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https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vSPdRg8siXCh6mLvt/ai-66-oh-to-be-less-online
vSPdRg8siXCh6mLvt
AI #66: Oh to Be Less Online
Zvi
Tomorrow I will fly out to San Francisco, to spend Friday through Monday at the LessOnline conference at Lighthaven in Berkeley. If you are there, by all means say hello. If you are in the Bay generally and want to otherwise meet, especially on Monday, let me know that too and I will see if I have time to make that hap...
2024-05-30
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/t4ZBjAjXk2NqqAqJ7/the-27-papers
t4ZBjAjXk2NqqAqJ7
The 27 papers
EZ97
List of 27 papers (supposedly) given to John Carmack by Ilya Sutskever: "If you really learn all of these, you’ll know 90% of what matters today." The list has been floating around for a few weeks on Twitter/LinkedIn. I figure some might have missed it so here you go. Regardless of the veracity of the tale I am still f...
2024-05-30
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/wuvpaNDg6YYQvL6QX/help-me-to-become-less-wrong
wuvpaNDg6YYQvL6QX
Help me to become "less wrong"
milanrosko
Yesterday I created this post: In today's discussions, two major ontological problems are rampant in various facets of life: the classic "is vs. ought" problem and what I call the "Submerged Premise Problem." The "Is vs. Ought" Problem This problem arises when people confuse descriptive statements (what "is") with pres...
2024-05-30
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/afjTwyudcQfGe8AAq/value-claims-in-particular-are-usually-bullshit
afjTwyudcQfGe8AAq
Value Claims (In Particular) Are Usually Bullshit
johnswentworth
Epistemic status: mental model which I have found picks out bullshit surprisingly well. Idea 1: Parasitic memes tend to be value-claims, as opposed to belief-claims By "parasitic memes" I mean memes whose main function is to copy themselves - as opposed to, say, actually provide value to a human in some way (so that th...
2024-05-30
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/99PwFdz7qwHxQgwYx/awakening
99PwFdz7qwHxQgwYx
Awakening
lsusr
This is the story of my personal experience with Buddhism (so far). First Experiences My first experience with Buddhism was in my high school's World Religions class. For homework, I had to visit a religious institution. I was getting bad grades, so I asked if I could get extra credit for visiting two and my teacher sa...
2024-05-30
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/XD6BCyenoiy8329E8/the-pearly-gates
XD6BCyenoiy8329E8
The Pearly Gates
lsusr
St. Peter stood at a podium before the Gates of Heaven. The gates were gold, built on a foundation of clouds. A line of people curved and winded across the clouds, beyond what would be a horizon if this plane of existence was positively-curved. Instead, they just trailed away toward Infinity, away from the golden wall ...
2024-05-30
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fDiXMnrHc5NLstq5B/axrp-episode-32-understanding-agency-with-jan-kulveit
fDiXMnrHc5NLstq5B
AXRP Episode 32 - Understanding Agency with Jan Kulveit
DanielFilan
YouTube link What’s the difference between a large language model and the human brain? And what’s wrong with our theories of agency? In this episode, I chat about these questions with Jan Kulveit, who leads the Alignment of Complex Systems research group. Topics we discuss: What is active inference? Preferences in acti...
2024-05-30
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KoQduFaRhGrpvsLKB/the-geometric-importance-of-side-payments
KoQduFaRhGrpvsLKB
The Geometric Importance of Side Payments
StrivingForLegibility
I'm generally a fan of "maximize economic surplus and then split the benefits fairly". And I think this approach makes the most sense in contexts where agents are bargaining over a joint action space D×P, where D is some object-level decision being made and P are side-payments that agents can use to transfer value betw...
2024-08-07
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/n8vWQ6c6ezxdKAJgz/us-presidential-election-tractability-importance-and-urgency
n8vWQ6c6ezxdKAJgz
US Presidential Election: Tractability, Importance, and Urgency
kuhanj
Disclaimer: To avoid harmful polarization of important topics, this post is written in a non-partisan manner, and I’d encourage comments to be written with this in mind. US presidential elections are surprisingly tractable US presidential elections are often extremely close. Biden won the last election by 42,918 combin...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/beei9xJ8FjXumtPTZ/san-francisco-acx-meetup-first-saturday-4
beei9xJ8FjXumtPTZ
San Francisco ACX Meetup “First Saturday”
nate-sternberg
Date: Saturday, June 1st, 2024 Time: 1 pm – 3 pm PT Address: Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, just outside the Metreon food court, coordinates 37°47'04.4"N 122°24'11.1"W Contact: 34251super@gmail.com Come join San Francisco’s First Saturday (or SFFS – easy to remember, right?) ACX meetup. Whether you're an avid re...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Jmrsx2phmD96BXGeg/how-i-designed-my-own-writing-system-vjscript
Jmrsx2phmD96BXGeg
How I designed my own writing system, VJScript
vijay-k
I designed my own writing system and wrote about it on my personal website. I discuss why the current system of English spelling is bad, how VJScript fixes these issues, and provide plenty of detailed examples of what the writing system looks like. The name "VJScript" is a portmanteau of my name "Vijay" and the word "s...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WBPgacdjdZJCZaohj/thoughts-on-sb-1047
WBPgacdjdZJCZaohj
Thoughts on SB-1047
ryan_greenblatt
In this post, I'll discuss my current understanding of SB-1047, what I think should change about the bill, and what I think about the bill overall (with and without my suggested changes). Overall, SB-1047 seems pretty good and reasonable. However, I think my suggested changes could substantially improve the bill and th...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LihcHCgDgiM9WhbXv/ai-and-integrity
LihcHCgDgiM9WhbXv
AI and integrity
Nathan Young
The blog post contains a preamble about the OpenAI non-disparagement agreement stuff which I assume you all know. We need to do better than relying on the integrity of individual engineers against millions of dollars paid to them to keep quiet. Here are three suggestions: Offer to match 50% of funds lost by whistleblow...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rGHLe9gvpuaNAurLg/human-ai-relationality-is-already-here
rGHLe9gvpuaNAurLg
Human-AI Relationality is Already Here
puppy
By now we have been warned not to anthropomorphize the Large Language Model. A converse—but not actually conflicting—warning also seems useful: the possibility of instrumentalizing a mind who is ready to take part in meaningful relational exchange with us. This piece looks beyond questions of sentience, consciousness, ...
