarre/grotesque/evil to us.

Silver Chairs, Paternalism, and Akrasia

dclayh

17y

Inspired in part by Robin Hanson's excellent article on paternalism a while back, and in response to the various akrasia posts.

In C.S. Lewis's fourth Narnia book, The Silver Chair, the protagonists (two children and a Marsh-wiggle) are faced with a dilemma regarding the title object. To wit, they met an eloquent and quite sane-seeming young man, who after a while reveals that he has a mental disorder: for an hour every night, he loses his mind and must be restrained in the Silver Chair; and if he were to be released during that time he would become a giant, evil snake (it is a fantasy novel, after all). The heroes determine to... (read 886 more words →)

LESSWRONG
LW

LESSWRONG
LW

Silver Chairs, Paternalism, and Akrasia

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2

Fiction of interest

The Singularity in the Zeitgeist

dclayh

dclayh

The Singularity in the Zeitgeist

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2

Loleliezers

Comic about the Singularity

The utility curve of the human population

Probability distributions and writing style

Fiction of interest

dclayh

Silver Chairs, Paternalism, and Akrasia

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2

Fiction of interest

The Singularity in the Zeitgeist

dclayh

dclayh

The Singularity in the Zeitgeist

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 2

Loleliezers

Comic about the Singularity

The utility curve of the human population

Probability distributions and writing style

Fiction of interest