There's two steps to deeply understanding a complicated problem: 1. Get a handle on what is going on 2. Distill the idea down to the very core fundamentals We're going to talk about step (2) here. Having a deep, elegant understanding of a concept makes it much easier to effectively...
Versions of this question have probably been asked before, but MIRI at least is getting more pessimistic and I’ve seen Eliezer express multiple times that he doesn’t know what actually useful advice to give people who aren’t in the field yet. I don’t want the world to end, but I...
Toki Pona is a language constructed by Sonja Lang, as foretold by linguistic determinism. It is famous for only having about 120 or so words, and yet still being able to express a wide variety of concepts. Today, I am announcing sona ike lili (lit. little bad knowledge), a blog...
Epistemic status: Relies on the testimony of our trusted friend, Professor Quirrell A thousand of your measly tokens pale in comparison to a single Quirrell point. - Quirinus Quirrell Harry and Hermione each had, like, 200 Quirrell points each, each of which was apparently worth at least 1000 US Dollars....
Yudkowsky recently posted a Twitter thread about how ideal reasoners respond to arguments. My understanding of his reasoning is: 1. The more smart/rational/whatever you are, the better you are at figuring out what is true 2. Thus, whether you believe the conclusion of an argument should be based primarily on...
The BrainPort is a device which allows blind people to have their sight restored (partially) by sending signals through electrodes that rest on the tongue. > The signals are sent to the tongue via a "lollipop," an electrode array about nine square centimeters that sits directly on the tongue. Each...