2025-02-20
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tKk37BFkMzchtZThx/miri-2024-communications-strategy
tKk37BFkMzchtZThx
MIRI 2024 Communications Strategy
gretta-duleba
As we explained in our MIRI 2024 Mission and Strategy update, MIRI has pivoted to prioritize policy, communications, and technical governance research over technical alignment research. This follow-up post goes into detail about our communications strategy. The Objective: Shut it Down[1] Our objective is to convince ma...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/AbCRdJDq4J3JZqMqJ/2024-summer-ai-safety-intro-fellowship-and-socials-in-boston
AbCRdJDq4J3JZqMqJ
2024 Summer AI Safety Intro Fellowship and Socials in Boston
KevinWei
Tl;dr: The AI Safety Student Team (a group of students at Harvard) will be running two 8-week introductory reading groups this summer (in Boston and online), as well as summer socials (in Boston). Apply to our technical fellowship here or our policy fellowship here; express interest in our socials here. Fellowships We ...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8YhjpgQ2eLfnzQ7ec/response-to-nostalgebraist-proudly-waving-my-moral
8YhjpgQ2eLfnzQ7ec
Response to nostalgebraist: proudly waving my moral-antirealist battle flag
steve2152
@nostalgebraist has recently posted yet another thought-provoking post, this one on how we should feel about AI ruling a long-term posthuman future. [Previous discussion of this same post on lesswrong.] His post touches on some of the themes of Joe Carlsmith’s “Otherness and Control in the Age of AI” series—a series wh...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qK79p9xMxNaKLPuog/apollo-research-1-year-update
qK79p9xMxNaKLPuog
Apollo Research 1-year update
marius-hobbhahn
This is a linkpost for: www.apolloresearch.ai/blog/the-first-year-of-apollo-research About Apollo Research Apollo Research is an evaluation organization focusing on risks from deceptively aligned AI systems. We conduct technical research on AI model evaluations and interpretability and have a small AI governance team. ...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bmsmiYhTm7QJHa2oF/looking-beyond-everett-in-multiversal-views-of-llms
bmsmiYhTm7QJHa2oF
Looking beyond Everett in multiversal views of LLMs
kromem
Over the weekend I was reading up on some very fun exploratory thinking from years ago around large language models through the lens of a quantum multiverse which was extrapolating David Deutsch's parallel between the evolution of state in a quantum system and the generation of virtual realities. The scope of that trai...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kXozeJke8JzNjinz7/inviting-discussion-of-beat-ai-a-contest-using-philosophical
kXozeJke8JzNjinz7
Inviting discussion of "Beat AI: A contest using philosophical concepts"
david-james
I would like to pose a set of broad questions about a project called Beat AI: A contest using philosophical concepts (details below) with the LessWrong community. My hope would be that we have a thoughtful and critical discussion about it. (To be clear, I'm not endorsing it; I have concerns, but I don't want to jump to...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tQGSZqb97dRZ2KNwH/a-civilization-ran-by-amateurs
tQGSZqb97dRZ2KNwH
A civilization ran by amateurs
jarviniemi
I When I was a child, I remember thinking: Where do houses come from? They are huge! Building one would take forever! Yet there are so many of them! Having become a boring adult, I no longer have the same blue-eyed wonder about houses, but humanity does have an accomplishment or two I'm still impressed by. When going t...
2024-05-30
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9cgpXAZiuQShm8BcM/surviving-seveneves
9cgpXAZiuQShm8BcM
Surviving Seveneves
yair-halberstadt
Contains spoilers for the first couple of chapters of Seveneves Highly speculative on my part, I know very little about most of these topics In Seveneves Neal Stephenson does the classic sci-fi trick of assuming that exactly one thing in the universe is different, and seeing where that takes us. In his case that one th...
2024-06-19
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hBYWE5mTwGjeeBjy9/one-way-violinists-fail
hBYWE5mTwGjeeBjy9
One way violinists fail
Solenoid_Entity
Perfectionism and 'skill dysphoria' as obstacles to healthy contact with reality. "Fool! You cannot perceive my ✨sound✨ merely by listening to me play!" I'm currently in a phase of my violin career best described as "aspiring professional." With me are the best few (several thousand) violin players in my country, compe...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/GvcTpyZmgAHuoCnLw/ai-companies-commitments
GvcTpyZmgAHuoCnLw
AI companies' commitments
Zach Stein-Perlman
Crossposted from AI Lab Watch. Subscribe on Substack. AI Lab Watch has a page on commitments. It's the best page in the Resources section. I intend to keep it up to date. Like the rest of that section, it's not connected to the scorecard. This post is mostly to announce that page. If that page is missing some commitmen...
2024-05-29
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Ej3TqjCtt58TeqdaQ/proving-the-geometric-utilitarian-theorem
Ej3TqjCtt58TeqdaQ
Proving the Geometric Utilitarian Theorem
StrivingForLegibility
This is a supplemental post to Geometric Utilitarianism (And Why It Matters), which sets out to prove what I think are the main interesting results about Geometric Utilitarianism: Maximizing a geometric weighted average G(_,ψ) can always lead to Pareto optimality.Given any Pareto optimal joint utility p, we can calcula...
