International philosopher of mystery and charm. Mean Old Meanie. Thinking deeply about the meaning of self-interest. #philosophy #physics #AI #SelfInterest,
Under cover of darkness.
Joined February 2016
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Hegseth was the first 'Greaser" Secretary of Defence. Maybe they could replace him with John Travolta in his "Saturday Night Fever" days.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries backed impeaching Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, saying he’s a “hard yes” on a measure that may be introduced as soon as this week. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Bourrat is weak on understanding the extended evolutionary synthesis. If evolution depended entirely on random accidental DNA mutations humans would likely never have evolved.. Humans are agents that change their environment & affect their own evolution. Selection is multilevel.
New episode (1329), with Dr. Pierrick Bourrat (@pierrickbourrat). We talk about evolutionary transitions, heritability, adaptation, and multilevel selection. #Biology #Philosophy
YouTube: youtu.be/P7lN5ZsCj7U
Podcast: tinyurl.com/2tdymfnh
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An excellent discussion with #StefanosGeroulanos about how we invent myths about human origins with an ideological agenda. Whether your myth is Adam and Eve or the Wengrow/Graeber myth of early communal living or the Yuval Noah Harari myths in Sapiens, skepticism is in order.
In episode 1109, I talk with Dr. Stefanos Geroulanos about his fascinating book, The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins. #History
youtu.be/op9wMe3k8mw
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I look forward to reading Philip Ball's new biography of #NielsBohr upon its publication in the US on December 3. I hope there will be an Audible version as well!
In any case, this is a great talk by @TheDissenterYT with our foremost science writer.
New episode (1325), with Dr. Philip Ball. We talk about his great new book, The Man Who Broke Reality: Niels Bohr and the Making of Modern Physics. #Physics #Science
YouTube: youtu.be/MVha1U_ZEHU
Podcast: bit.ly/3U3AEGL
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No crisis here. There’s no connection between sentience & moral standing. We know animals are conscious, yet we give most no moral standing. Insects, fish & rats are accorded no moral worth by most. Similarly, insects, snakes & rats give no moral standing to humans. And why not?
I spoke with Eric Schwitzgebel (@eschwitz) at @eleosai's conference earlier this fall. I was particularly struck by his analogy of our ethics being as equipped to handle AI consciousness as medieval physics was to reason about black holes. Check it out—youtu.be/4Wv8r5EUBWY?si=L1Nf…
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Such animals bite us and steal our food without any moral concerns whatsoever. There's no basis for one species of animal to determine the moral standing of another. Animal species generally care about their own
and not other species. So #Schwitzgebel is talking rubbish here.
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We don't need integrated information theory to know we have free will. Animals do what they want all day every day which is the essence of free will. Integrated Information theory is a purely speculative assertion which has neither evidence nor any basis in fact to support it.
Neuroscientists Giulio Tononi, Christof Koch, et al. make a strong case for real free will (not an illusion) if Integrated Information Theory (IIT) is the correct explanation of consciousness:
"If IIT is right, we do have free will in a genuine sense: we have alternatives, reasons, and values, we make decisions, and we—not our neurons or atoms—are the cause of our willed actions and bear responsibility for them."
arxiv.org/abs/2206.02069
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A truly excellent discussion by a mainstream economist on popular misunderstandings of economic consequences. Often "policy makers know what to do but not how to get reelected after they do it." Leiser notes that if you want to increase equality in a society
you will decrease
In episode 624, I talk with Dr. David Leiser about his great book, How We Misunderstand Economics And Why It Matters: The Psychology of Bias, Distortion and Conspiracy. #Economics #Science
youtu.be/SDQL7omze_k
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Nice low key talk. The tired brain as a computer metaphor has outlived its usefulness. The body and its senses do much of the work of cognition.
In episode 551, I talk with Dr. Louise Barrett about baboon societies, ecology, embodied cognition, and evolutionary psychology. #Psychology #CognitiveScience
youtu.be/W4vJVrYZBlA
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AIs are simply not conscious, but if they were they would not be entitled to any moral consideration. All animals are conscious yet I don't see anyone demonstrating for the rights of rats, cockroaches, spiders or ants. Very few conscious beings are given moral status by humans.
