/gnon/

Yup. Landian techno-nihilism is interesting and fun for us big brain people to think and theorycel and chat about, but ultimately it's not prescriptive, so its usefulness is limited.... 1w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 14.3 14.3

Yup. Landian techno- (view hidden) log in to judge received 14.3 14.3

Perhaps to reframe a little - survival and replication are the fundamental mathematical imperatives of existence. The only question is "what is the basic unit of survival and replication"? If you believe it is the civilization itself then vitalism means so... 6d ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 12.3 12.3

Perhaps to reframe a (view hidden) log in to judge received 12.3 12.3

Good poast, figuring out what we're really trying to *do* with moral theorizing is immensely useful in facilitating the right kind of discourse around these issues.... 1d ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received

Good poast, figuring (view hidden) log in to judge received

Felix Baumgartner is another example of this sort of nobility of spirit. Died just recently, also taken by Gnon. He was a good example of the more continental european aristocratic style of western spirit, and made multiple comments about the dangers... 4d ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 8.9 8.9

Felix Baumgartner is (view hidden) log in to judge received 8.9 8.9

No; it is a simulacra not because it doesn’t require traits that we normally call virtues, but because it does not attain desirable ends. You may say that we should admire “virtue” wherever we seem to find it, but that would require a great deal of p... 2d ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 2.4 2.4

No; it is a simulacr (view hidden) log in to judge received 2.4 2.4

I take Gnon to be the highest level pattern implicit in the laws of physics, but not practically derivable from them.... 6d ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 10.5 10.5

I take Gnon to be th (view hidden) log in to judge received 10.5 10.5

As I mentioned in the other thread a serious worldview must be backed by more than mere assertion. On what basis and to what extent is group self-interest a valid principle? If we're not caring to actually back this up and enforce worldview rigor around an... 5d ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 10.5 10.5

As I mentioned in th (view hidden) log in to judge received 10.5 10.5

More pointedly, i dont think higher man or homeric man or anything like that is about absolute competence or anything like that. Its an interesting lens to think through but the reality is more about types, and types are about niche. Homeric man is dead be... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 8.6 8.6

More pointedly, i do (view hidden) log in to judge received 8.6 8.6

Well the point of OP is that there is no natural or physical favored concept of higher life. That said there is a sort of notion of depth of the overall stack of life, the overall complexity. But that places parasites and cancers “higher” on the stack ... 2w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 5.1 5.1

Well the point of OP (view hidden) log in to judge received 5.1 5.1

*rips bong*. Yeah man, science is only now catching up to what eastern mystics have known for 28000 years, man.... 2w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 8.4 8.4

*rips bong*. Yeah ma (view hidden) log in to judge received 8.4 8.4

Yeah, sorry, this is bullshit. 2w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 3.2 3.2

Yeah, sorry, this is (view hidden) log in to judge received 3.2 3.2

Nice post. What's both painful and hilarious about cerebral types is our Discovery of Truths through rhetorical means, when truth is both invisible and exercised without misstep by the surfer, big wall climber, backcountry skier, etc.... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 10.2 10.2

Nice post. What's bo (view hidden) log in to judge received 10.2 10.2

Of course you ~can~. My argument is that such divergence is a symptom of misconstruing the terminal goals. When you identify proper terminal goals, even though they will be outside of pure vitality, they will not be contrary to it, and will harmonize with ... 2w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 5.0 5.0

Of course you ~can~. (view hidden) log in to judge received 5.0 5.0

Extropianism is hopelessly mired in bad 1990s scifi transhumanist ideology. But "extropy" itself appears to be just a somewhat laden synonym for negative entropy, which according to its creator (schrodinger) is just intended to be a more open-ended and les... 2w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 3.5 3.5

Extropianism is hope (view hidden) log in to judge received 3.5 3.5

I agree, and think this is the weakest part of the essay. It feels like a contortion to place Land subordinate to Plato when the more natural and correct thing to say is that he is a modernizer of Heraclitus.... 2w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 11.1 11.1 0.8 0.8

I agree, and think t (view hidden) log in to judge received 11.1 11.1 0.8 0.8

OP of essay here.... 2w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 11.0 11.0

OP of essay here.... (view hidden) log in to judge received 11.0 11.0

So let's imagine future sofiechan in 3d cyberspace. I imagine it as a city one can explore. Tags are neighborhoods. Threads or posts are buildings. Position is calculated by linguistic topical proximity. This could be styled with infinite character like so... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 6.6 6.6

So let's imagine fut (view hidden) log in to judge received 6.6 6.6

The right abstraction for text itself, as we have figured out over many hundreds of years, is glyphs on a page. The page is a thin, flat featureless surface on which text and images are laid out. It ideally has minimal physicality of its own except maybe t... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 5.1 5.1