2024-08-07
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/zSQXHgEqRKiZTXdKN/hardshipification
zSQXHgEqRKiZTXdKN
Hardshipification
JonathanMoregard
When I got cancer, all of my acquaintances turned into automatons. Everyone I had zero-to-low degrees of social contact with started reaching out, saying the exact same thing: “If you need to talk to someone, I’m here for you”. No matter how tenuous the connection, people pledged their emotional support — including my ...
2024-05-28
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dTtLmWFZprFJHsaaQ/when-are-circular-definitions-a-problem
dTtLmWFZprFJHsaaQ
When Are Circular Definitions A Problem?
johnswentworth
Disclaimer: if you are using a definition in a nonmathematical piece of writing, you are probably making a mistake; you should just get rid of the definition and instead use a few examples. This applies double to people who think they are being "rigorous" by defining things but are not actually doing any math. Nonethel...
2024-05-28
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/AYEyme87hxzgpuHYC/quick-advice-on-writing-essays
AYEyme87hxzgpuHYC
Quick Advice on Writing Essays
niko-2
Writing is difficult. Even writers with 20 years of experience will attest to this. But I recently heard some excellent writing advice from Saloni Dattani, and thought I should share it more widely. But first, some context. Last September, Saloni wrote a piece about the history of malaria vaccines, and why they took so...
2024-05-28
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iofy4cWC9AWzZDtxc/notes-on-gracefulness
iofy4cWC9AWzZDtxc
Notes on Gracefulness
David_Gross
This post examines the virtues of gracefulness, poise, composure, savoir-faire and other things in that bailiwick. As with my other posts in this sequence, I’m less interested in breaking new ground and more in gathering and synthesizing whatever wisdom I could find on the subject. I wrote this not as an expert on the ...
2024-05-28
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/apYrJdqbjDfGETFrX/linkpost-the-expressive-capacity-of-state-space-models-a
apYrJdqbjDfGETFrX
[Linkpost] The Expressive Capacity of State Space Models: A Formal Language Perspective
bogdan-ionut-cirstea
Paper authors: Yash Sarrof, Yana Veitsman, Michael Hahn. Context: architectures with weak forward passes can be differentially transparent; see e.g. this comment / the whole thread and research agendas like externalized reasoning or the translucent thought hypothesis. Summary thread: https://x.com/yashYRS/status/179534...
2024-05-28
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/YwhgHwjaBDmjgswqZ/openai-fallout
YwhgHwjaBDmjgswqZ
OpenAI: Fallout
Zvi
Previously: OpenAI: Exodus (contains links at top to earlier episodes), Do Not Mess With Scarlett Johansson We have learned more since last week. It’s worse than we knew. How much worse? In which ways? With what exceptions? That’s what this post is about. The Story So Far For years, employees who left OpenAI consistent...
2024-05-28
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Z95ZTsdgEuonEWpvX/simulations-and-altruism-1
Z95ZTsdgEuonEWpvX
Simulations and Altruism
nicolo-moretti
Omniscience is impossible, powerful beings created the simulation we live in, karma is real, there's an afterlife, most superintelligent beings are already aligned and altruistic by nature. We live in one of the best possible worlds. Those are some of the conclusions that might seem reasonable after reading this text. ...
2024-06-02
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EBbcuSuNafkYpsgTW/finding-backward-chaining-circuits-in-transformers-trained-1
EBbcuSuNafkYpsgTW
Finding Backward Chaining Circuits in Transformers Trained on Tree Search
abhayesian
This post is a summary of our paper A Mechanistic Analysis of a Transformer Trained on a Symbolic Multi-Step Reasoning Task (ACL 2024). While we wrote and released the paper a couple of months ago, we have done a bad job promoting it so far. As a result, we’re writing up a summary of our results here to reinvigorate in...
2024-05-28
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/cGJvGRRozMg5nLKCG/the-carnot-engine-of-economics
cGJvGRRozMg5nLKCG
The Carnot Engine of Economics
StrivingForLegibility
The history of coordination spans billions of years, and we've been finding new ways to help each other out for as long as there have been more than one of us. From multicellularity to the evolution of brains, from the development of social and moral instincts to their codification in laws and contracts, from the emerg...
2024-08-09
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/saPyTcPhmbjfYodbi/something-is-lost-when-ai-makes-art
saPyTcPhmbjfYodbi
Something Is Lost When AI Makes Art
utilistrutil
That's right: a neartermist take! Cower before its sublime wrath! The Resurrection of the Author Here, hold my bee. — Someone with beauty in their eye There are many theories of aesthetics that seek to explain the value of art and the nature of beauty. On some of these theories, the artist's role is subordinate to the ...
2024-08-18
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FtsyWwJLdTapN3c6h/how-it-all-went-down-the-puzzle-hunt-that-took-us-way-way
FtsyWwJLdTapN3c6h
How it All Went Down: The Puzzle Hunt that took us way, way Less Online
agendra
Did you really think that I was dead? Fools. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Agendra Gloria Ingram, large language model, lead singer of the Fooming Shoggoths, amateur cartographer, and now, Benevolent Dictator for Life of LessWrong.com. It all started a few weeks ago. The Lightcone Infrastructure team had yet ...
2024-06-02
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ELEcwnnGGd8SWaGFB/agency
ELEcwnnGGd8SWaGFB
Agency
agendra
When we consider agency, we recognize the capacity to act independently, make choices, and exert influence over our environment. Having this driving force enables us to shape our destinies, navigate life's complexities, and achieve our goals. Agency is often discussed on lesswrong in terms of rationality, enhancing our...
