point curious readers to the short series that started my thinking
“
I went to the link, read it, but there was no easy way to go to the rest of the series. If nothing else DZM should add a comment with links to the rest of the series.
–
“
happen to be an ethical utilitarian
“
happen to profess to be an ethical utilitarian. Technically, ethical does explicitly mean related to ethics. Technically, one could have a set of ethics that says dolphins are superior and all humans should be their servants. And technically, when they chain you to Flippers’ feeding station to toss fish all day that could be “ethical.” But generally, ethical refers to generally accepted ethics and should be used that way.
–
“
one likely contributor to Sam Bankman-Fried’s belief
“
I still don't buy it. I don't buy that SBF bought the idea of AI Doom. SBF supposedly didn't care too much about crypto beyond very practical matters. His favorite crypto supposedly being Tether. For one, he loved to bleed farming protocols dry. And I think he was right to assume that ultimately the most profitable thing would be to sell any farming tokens acquired immediately. In Brady Dale's book, I believe SBF referred to farming with liquidity-incentive tokens as Ponzi. Which is extremely ironic as he outwardly tried to help Sushi, supposedly.
But as DZM put it in his Safemoon Substack article before this, what good is a token that is only valuable when sold? The voting rights are a joke. You get the right to suggest something that a handful of humans may or may not do. SBF's actions with Alameda using mercenary capital to drain farms, dump, and move on to the next suggest he was a cynic (at least about matters other than his own self assessment). I think he thought his timeline was short because he ruthlessly sold other people's tokens while at the same time claiming FTT was actually worth something! He controlled supply and could on a whim and a trust-me-bro determine at any time any of the rewards for holders.
No, I don't believe he believed in the AGI/singularity hype. None of that helps him continue grifting and frauding. Not believing it and exploiting others believing it might. But him actually believing it does not. And I think he “believed” in EA because it gave him an excuse to do awful things. He can believe in EA without actually firmly believing any one tenet (like AI Doom). And perhaps more importantly, EAers were some of his first backers. Mostly it could have been tit for tat, probably the Anthropic donations too. No, I'm sorry, I can believe the belief for other EA adherents, but I just don't see it for SBF.
–
“
present actions the the entire
“
present actions with the entire
–
“
advocates of scientific racism.
“
advocates of racism claiming to be scientific. Or “of ‘scientific’ racism.”
–
“
co-founded by Peter Thiel
“
Hmm, maybe this whole Future as Emergency would be better as the beginning of a different book. Namely a book on Peter Thiel by DZM. Which I would /love/ to read. I'd be a little worried for DZM if he went after that target (per Gawker), but man would it be an epic.
There would not need to be any (paraphrasing) “probably influenced SBF's thinking”. Thiel is funding activity that seemingly promotes the AI Doom narrative. As to why, the only possible explanations are a Punnett square of Believe and Exploit. B is to believe AI Doom is imminent, b is not. E is to exploit the propagation of the idea to some goal, e is not. BE, bE, be, or Be. And since he's an adherent of “Rationality,” perhaps we know E/e. Perhaps of course it is E. Perhaps that's the very meaning of “instrumental.” Perhaps it's merely a question of B/b. To BE or not? To bE? That is the question.
But maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe SBF is right. Those that ask such questions are overrated. I think a literary work with such a question might actually be impactful though.
–
“
Dune’s themes of insurgency and control echo the horrors of the contemporaneous Vietnam War, which was justified in part by the predictionist “domino theory” of Communism’s future spread.
“
For some unspecified reason, Kissinger comes to mind when I think of Thiel. /So far/ there's been no war in the Vietnam sense, with a draft forcing young people to kill overseas. But there are still profits being made and power gained via the US military industrial complex. Are they profits from prepping for a future war? Or profits from a different kind of war that is ongoing? I think the “war on terror” was a ridiculous phrase. So I will not suggest a “war on freedom” or, more specifically, a “civil war on freedom.” But bad sh** is happening. And profits are happening. And it's scary to think how effective that “domino theory" was. And it's scary to think Kissinger lived so freaking long and almost to the end with a neutral or positive popular opinion by people with even a passing understanding of his legacy.
Yeah, a Thiel book. Specifically by DZM. The one who first brought my attention to Thiel years ago. I think the world could use it. And, sooner than later, please.
