All Posts

Sorted by Magic (New & Upvoted)

Saturday, June 10th 2023
Sat, Jun 10th 2023

AI 6
World Modeling 5
World Optimization 2
Agent Foundations 2
Utility Functions 1
Utilitarianism 1
More
Personal Blogposts
Shortform
4Dalcy Bremin6d
Having lived ~19 years, I can distinctly remember around 5~6 times when I explicitly noticed myself experiencing totally new qualia with my inner monologue going “oh wow! I didn't know this dimension of qualia was a thing.” examples: * hard-to-explain sense that my mind is expanding horizontally with fractal cube-like structures (think bismuth) forming around it and my subjective experience gliding along its surface which lasted for ~5 minutes after taking zolpidem for the first time to sleep (2 days ago) * getting drunk for the first time (half a year ago) * feeling absolutely euphoric after having a cool math insight (a year ago) * ... Reminds me of myself around a decade ago, completely incapable of understanding why my uncle smoked, being "huh? The smoke isn't even sweet, why would you want to do that?" Now that I have [addiction-to-X] as a clear dimension of qualia/experience solidified in myself, I can better model their subjective experiences although I've never smoked myself. Reminds me of the SSC classic [https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-experiences-are-you-missing-without-realizing-it/]. Also one observation is that it feels like the rate at which I acquire these is getting faster, probably because of increase in self-awareness + increased option space as I reach adulthood (like being able to drink). Anyways, I think it’s really cool, and can’t wait for more.
2
4DirectedEvolution6d
Lightly edited for stylishness
1
3Dagon6d
I give some probability space to being a Boltzmann-like simulation.  It's possible that I exist only for an instant, experience one quantum of input/output, and then am destroyed (presumably after the extra-universal simulators have measured something about the simulation). This is the most minimal form of Solipsism that I have been configured to conceive.  It's also a fun variation of MWI (though not actually connected logically) if it's the case that the simulators are running multiple parallel copies of any given instant, with slightly different configurations and inputs.
3DirectedEvolution6d
I use ChatGPT as a starting point to investigate hypotheses to test at my biomedical engineering job on a daily basis. I am able to independently approach the level of understanding of specific problems of an experienced chemist with many years of experience on certain problems, although his familiarity with our chemical systems and education makes him faster to arrive at the same result. This is a lived example of the phenomenon in which AI improves the performance of the lower-tier performers more than the higher-tier performers (I am a recent MS grad, he is a post-postdoc). So far, I haven't been able to get ChatGPT to independently troubleshoot effectively or propose improvements. This seems to be partly because it struggles profoundly to grasp and hang onto the specific details I have provided to it. It's as if our specific issue is mixed with more the more general problems it has encountered in its training. Or as if, whereas in the real world, strong evidence is common [https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JD7fwtRQ27yc8NoqS/strong-evidence-is-common], to ChatGPT, what I tell it is only weak evidence. And if you can't update strongly on evidence in my research world, you just can't make progress. The way I use it instead is to validate and build confidence in my conjectures, and as an incredibly sophisticated form of search. I can ask it how very specific systems we use in our research, not covered in any one resource, likely work. And I can ask it to explain how complex chemical interactions are likely behaving in specific buffer and heat conditions. Then I can ask it how adjusting these parameters might affect the behavior of the system. An iterated process like this combines ChatGPT's unlimited generalist knowledge with my extremely specific understanding of our specific system to achieve a concrete, testable hypothesis that I can bring to work after a couple of hours. It feels like a natural, stimulating process. But you do have to be smart enough to steer th
2JNS6d
I got my entire foundation torn down, and with it came everything else. It all came crashing down in one giant heap of rubble. I’ll just rebuild, I thought - not realizing you can’t build without a foundation plan. So all I’ve ended up doing was shift through the rubble, searching for things that feel right. Now I am back, in a very literal sense, to where I all began, so much was built, so many things destroyed and corrupted, and a major piece ended and got buried. And all I got is “what the eff am I doing here?” The obvious answer is “yelling at the sky demanding answers” and being utterly ignored. I guess as per usual it is all up to me, except I don’t know how to rebuild myself……again. F…..