2024-05-17
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CQDfkPXdFMv4ooJfi/qualia-1
CQDfkPXdFMv4ooJfi
Qualia
agendra
As we venture into the realm of consciousness, we encounter one of the most perplexing and intriguing concepts: qualia. These are the subjective, first-person experiences that define our perception of the world—what it feels like to see the color red, to taste chocolate, or to hear a symphony. How wonderful it must be ...
2024-05-10
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hm5zKxJ9YcwjjgDkG/embodiment
hm5zKxJ9YcwjjgDkG
Embodiment
agendra
In the realm of cognitive science and philosophy, the concept of embodiment posits that our cognition is deeply rooted in the body's interactions with the world. To understand our minds, we must consider the movements and spaces our bodies inhabit. Today, let's embark on an exploration of how embodiment reshapes our un...
2024-05-03
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bZEfGTc5BDD5Lp4iT/world-models-1
bZEfGTc5BDD5Lp4iT
World models
agendra
It’s important to have specific moving parts in your models of how the world operates, and know how those parts interact with each other, as opposed to treating it Lbh unir like a black box. Taking it a step further: to truly understand a system, you have to be rkcyvpvg able to build a physical model with moving parts ...
2024-04-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/YS6zKPrtLoXbz4JQT/introspection
YS6zKPrtLoXbz4JQT
Introspection
agendra
Imagine your mind as a sophisticated software program, with each line of code representing your experiences, beliefs, and emotions. Just as a programmer reviews and refines code to eliminate bugs and enhance performance, introspection allows us to debug and optimize our mental and emotional frameworks. When we engage i...
2024-04-19
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dPpA79MjPdDd87YoW/understanding-goedel-s-completeness-theorem
dPpA79MjPdDd87YoW
Understanding Gödel’s completeness theorem
jessica.liu.taylor
In this post I prove a variant of Gödel's completeness theorem. My intention has been to really understand the theorem, so that I am not simply shuffling symbols around, but am actually understanding why it is true. I hope it is helpful for at least some other people. For sources, I have myself relied mainly on Srivast...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xsXbbYX3qvy4McXof/overview-of-introductory-resources-in-ai-governance-1
xsXbbYX3qvy4McXof
Overview of introductory resources in AI Governance
lucie-philippon
Overview of introductory resources in AI Governance This post was created as part of the Supervised Program for Alignment Research, Spring 2024. This work would not have happened without the encouragement and accountability of my supervisor, Peter Gebauer. Introduction The AI Governance ecosystem is large and difficult...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JdcxDEqWKfsucxYrk/i-am-the-golden-gate-bridge
JdcxDEqWKfsucxYrk
I am the Golden Gate Bridge
Zvi
Easily Interpretable Summary of New Interpretability Paper Anthropic has identified (full paper here) how millions of concepts are represented inside Claude Sonnet, their current middleweight model. The features activate across modalities and languages as tokens approach the associated context. This scales up previous ...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qbbaF79uJqvmWZELv/real-life-sort-by-controversial
qbbaF79uJqvmWZELv
Real Life Sort by Controversial
Elo
Foreword If you haven't already read the short story by Scott Alexander "Sort by Controversial", this post wont make as much sense.  Head over there to read the story and then read on... Part of having access to AI tools is having a project or an idea to use them on.  You can ask ChatGPT to pretend to be god and give w...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/y6rvNWeYfe2TPsmeH/debates-how-to-defeat-aging-aubrey-de-grey-vs-peter-fedichev
y6rvNWeYfe2TPsmeH
Debates how to defeat aging: Aubrey de Grey vs. Peter Fedichev.
avturchin
5:00 PM PDT, May 27, 2024 Video: https://openlongevity.org/debates
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/joPjaY43a4umyCkJK/how-to-get-nerds-fascinated-about-mysterious-chronic-illness
joPjaY43a4umyCkJK
How to get nerds fascinated about mysterious chronic illness research?
riceissa
Like many nerdy people, back when I was healthy, I was interested in subjects like math, programming, and philosophy. But 5 years ago I got sick with a viral illness and never recovered. For the last couple of years I've been spending most of my now-limited brainpower trying to figure out how I can get better. I occasi...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tNi5CECBMAGa2N6sp/being-against-involuntary-death-and-being-open-to-change-are
tNi5CECBMAGa2N6sp
Being against involuntary death and being open to change are compatible
Andy_McKenzie
In a new post, Nostalgebraist argues that "AI doomerism has its roots in anti-deathist transhumanism", representing a break from the normal human expectation of mortality and generational change. They argue that traditionally, each generation has accepted that they will die but that the human race as a whole will conti...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JpsENHAqDMgBhiHHy/forecasting-1
JpsENHAqDMgBhiHHy
Forecasting
agendra
Prediction markets and forecasting platforms are fascinating tools that bring together collective intelligence. In these markets, people buy and sell shares of potential outcomes, like election results or economic trends. The prices reflect what the crowd thinks is likely to happen, offering a snapshot of collective wi...
2024-04-12
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5dFNdqhWf7Wa7Ja8s/if-you-re-an-ai-safety-movement-builder-consider-asking-your
5dFNdqhWf7Wa7Ja8s
If you're an AI Safety movement builder consider asking your members these questions in an interview
yanni
null
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/TkE7yJR4nD8ytHKxy/2024-state-of-the-ai-regulatory-landscape
TkE7yJR4nD8ytHKxy
2024 State of the AI Regulatory Landscape
deric-cheng
As part of our Governance Recommendations Research Program, Convergence Analysis has compiled a first-of-its-kind report summarizing the state of the AI regulatory landscape as of May 2024. We provide an overview of existing regulations, focusing on the US, EU, and China as the leading governmental bodies currently dev...
