CRISPY

As extremist religious sects, Mennonites and other Anabaptists have proven particularly susceptible to the Evangelical extremism currently blazing through Christianism in North America. 

It’s true to say that Mennonites love their children and don’t want them to die of measles, but the reality is more complicated. The Pre-tribulation Rapture theology associated with vaccine hesitancy has become increasingly common among Anabaptists. So much so that Anabaptist Conference and leaders in the US and Canada have issued multiple statements denying the validi... (read more)

You are correct insofar as art goes, but that’s why the distinction of workmanship is important. The justification for art is its own thing, however the justification for workmanship is needs driven. 

The method of meeting the need is the core of the LLM writing discussion. 

You might be interested in “The Nature and Art of Workmanship” by David Pye. 

It deals with the differences between work of the hand and work of the machine, and the philosophical differences between them. He calls it the workmanship of risk versus the workmanship of certainty. 
 

The concept applies very well to LLM writing. 
 

The valuelessness of a treaty seems to be based on a binary interpretation of success. Treaties banning chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons development may not have been absolutely successful; they have been violated. But I don’t think many people would argue those restrictions haven’t been beneficial. 

I’m not clear why a ban on developing AGI would not have similar value. 

I like the idea of cocktail party investment advice as an economic bellwether. That’s a good observation. 

 

There’s no hard delimiter on financially induced sector collapse, and it’s often not directly attributable to the sector that collapses. The dot com crash was tied to federal reserve interest rate increases that resulted in a sell off as investors moved towards less speculative investments. 

AI is in a fairly safe position right now through sheer variety of vested interests. Government, construction, infrastructure, computing hardware, software, and early corporate adopters of AI are all doing everything they can to keep the ball rolling. They’ve cross... (read more)

You were right. I was interested and genuinely enjoyed the article. I hope there is a Part III. I am interested to know about your personal approach.  

Omelas can also be seen as plausibility through imperfection. People have trouble accepting perfection. Imperfection adds a layer of realism that anchors people to a story. Without imperfection, there’s nothing to talk about. 

Reza Aslan cleverly applies the concept to deities, but it works with pretty much everything. Looking gift horses in the mouth is human nature. There’s a direct relationship between an ideal, and the level of effort put into the inquisition the ideal is subjected to in search of the imperfection. There’s also an expectation that ... (read more)

The eldritch horror analogy is interesting. I like it overall. If we extend the analysis to include not just the gods, but the people involved, I believe it adds another dimension to the discussion. 

In eldritch horror there are rarely any good guys. Arguably there are none. There are typically two groups of actors, and the rest of humanity is an ignorant mass concerned with mundane matters. Innocent of the knowledge of the supermundane. 

The two groups of actors are the priests, and the individuals who seek to thwart the priests using some ot... (read more)

I’m pleased this got some traction. One of my largest concerns with AI policy development is that state level decision makers will not recognize the threat until catastrophic damage has been done. 

Identifying the need for chemical, biological, and nuclear warfare treaties was fairly universal, as there were real examples of their risks available for all to see. Without that tangible evidence, there’s a risk of incremental disaster like we’re seeing with climate change policies. 

A policy accelerationist is probably my biggest concern. A group that... (read more)

A central assumption here is that AI will continue to function in a unfettered way. Where each user is able to construct a bespoke digital world for themselves based on all the variation access to unlimited information can provide. 
I don’t think that idea reflects reality. Historically, when it is possible to limit information, authorities will do so in whatever ways forward their agenda, or retards the agenda of an opponent or enemy. 

Instead of a bespoke microcosm based on personal values, authorities will simply prevent access to information th... (read more)

Conservatism isn’t about keeping things as they are. It’s about regression into a gilted fictional past. Intentionally introducing bias into a system in order to transit to a nonexistent temporal location as a reactionary response seems like a strange thing to do in general. It seems like an exceedingly strange thing to do to a conglomeration of logical procedures. 

The entire notion is inherently regressive and reactionary. It’s coping with fear of an unknown future by appealing to an idealized past. Intentionally baking fear into the system eliminate... (read more)

Another commonality between the Hasidim and LDS is disassociation from society at large. It’s more than localized consolidation of theologically aligned individuals. Both set themselves apart from society, essentially othering the majority of society. Whether they deem others to be merely goyim (Hasidim) or Gentiles (LDS), or the more extreme views tamei or unclean, a major emphasis is placed on downgrading those outside their faith. 

That’s not to say individuals from either religion are viewing outsiders as lesser, necessarily, but from a group level... (read more)

People tend to underestimate the scale of inter-cultural prehistoric networks. Humans are exceptionally good at sourcing materials.

I really like the mental picture of everyone waiting on Bob to return from the wilds with the special stones for the hunting points (or whatever).

You should look into a guy called Abraham Vereide. He is almost single handedly responsible for the development of Evangelical Christianism.

He’s the guy who rebranded Fundamentalism as Evangelicalism (via his proxy Billy Graham). He’s also the guy who introduced the multilevel marketing of planting as a business model for Jesus. Soteriological Amway. That’s why the podcasts you’re listening to are so filled with “growth words”. It’s a dodge around talking openly about money. 

He’s a really interesting guy. He came to D.C. with FDR, and he stayed in the... (read more)

This is very interesting. Debriefing summaries like this are very useful in assessing the state of play. Information like this is typically kept confidential, so thank you for sharing. 

I think I drew different conclusions from the information than a need to act on legislators. This article highlights vulnerabilities in the systems that are supposed to protect us. If you were able to use FUD to get tangible action from officials, then other lobbyists using positive incentives, should be able to get even greater action from a greater number of officials... (read more)

The premise of 

I think you’re correct. There’s a synergistic feedback loop between alarmism and social interaction that filters out pragmatic perspectives. Creating the illusion that the doom surrounding any given topic more prevalent than it really is, or even that it’s near universal. 

Even before the rise of digital information the feedback phenomenon could be observed in any insular group. In today’s environment where a lot of effort goes into exploiting that feedback loop it requires a conscious effort to maintain perspective, or even remain aware that there are other perspectives. 

The argument against R&D of contemporary systems because of future systems capabilities has always been shortsighted. Two examples of this are nuclear weapons controls and line level commenting of programming code. 

In nuclear weapons development the safety advocates argued for safety measures on the weapons themselves to prevent misuse. They were overruled by arguments that future systems would be so physically secure that they couldn’t be stolen and the controls were centralized to the launch control process, usually with one person there having ... (read more)

One of the many things I learned during my wife’s cancer treatment is that healthcare is designed with the cost development systems insulated to resist external influence. There is little accountability for the base cost architecture, often to the point where no one can identify the architect. 
This makes addressing inefficiencies, exploitations, and shortcomings almost impossible. 

From a regulatory standpoint, legislative action has little to target. The doctor, the technicians, the hospital, the supply vendor, the pharmacist, and even the insure... (read more)