Ulisse Mini's Shortform

Ulisse Mini

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I'm going to argue meditation/introspection skill is a key part of an alignment researcher's repituaire. I'll start with a somewhat fake Taxonomy of approaches to understanding intelligence/agency/value formation

Study artificial intelligences
- From outside (run experiments, predict results, theorize)
- From inside (interpretability)
Study biological intelligences
- From outside (psychology experiments, theorizing about human value & intelligence formation, study hypnosis^[1])
- From inside (neuroscience, meditation, introspection)

I believe introspection/meditation is a neglected way to study intelligence among alignment researchers

You can run experiments on your own mind at any time. Lots of experimental bits free for the taking
I expect interviewing high level meditators to miss most of the valueble illegible intuitions (both from lack of direct experience, and lacking the technical knowledge to integrate that experience with)
It has known positive side effects like improved focus, reduced stress etc (yes it is possible to wirehead, I believe it to be worth the risk if you're careful though.)

What are you waiting for, get started!^[2]

I threw this out offhand, unsure if it's a good idea, but maybe figuring out hypnosis will teach us something about the mind? (Also hypnosis could be in the "outside" or "inside" category.) ↩︎
Or read the mind illuminated, mastering the core teachings of the Buddha, joy on demand. Better yet find a teacher. ↩︎

3niplav4y

I disagree with your stated reasons for meditating (I have meditated a bunch and believe it to be valuable, but not worth the time if valence is not one of your top priorities). Feedback is less clear (not so many experimental bits), experiments are repeated very often (and often at least I don't have the focus to think about better methods), I expect positive side-effects to be very small due to the Algernon argument. I think I would attribute having become better at the 12th virtue of rationality (the void) due to meditation practice, but this is quite hard to tell. Maybe also better at not fooling myself in social situations, slightly less consequentialist/analytical in macro-thinking (but no noticeable decrease in micro-thinking such as programming), and more adept at understanding æsthetics.

3Ulisse Mini4y

Thanks for the comment. I agree valence should be the top priority & that cognitive gains are unlikely. The main thing I was pointing at is "surely there's useful bits about intelligence to be gathered from inside said intelligence, and people don't seem to be putting much effort here", but on reflection the last part seems wrong. Some neuroscientists are enlightened and haven't figured everything out yet. Your experience is interesting, I also want to get better at the void :)

It could still be true that on the margin experiential information about intelligence is useful.

I think $_{60 %}$ I buy this.