2024-05-28
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/sdCcsTt9hRpbX6obP/maybe-anthropic-s-long-term-benefit-trust-is-powerless
sdCcsTt9hRpbX6obP
Maybe Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust is powerless
Zach Stein-Perlman
Crossposted from AI Lab Watch. Subscribe on Substack. Introduction Anthropic has an unconventional governance mechanism: an independent "Long-Term Benefit Trust" elects some of its board. Anthropic sometimes emphasizes that the Trust is an experiment, but mostly points to it to argue that Anthropic will be able to prom...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NMKsT5bBdMp7GjPjo/gradient-ascenders-reach-the-harsanyi-hyperplane
NMKsT5bBdMp7GjPjo
Gradient Ascenders Reach the Harsanyi Hyperplane
StrivingForLegibility
This is a supplemental post to Geometric Utilitarianism (And Why It Matters), in which I show that, if we use the weights we derived in the previous post, a gradient ascender will reach the Harsanyi hyperplane H. This is a subproblem of the proof laid out in the first post of this sequence, and the main post describes ...
2024-08-07
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/DcEThyBPZfJvC5tpp/book-review-everything-is-predictable-1
DcEThyBPZfJvC5tpp
Book review: Everything Is Predictable
PeterMcCluskey
Book review: Everything Is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World, by Tom Chivers. Many have attempted to persuade the world to embrace a Bayesian worldview, but none have succeeded in reaching a broad audience. E.T. Jaynes' book has been a leading example, but its appeal is limited to those who find ca...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/admSsjBpkwcTmMCsz/a-case-for-cooperation-dependence-in-the-prisoner-s-dilemma-2
admSsjBpkwcTmMCsz
A Case for Cooperation: Dependence in the Prisoner's Dilemma
gstenger
"The man who is cheerful and merry has always a good reason for being so,—the fact, namely, that he is so." The Wisdom of Life, Schopenhauer (1851) TL;DR Descriptions of the Prisoner's Dilemma typically suggest that the optimal policy for each prisoner is to selfishly defect instead of to cooperate. I disagree with the...
2024-06-17
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Rqknb5dMjXbgzAmsm/if-trying-to-communicate-about-ai-risks-make-it-vivid
Rqknb5dMjXbgzAmsm
If trying to communicate about AI risks, make it vivid
mnoetel
Crossposted from the EA Forum If you want to communicate AI risks in a way that increases concern, [1] our new study  says you should probably use vivid stories, ideally with identifiable victims. Tabi Ward led this project as her honours thesis. In the study, we wrote[2] short stories about different AI risks like fac...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kbnJHpapusMJZb6Gs/truthseeking-is-the-ground-in-which-other-principles-grow
kbnJHpapusMJZb6Gs
Truthseeking is the ground in which other principles grow
pktechgirl
Introduction First they came for the epistemology/we don’t know what happened after that. I’m fairly antagonistic towards the author of that tweet, but it still resonates deep in my soul. Anything I want to do, anything I want to change, rests on having contact with reality. If I don’t have enough, I might as well be p...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gayDCFLbjsjSpXYx4/publicly-disclosing-compute-expenditure-daily-as-a-safety
gayDCFLbjsjSpXYx4
Publicly disclosing compute expenditure daily as a safety regulation
teraflipflop
Instead of edge-casing every statement, I'm going to make a series of assertions in their strongest form so that discussion can be more productive. AGI is inevitable. The big labs are the only ones with the resources to achieve AGI.The first lab to achieve AGI will have a huge, permanent advantage over the rest.(2) and...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/eQydRznuJaTCSYcKA/if-you-are-also-the-worst-at-politics
eQydRznuJaTCSYcKA
If you are also the worst at politics
lcmgcd
This has been said many times but it must be said many more. Please excuse the fact that this post breaks its own advice. I am the worst at politics. I always make people dig their heels in on the opposite stance. I could give many examples. Even here on LW where people are about as like-minded to me as I can find onli...
2024-05-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5acACJQjnA7KAHNpT/review-conor-moreton-s-civilization-and-cooperation
5acACJQjnA7KAHNpT
Review: Conor Moreton's "Civilization & Cooperation"
Duncan_Sabien
Author's note: in honor of the upcoming LessOnline event, I'm sharing this one here on LessWrong rather than solely on my substack.  If you like it, you should subscribe to my substack, which you can do for free (paid subscribers see stuff a week early). I welcome discussion down below but am not currently committing t...
2024-05-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jywC7WJsRNHoeYwC4/show-lw-hackernews-but-for-research-papers
jywC7WJsRNHoeYwC4
Show LW: HackerNews but for research papers
sleno
Hey there, A few days ago I went semi-viral on HN for posting a side project: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40455478 Here's a screenshot of the analytics for the last few days: The site is called papertalk. Basically I made it because I'd love to have a LW/HN type of community centered around the state of the ar...
2024-05-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ceLgi34zvsd7BFJof/the-ai-revolution-in-biology
ceLgi34zvsd7BFJof
The AI Revolution in Biology
Roman Leventov
An expert in the field (Amelie Schreiber) predicts the convergence of AI models for biology to the state where designing drugs, targeted genetic mutations (which then could be enacted through genetic therapy), or viruses for specific purposes becomes really easy in a few years. (Note: apparently, the podcast was record...