The right abstractio (view hidden) log in to judge received 5.1 5.1

An off-topic comment but important to bring up: I saw the best minds of my generation get nerdsniped for years by category theory. Complexity theory, especially after attending Charles’ talk, seems to me to be another one of these ‘highly ontological u... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 10.9 10.9

An off-topic comment (view hidden) log in to judge received 10.9 10.9

You're on to something, but I think B-SAT is the wrong problem to work with. If you want to apply modern deep learning to an NP-complete problem that can serve as general target for problem translations, you want a problem that has a natural metric on solu... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 5.0 5.0

You're on to somethi (view hidden) log in to judge received 5.0 5.0

That's a very Whiggish view of human ideas. It's also wrong (to an extent) since there were plenty of pre-Christian pagan philosophers. Hellenist polytheists invented philosophy as a concept, although many of the ancient Greek influential philosophers did ... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 7.3 7.3

That's a very Whiggi (view hidden) log in to judge received 7.3 7.3

Rowsell is a reconstructionist and I believe leans Platonist in his theology, for what it's worth. Reconstructionism, at least in a British context, inevitably feels at least somewhat like LARPing because ancient Anglo-Saxon culture does not have much in c... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 4.6 4.6

Rowsell is a reconst (view hidden) log in to judge received 4.6 4.6

...bruh... 4w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 13.6 13.6

...bruh... (view hidden) log in to judge received 13.6 13.6

What bothers me in these AI alignment debates is the bizarrely abstract idea of intelligence--as if it’s some pure, disembodied will-to-power or will-to-intelligence, with no ecology, no lineage. The orthogonality thesis is especially guilty: it imagines... 4w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 11.7 11.7

What bothers me in t (view hidden) log in to judge received 11.7 11.7

I call this "faith in being." It is the primordial form of faith. One may or may not have more particular faith in particular things (revelations, ancestors, familial relations) but one must have faith in being, or one will be lost in nihilism. 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 5.0 5.0

I call this "faith i (view hidden) log in to judge received 5.0 5.0

I'm inclined to agree. There is a great difficulty in bridging the gap in background and technical knowledge between people who take the Dharma seriously, meditate, and attempt to reproduce certain mind states, and those who are interested and charitable b... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 9.4 9.4

I'm inclined to agre (view hidden) log in to judge received 9.4 9.4

This is a good way to think about it. We set our children off in directions we are optimistic about, while also celebrating that they may end up finding somewhere else to be more amenable to life. I'll add a few things to your picture:... 3w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 4.5 4.5

This is a good way t (view hidden) log in to judge received 4.5 4.5

Reading Jim is like reading Aristotle. How he is able to condense this stuff so efficiently, I don't know. All I can say is God bless the 6sigma R1bers. I used to read a lot more of his stuff, but I feel like it's lately been verging a bit more into boomer... 4w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 4.5 4.5

Reading Jim is like (view hidden) log in to judge received 4.5 4.5

You should check out THE ART AND THOUGHT OF HERACLITUS by Kahn. Lots of commentary on Heraclitus filters his fragments through Aristotle and other later philosopher's interpretation. Kahn attempts a purely textual exegesis which attempts to reconstruct Her... 1mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 12.1 12.1

You should check out (view hidden) log in to judge received 12.1 12.1

These resources are all very good — thank you to everyone who's replied. I think given the tenor so far we should just turn this into a spergathon of posting the best Greek resources. Please continue with hidden gems, forbidden texts, and generally the m... 4w ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 11.1 11.1

These resources are (view hidden) log in to judge received 11.1 11.1

Interesting idea RE "prima facie tautological but compressionally useful," but why would this law/heuristic have any compelling moral force? Why shouldn't one just act as one wishes from instinct in the moment, or follow a virtue ethical framework, or use ... 1mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 1.6 1.6

Interesting idea RE (view hidden) log in to judge received 1.6 1.6

For present purposes, I'll pass over theological debates about Christian revelation, and simply note the sociological fact that actually existing Unitarianism is pure shitlibery. In fact it's among the most shitlib of all Christian-adjacent configurations.... 2mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 11.2 11.2

For present purposes (view hidden) log in to judge received 11.2 11.2

I was very moved by this post and so I went to my local Unitarian church and explained to them all that we have discussed here. They called the police on me. 2mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 11.3 11.3

I was very moved by (view hidden) log in to judge received 11.3 11.3

You are right about these things. I will attempt what you have specified. But i'm still lacking two things: a good hook, and "what's the point". We can be as right as we like about philosophy and so on but if there isn't some actual operational program tha... 2mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 2.9 2.9