People often assume we care more about beings if we think they're conscious. But what if it's the other way round? In this new essay for @bigthink, I ask what our treatment of animals can tell us about how we might treat conscious AI.
bigthink.com/philosophy/ai-c…
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Who know. Maybe someday it will even do a self driving car.
Elon Musk: "AI will be able to do any job better than any person can do that job."
Zanny asks Elon whether he's closer to Dario's view on how fast jobs will be displaced, noting that he's ahead of everyone "at least in this country" on powering humanoid robots, which means factory work is in play too.
Elon doesn't hedge:
"I do think it's going to be a bumpy road, because AI will be able to do any job better than any person can do that job."
According to Elon, the disruption won't hit every job at once. Digital work goes first:
"That will be true very quickly of jobs that are digital or really anything that involves a person at a computer or on a phone. AI could do all of that. We'll be able to do all of that very soon."
He says software engineering is already past the tipping point:
"For software engineering, we already have a situation where AI is better than at least 90% of professional software engineers at writing software. And really it's getting to the point where it'll be better than 99%, and then it'll get to the point where there's just no way to compete."
He has a name for that endpoint: "Stockfish level."
"Stockfish is the chess program that is so good at chess that it will easily beat Magnus Carlsen or anyone at chess, even running on a small computer. I suspect that you could probably run Stockfish on your phone and beat Magnus Carlsen. That's how good it is at chess, and that's how good AI will be at writing software."
When Zanny asks whether this goes beyond software, his answer is one word, repeated:
"Everything. Everything. Everything."
Zanny then pushes back. Physical and assembly jobs would need humanoid robots that can do the work, and that capability doesn't exist yet.
Elon says this is why he separates the two waves: "digital AI, and then physically manifested AI in the form of robots." He describes the robot as the physical extension of the system. It has some local intelligence of its own, but a large AI model manages it.
Then he gives his conclusion:
"I've said many times, I think work is going to be optional."
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The AI execs can't quantify these risks because "there's no there there." The risks were pulled from their bums. But there's a long history of Doomers pulling absurd probabilities of doom from thin air, so they are afraid to respond and get called out for that.
What an absolute embarrassment. Amodei says the risk of annihilation is between 10-25%. Altman says the most likely outcome is human extinction, and that we'll need to "merge" with machines to survive. Hassabis says the risk-level is "sobering." Again, what an embarrassment.
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#Utilitarianism has an intrinsic fundamental flaw that can never be overcome. It depends entirely on the existence of an objective greater good. Humans can never identify or agree on an objective or greater good. Because there is no such thing. We all have different perspectives.
"Effective altruism is directionally correct, even if you should not follow its recommendations all the way."
@tylercowen self-recommending as usual
thefp.com/p/in-defense-of-ef…
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Levin is a visionary thinker who believes that life, intelligence and sentience are substrate independent. He examines ideas about biological organisms and machines and hybrid entities based on functionalism.
Levin has also created artificial life forms (anthrobots) that are also
In episode 1033, I talk with Dr. Michael Levin about self, collective intelligence, cognition, life after death, and more. #Biology #CognitiveScience #Science
youtu.be/oaHdbrM1ZuA
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#ChristopherHoyt is an example of someone so obstinately afraid to say anything, that not a single clear thought emerges in the entire talk. Hoyt doesn't articulate any ideas but his vaguely implied defence of religious myths & rituals suggests he might believe in weird things.
In episode 1059, I talk with Dr. Christopher Hoyt about Wittgenstein, #Philosophy of mind, and the cognitive science of religion.
youtu.be/Gq7yj0TINDw
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People who think equality is our biggest problem don't know what it means. tedtillichfarris.substack.co…
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There's more than meets the eye to recent calls by OpenAI & Anthropic CEOs for a slowdown of AI development. Unsustainable cash burn rates & delays in fund raising/IPOs. Claiming to be an existential threat to humanity may not be the greatest fund raising pitch.
Or is it?
Slowdown or no, OpenAI and Anthropic are like someone trying to sell billions of bottles of Perrier at £1,000 each.
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