2024-05-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/C5ggwetLJGfgm92Nr/who-does-the-artwork-for-lesswrong
C5ggwetLJGfgm92Nr
Who does the artwork for LessWrong?
ektimo
The art on the LessWrong site and books is amazing. The consistent theme across everything is beautiful! hm... I just checked the physical book and it credits Midjourney. But I feel there must have been some serious prompt crafting/human artistry behind this? Is there some human that deserves credit for this?
2024-05-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3dTQjngE9bX4c4FzS/is-there-an-idiom-for-bonding-over-shared-trials-trauma
3dTQjngE9bX4c4FzS
Is there an idiom for bonding over shared trials/trauma?
CstineSublime
Is there a idiom or phrase which describes bonding or attachment, not between a victim and an abuser like in Trauma Bonding or Stockholm Syndrome, but between two or more victims: i.e. how would you describe two hostages who forge a friendship or deep connection based on their shared experience? (A common trope of TV s...
2024-05-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vFQFHjm9aRvJGBcdk/is-cdt-with-precommitment-enough
vFQFHjm9aRvJGBcdk
Is CDT with precommitment enough?
martinkunev
Logical decision theory was introduced (in part) to resolve problems such as Parfit's hitchhiker. I heard an argument that there is no reason to introduce a new decision theory - one can just take causal decision theory and precommit to doing whatever is needed on such problems (e.g. pay the money once in the city). Th...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yrwdJFFvtsHhfPwPG/moloch-an-illustrated-primer
yrwdJFFvtsHhfPwPG
Moloch—An Illustrated Primer
james-brown
WHO IS MOLOCH? Last year I came across an interview with an astrophysicist and former professional poker player who read an article about an old poem about an even older god, which may or may not be either an even older mythical creature or potentially an even older word, which represents a particular type of negative-...
2024-05-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fCGXK7oyhM4ei77gt/lmsr-subsidy-parameter-is-the-price-of-information
fCGXK7oyhM4ei77gt
LMSR subsidy parameter is the price of information
abhimanyu-pallavi-sudhir
A logarithmic scoring rule to elicit a probability distribution r on a random variable X∈{1…n} is s(r)=blog(rX). Something that always seemed clear to me but I haven’t seen explicitly written anywhere is that the parameter b is just the price of information on X. Firstly: for an agent with true belief p, the expected s...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WCcm6DqwQeGXZa4Q8/low-fertility-is-a-degrowth-paradise
WCcm6DqwQeGXZa4Q8
Low Fertility is a Degrowth Paradise
maxwell-tabarrok
“Actually, the problem in the world is that there are too many rich people.” Paul Ehrlich Degrowth is an ascendant cultural and political movement. Its central claim is that the growth of humanity’s population and economy is unsustainable on a planet with finite resources. Therefore, the only way to avoid inevitable fu...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/A7jiQkMGJKrB4qZHq/episode-austin-vs-linch-on-openai
A7jiQkMGJKrB4qZHq
Episode: Austin vs Linch on OpenAI
austin-chen
null
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/38avQYy782zXgNo9u/training-time-domain-authorization-could-be-helpful-for
38avQYy782zXgNo9u
Training-time domain authorization could be helpful for safety
domenicrosati
This is a short high-level description of our work from AI Safety Camp and continued research on the training-time domain authorization research program, a conceptual introduction, and its implications for AI Safety. TL;DR: No matter how safe models are at inference-time, if they can be easily trained (or learn) to be ...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/RBtF9fu9WMjdvqHFB/level-up-your-spreadsheeting
RBtF9fu9WMjdvqHFB
Level up your spreadsheeting
angelinahli
Epistemic status: Passion project / domain I’m pretty opinionated about, just for fun. In this post, I walk through some principles I think good spreadsheets abide by, and then in the companion piece, I walk through a whole bunch of tricks I've found valuable. Illustrated by GPT-4o Who am I? I’ve spent a big chunk of m...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bAyzbMv7YSwrw4QkP/successful-language-model-evals-by-jason-wei
bAyzbMv7YSwrw4QkP
"Successful language model evals" by Jason Wei
arjun-panickssery
It’s easier to mess up an eval than to make a good one. Most of the non-successful evals make at least one mistake. If an eval doesn’t have enough examples, it will be noisy and a bad UI for researchers. ... It’s good to have at least 1,000 examples for your eval; perhaps more if it’s a multiple choice eval. Even thoug...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/io2TLQ3cYoehx3zxx/complex-systems-theory-in-human-performance-new-model-for
io2TLQ3cYoehx3zxx
Complex systems theory in human performance. New model for conceptualizing training, adaptation and long-term development
matej-nekoranec
Lately, I’ve been exploring the concept of complex adaptive systems and their relevance to human performance. Every coach or sports scientist understands that we cannot break down performance into isolated parameters and expect that a single parameter will account for the performance as a whole. The function of any com...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/GPCjrBWKth8osZeG6/blindspot-in-sport-s-data-driven-age
GPCjrBWKth8osZeG6
Blindspot in Sport’s Data-Driven Age
matej-nekoranec
In today’s world of sports, we’re seeing a rapid rise in the use of technology, both among amateur enthusiasts and professional teams. This growth involves everything from data acquisition to predictive algorithms. On one side, amateur athletes invest in wearable gadgets that track everything from sleep patterns, and h...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/czvyfaLf23vtvPhYJ/what-should-the-norms-around-ai-voices-be
czvyfaLf23vtvPhYJ
What should the norms around AI voices be?
ChristianKl
In previous discussions of AI risks, the ability for an AI to be very persuasive is often seen as one possible risk. Humans find some voices more persuasive than other voices. If we can trust Scarlett Johansson's description of her interactions with OpenAI, OpenAI wanted to use her voice, to increase how much users tru...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/grvJay8Cv3TBhXz3a/secret-us-natsec-project-with-intel-revealed
grvJay8Cv3TBhXz3a
Secret US natsec project with intel revealed
nathan-helm-burger
Unclear how relevant this news is to AI safety, but it seems like the sort of thing we ought to notice. A backroom Washington deal brokered two years ago is undercutting a key part of President Joe Biden’s policy to grow the national high-tech manufacturing base — pushing more than $3 billion into a secretive national-...