“
point curious readers to the short series that started my thinking
“
I went to the link, read it, but there was no easy way to go to the rest of the series. If nothing else DZM should add a comment with links to the rest of the series.
–
“
happen to be an ethical utilitarian
“
happen to profess to be an ethical utilitarian. Technically, ethical does explicitly mean related to ethics. Technically, one could have a set of ethics that says dolphins are superior and all humans should be their servants. And technically, when they chain you to Flippers’ feeding station to toss fish all day that could be “ethical.” But generally, ethical refers to generally accepted ethics and should be used that way.
–
“
one likely contributor to Sam Bankman-Fried’s belief
“
I still don't buy it. I don't buy that SBF bought the idea of AI Doom. SBF supposedly didn't care too much about crypto beyond very practical matters. His favorite crypto supposedly being Tether. For one, he loved to bleed farming protocols dry. And I think he was right to assume that ultimately the most profitable thing would be to sell any farming tokens acquired immediately. In Brady Dale's book, I believe SBF referred to farming with liquidity-incentive tokens as Ponzi. Which is extremely ironic as he outwardly tried to help Sushi, supposedly.
But as DZM put it in his Safemoon Substack article before this, what good is a token that is only valuable when sold? The voting rights are a joke. You get the right to suggest something that a handful of humans may or may not do. SBF's actions with Alameda using mercenary capital to drain farms, dump, and move on to the next suggest he was a cynic (at least about matters other than his own self assessment). I think he thought his timeline was short because he ruthlessly sold other people's tokens while at the same time claiming FTT was actually worth something! He controlled supply and could on a whim and a trust-me-bro determine at any time any of the rewards for holders.
No, I don't believe he believed in the AGI/singularity hype. None of that helps him continue grifting and frauding. Not believing it and exploiting others believing it might. But him actually believing it does not. And I think he “believed” in EA because it gave him an excuse to do awful things. He can believe in EA without actually firmly believing any one tenet (like AI Doom). And perhaps more importantly, EAers were some of his first backers. Mostly it could have been tit for tat, probably the Anthropic donations too. No, I'm sorry, I can believe the belief for other EA adherents, but I just don't see it for SBF.
–
“
present actions the the entire
“
present actions with the entire
–
“
advocates of scientific racism.
“
advocates of racism claiming to be scientific. Or “of ‘scientific’ racism.”
–
“
co-founded by Peter Thiel
“
Hmm, maybe this whole Future as Emergency would be better as the beginning of a different book. Namely a book on Peter Thiel by DZM. Which I would /love/ to read. I'd be a little worried for DZM if he went after that target (per Gawker), but man would it be an epic.
There would not need to be any (paraphrasing) “probably influenced SBF's thinking”. Thiel is funding activity that seemingly promotes the AI Doom narrative. As to why, the only possible explanations are a Punnett square of Believe and Exploit. B is to believe AI Doom is imminent, b is not. E is to exploit the propagation of the idea to some goal, e is not. BE, bE, be, or Be. And since he's an adherent of “Rationality,” perhaps we know E/e. Perhaps of course it is E. Perhaps that's the very meaning of “instrumental.” Perhaps it's merely a question of B/b. To BE or not? To bE? That is the question.
But maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe SBF is right. Those that ask such questions are overrated. I think a literary work with such a question might actually be impactful though.
–
“
Dune’s themes of insurgency and control echo the horrors of the contemporaneous Vietnam War, which was justified in part by the predictionist “domino theory” of Communism’s future spread.
“
For some unspecified reason, Kissinger comes to mind when I think of Thiel. /So far/ there's been no war in the Vietnam sense, with a draft forcing young people to kill overseas. But there are still profits being made and power gained via the US military industrial complex. Are they profits from prepping for a future war? Or profits from a different kind of war that is ongoing? I think the “war on terror” was a ridiculous phrase. So I will not suggest a “war on freedom” or, more specifically, a “civil war on freedom.” But bad sh** is happening. And profits are happening. And it's scary to think how effective that “domino theory" was. And it's scary to think Kissinger lived so freaking long and almost to the end with a neutral or positive popular opinion by people with even a passing understanding of his legacy.
Yeah, a Thiel book. Specifically by DZM. The one who first brought my attention to Thiel years ago. I think the world could use it. And, sooner than later, please.
Mm good point I have a lot of that to do