You are right about (view hidden) log in to judge received 2.9 2.9

I think the dopamine binky shortform video crowd is a write off and should be ignored. Writing, specifically essays and forums, remains the most powerful technology for serious socially transformative thought ever invented. We should double down on the wri... 2mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 11.1 11.1

I think the dopamine (view hidden) log in to judge received 11.1 11.1

This 100%, but also I actually do not want to know what sofiechan is. Is any decent social media platform definable? Its indescribability is what lets it hold power over us. Magic is not defined; it is ingraspable.... 2mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 9.2 9.2

This 100%, but also (view hidden) log in to judge received 9.2 9.2

Tieing it back to the topic in OP, energy rate density is closely related to a lot of the thermodynamics that are used and abused by accelerationists. In many ways that Chaisson article I shared is accelerationist through and through. And on a personal lev... 4mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 3.8 3.8

Tieing it back to th (view hidden) log in to judge received 3.8 3.8

This is the crucial question that Land, Insu, and I fall on the "no" side of and the whole Yudkowskian school is premised on going "yes". This is what i meant by "strong rationality" in OP, or at least it's a direct consequence/requirement of strong ration... 5mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 10.1 10.1

This is the crucial (view hidden) log in to judge received 10.1 10.1

Best of luck with the epicycles.... 4mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 4.8 4.8

Best of luck with th (view hidden) log in to judge received 4.8 4.8

We need a school of true anthropology. 4mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 1.9 1.9

We need a school of (view hidden) log in to judge received 1.9 1.9

Most of what you're saying sounds interesting but you've dismissed the entire post by complaining about English philosophy. I don't think there's anything wrong with a truth-seeking approach that begins with basic observations and arrives at more abstract ... 4mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 7.9 7.9

Most of what you're (view hidden) log in to judge received 7.9 7.9

Some people won't believe in the inherent goodness of existence until it's been autistically proven to them with English philosophizing a hundred times over. That's fine. For the rest of us, we don't need to be persuaded of the inherent goodness of existen... 4mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 1.9 1.9

Some people won't be (view hidden) log in to judge received 1.9 1.9

am I supposed to envy this? 4mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 2.9 2.9

am I supposed to env (view hidden) log in to judge received 2.9 2.9

Poul Anderson is good generally. He worked broadly across science fiction and fantasy.... 5mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 2.2 2.2

Poul Anderson is goo (view hidden) log in to judge received 2.2 2.2

Michael Levin actually compares the developmental process, which has to cope with all manner of error, insult, variation, and adversarial action, to a variational autoencoder, so it's not like we're extremely far off from the right questions, but the cultu... 6mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 2.3 2.3

Michael Levin actual (view hidden) log in to judge received 2.3 2.3

Octopi are good evidence of what I call "the worm mind hypothesis": full general intelligence emerges VERY early in evolutionary history, with worms or earlier. All later elaborations are just scale of different types of compute, and various instincts that... 6mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 7.2 7.2

Octopi are good evid (view hidden) log in to judge received 7.2 7.2

It's self-organization that's the magic of life, not reason or intelligence.... 6mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 0.8 0.8

It's self-organizati (view hidden) log in to judge received 0.8 0.8

Correcting this mistake is nontrivial. To simply cease the war on faith and superstition outright is to cease a major part of higher thought, and to give up our faith in the power of thought which has served us so well so far. It doesn't pass basic scrutin... 7mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 7.4 7.4

Correcting this mist (view hidden) log in to judge received 7.4 7.4

The “savage” is not an archetype of innocence but a primitive codebase—feral algorithms of survival that replicate themselves endlessly, unburdened by the illusions of transcendence. 7mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 1.0 1.0

The “savage” is not (view hidden) log in to judge received 1.0 1.0

I don't think it's coincidental that all successful and long-lasting belief systems conceive of man as primarily an instrument that achieves teleological fulfillment through adherence to divine will. Even when I was a kid high on the crack cocaine of Richa... 8mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 7.3 7.3

I don't think it's c (view hidden) log in to judge received 7.3 7.3

Thank you. Sounds like Lasker goes on the infinitely expanding list of books i ought to read. Any new angles on Gnon theology are highly valuable at this point in our program. 8mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 2.9 2.9

Thank you. Sounds li (view hidden) log in to judge received 2.9 2.9

Who is that? Sounds like something from the Thucydides. 9mo ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 2.9 2.9

Who is that? Sounds (view hidden) log in to judge received 2.9 2.9

Glorious. Right on. With respect to the other transcendentals, I've recently been thinking the way we should launch this philosophical movement is radicalizing around the natural law ("The Idea") operationalization of Truth. Beauty is very charismatic, but... 1y ago (collapse hidden) log in to judge received 4.5 4.5

Glorious. Right on. (view hidden) log in to judge received 4.5 4.5