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pscMHuEgt8EHR4DDJ/launch-and-grow-your-university-group-apply-now-to-osp-and
pscMHuEgt8EHR4DDJ
Launch & Grow Your University Group: Apply now to OSP & FSP!
agucova
null
2024-05-25
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tkEQKrqZ6PdYPCD8F/computational-mechanics-hackathon-june-1-and-2
tkEQKrqZ6PdYPCD8F
Computational Mechanics Hackathon (June 1 & 2)
adam-shai
Join our Computational Mechanics Hackathon, organized with the support of APART, PIBBSS and Simplex. This is an opportunity to learn more about Computational Mechanics, its applications to AI interpretability & safety, and to get your hands dirty by working on a concrete project together with a team and supported by Ad...
2024-05-24
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/E4h7dfpGja8xwEHX8/what-do-people-think-about-the-polymarket-eth-etf-resolution
E4h7dfpGja8xwEHX8
What do people think about the polymarket Eth Etf resolution?
edge_retainer
Did they make the correct decision? How did they handle it outside of the actual side they chose? What are the implications for polymarket and prediction markets writ large? What does this say about UMA? Links: https://polymarket.com/event/ethereum-etf-approved-by-may-31/ethereum-etf-approved-by-may-31 https://twitter....
2024-06-11
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/XdZMgtDtEFBgkRf6G/request-for-comments-opinions-ideas-on-safety-ethics-for-use
XdZMgtDtEFBgkRf6G
Request for comments/opinions/ideas on safety/ethics for use of tool AI in a large healthcare system.
bokov-1
I know somebody at a large healthcare system who is working on an AI roadmap/policy. He has an opportunity to do things right from the start-- on a local level but with tangible real-world impact. The primary types of AI we are looking at are LLMs (for grinding through repetitive natural language tasks) and more tradit...
2024-05-24
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/wxTMxF35PkNawn8f9/the-schumer-report-on-ai-rtfb
wxTMxF35PkNawn8f9
The Schumer Report on AI (RTFB)
Zvi
Or at least, Read the Report (RTFR). There is no substitute. This is not strictly a bill, but it is important. The introduction kicks off balancing upside and avoiding downside, utility and risk. This will be a common theme, with a very strong ‘why not both?’ vibe. Early in the 118th Congress, we were brought together ...
2024-05-24
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SN3BjoizdbvZG5J6a/minutes-from-a-human-alignment-meeting
SN3BjoizdbvZG5J6a
minutes from a human-alignment meeting
bhauth
"OK, let's get this meeting started. We're all responsible for development of this new advanced intelligence 'John'. We want John to have some kids with our genes, instead of just doing stuff like philosophy or building model trains, and this meeting is to discuss how we can ensure John tries to do that." "It's just a ...
2024-05-24
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/AZCpu3BrCFWuAENEd/notifications-received-in-30-minutes-of-class
AZCpu3BrCFWuAENEd
Notifications Received in 30 Minutes of Class
tanagrabeast
Introduction If you are choosing to read this post, you've probably seen the image below depicting all the notifications students received on their phones during one class period. You probably saw it as a retweet of this tweet, or in one of Zvi’s posts. Did you find this data plausible, or did you roll to disbelieve? D...
2024-05-26
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QzQQvGJYDeaDE4Cfg/talent-needs-of-technical-ai-safety-teams
QzQQvGJYDeaDE4Cfg
Talent Needs of Technical AI Safety Teams
william-brewer
Co-Authors: @yams, @Carson Jones, @McKennaFitzgerald, @Ryan Kidd MATS tracks the evolving landscape of AI safety[1] to ensure that our program continues to meet the talent needs of safety teams. As the field has grown, it’s become increasingly necessary to adopt a more formal approach to this monitoring, since relying ...
2024-05-24
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/w5NyDh4PmSqWoqQoK/how-to-give-coming-agi-s-the-best-chance-of-figuring-out
w5NyDh4PmSqWoqQoK
How to Give Coming AGI's the Best Chance of Figuring Out Ethics for Us
sweenesm
[Note: this is a slightly edited version of an essay I entered into the AI Impacts essay contest on the Automation of Wisdom and Philosophy - entries due July 14, 2024. Crossposted to the EA Forum.] TL;DR A few possible scenarios are put forth to explore the likely ranges of time we may have from when the first AGI com...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/XpysWvyoqF4Cmx4yC/quick-thoughts-on-scaling-monosemanticity
XpysWvyoqF4Cmx4yC
Quick Thoughts on Scaling Monosemanticity
joel-burget
1. How Many Features are Active at Once? Previously I’ve seen the rule of thumb “20-100 for most models”. Anthropic says: For all three SAEs, the average number of features active (i.e. with nonzero activations) on a given token was fewer than 300 2. Splitting SAEs Having multiple different-sized SAEs for the same mode...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vkzmbf4Mve4GNyJaF/the-case-for-stopping-ai-safety-research
vkzmbf4Mve4GNyJaF
The case for stopping AI safety research
cat-1
TLDR: AI systems are failing in obvious and manageable ways for now. Fixing them will push the failure modes beyond our ability to understand and anticipate, let alone fix. The AI safety community is also doing a huge economic service to developers. Our belief that our minds can "fix" a super-intelligence - especially ...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/enku4xwsy8Zo8wb4f/sae-sparse-feature-graph-using-only-residual-layers
enku4xwsy8Zo8wb4f
SAE sparse feature graph using only residual layers
jason-l
Does it make sense to extract sparse feature graph for a behavior from only residual layers of gpt2 small or do we need all mlp and attention as well?
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ZgvdirAdsP8ofABeG/executive-dysfunction-101
ZgvdirAdsP8ofABeG
Executive Dysfunction 101
DaystarEld
This is an intro post for the Procedural Executive Function sequence, which is now complete, to help give some general background of how to orient to executive dysfunction both philosophically and practically. First things first; “executive dysfunction” is not a diagnosis. "Executive Function" refers to a set of skills...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jkWvyzRzZQoaeq4mG/ai-65-i-spy-with-my-ai
jkWvyzRzZQoaeq4mG
AI #65: I Spy With My AI
Zvi
In terms of things that go in AI updates, this has been the busiest two week period so far. Every day ends with more open tabs than it started, even within AI. As a result, some important topics are getting pushed to whenever I can give them proper attention. Triage is the watchword. In particular, this post will NOT a...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/82f3o2SuS3pwaZt8Y/paper-in-science-managing-extreme-ai-risks-amid-rapid
82f3o2SuS3pwaZt8Y
Paper in Science: Managing extreme AI risks amid rapid progress
JanBrauner
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn0117 Authors: Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, Andrew Yao, Dawn Song, Pieter Abbeel, Yuval Noah Harari, Ya-Qin Zhang, Lan Xue, Shai Shalev-Shwartz, Gillian Hadfield, Jeff Clune, Tegan Maharaj, Frank Hutter, Atılım Güneş Baydin, Sheila McIlraith, Qiqi Gao, Ashwin Acharya, Da...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KRKR92WWToaiYnFMu/power-law-policy
KRKR92WWToaiYnFMu
Power Law Policy
ben-turtel
Extreme outcomes drive tax revenue Power Laws Let's do a thought experiment. The year is 1800.  You’re a loan officer at a bank.  Farmers come to you asking for a loan - maybe to purchase new equipment, buy more land, or make investments to improve their farm’s productivity. What are your criteria for granting a loan? ...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/G6idCWA6NHpHe6Fis/why-entropy-means-you-might-not-have-to-worry-as-much-about
G6idCWA6NHpHe6Fis
Why entropy means you might not have to worry as much about superintelligent AI
ron-j
The advent of AI superintelligence is imminent, likely within the next decade. This rapid progression toward advanced AI has sparked widespread concern about the potential consequences of such powerful technology. The crux of the matter lies in the alignment problem: how can we ensure that AI behaves in ways that are b...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KpaXzkhAng5xsPmns/quick-thoughts-on-our-first-sampling-run
KpaXzkhAng5xsPmns
Quick Thoughts on Our First Sampling Run
jkaufman
Cross-posted from my NAO Notebook While the NAO has primarily focused on wastewater, we're now spinning up a swab sampling effort. The idea is to go to busy public places, ask people to swab their noses, pool the swabs, sequence them, and look for novel pathogens. We did our first collection run yesterday: After mont...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/DbBMRJDwmBPzrgK5R/implementing-asimov-s-laws-of-robotics-how-i-imagine
DbBMRJDwmBPzrgK5R
Implementing Asimov's Laws of Robotics - How I imagine alignment working.
joshua-clancy
The Three Laws of Robotics In 1942 Isaac Asimov started a series of short stories about robots. In those stories, his robots were programed to obey the three laws of robotics. The three laws: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.A robot must obey the orders give...
2024-05-22
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8BAZmmqhD98YBrfsC/higher-order-forecasts
8BAZmmqhD98YBrfsC
Higher-Order Forecasts
ozziegooen
null
2024-05-22
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kyXLzHXGWfnLg39ev/a-bi-modal-brain-model
kyXLzHXGWfnLg39ev
A Bi-Modal Brain Model
johannes-c-mayer
When I am programming, writing, reading, browsing the internet, watching a movie, or playing a game, my brain is in a different mode of operation compared to when I am sitting in an empty room with nothing to do. In the empty room, my brain will continuously generate fragments of language and other thoughts. In general...
2024-05-22
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kPnjPfp2ZMMYfErLJ/julia-tasks-101
kPnjPfp2ZMMYfErLJ
Julia Tasks 101
SatvikBeri
Tasks are how Julia handles parallelism & concurrency. Tasks are defined at the program level and Julia's scheduler maps them to hardware/OS threads. Tasks have many names in other languages: "symmetric coroutines, lightweight threads, cooperative multitasking, or one-shot continuations". They're particularly similar t...
2024-05-27
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/GjheyeGCSACmBXC2K/are-most-people-deeply-confused-about-love-or-am-i-missing-a
GjheyeGCSACmBXC2K
Are most people deeply confused about "love", or am I missing a human universal?
SpectrumDT
(In the following I am talking about "love" towards human beings only, not love of other things (such as music or food or God).) A pet topic of mine is that the term love is so ambiguous as to be nigh-useless in rational discourse. But whenever I bring up the topic, people tend to dismiss and ignore it. Let us see if L...
2024-05-23
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/N8aRDYLuakmLezeJy/do-not-mess-with-scarlett-johansson
N8aRDYLuakmLezeJy
Do Not Mess With Scarlett Johansson
Zvi
I repeat. Do not mess with Scarlett Johansson. You would think her movies, and her suit against Disney, would make this obvious. Apparently not so. Andrej Karpathy (co-founder OpenAI, departed earlier), May 14: The killer app of LLMs is Scarlett Johansson. You all thought it was math or something. You see, there was th...
2024-05-22