Reasonable Reasons to NOT be THAT Worried about AI Doomsday

Introduction This will be a long article. I was spurred to write it by this post on the SlateStarCodex subreddit. It rubbed me the wrong way. I worry AI safety folks are risking the same fate of the New Atheists. That is, the vast majority of people who disagreed with them had bad philosophical justifications … Continue reading Reasonable Reasons to NOT be THAT Worried about AI Doomsday →

What is Autism?

Let me start from the beginning. The younger you are, the easier it is for you to learn things, in an evolutionary psychology sense. The name for this ease and desire to learn things is “curiosity,” and children are very curious. Toddlers will put things in their mouths, out of curiosity, because their mouths are … Continue reading What is Autism? →

Melodrama and Factorials

I've always thought that the exclamation mark is the perfect symbol for factorials. This is true across many different vectors. It is a bit complicated to explain what I mean, because each of those vectors deserves a deep exploration. So you will have to bear with me. You will ask yourself, "what do those topics … Continue reading Melodrama and Factorials →

Smart, Religious, and Gay: Was there Group Selection?

The first thing you need to know is that personality is mostly genetic. I recently watched this interview with Michael Woodley. I cannot verity the veracity of his claims, but they are interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOudO5EPI0M&t=1s There is a lot of controversy, in the study of evolution and society, about the term “group selection.” Mostly unfair. Here’s … Continue reading Smart, Religious, and Gay: Was there Group Selection? →

Is Dogma Eugenic?

My hypothesis is that dogmas raised human IQs. To explain why, I'll begin here:

One of the most powerful driving forces in evolution is called an evolutionary arms race.

The paradox of interconnectedness

Imagine you could only interact with the other people in a small town. The personalities, interests, and hobbies that you could be exposed to are limited by geographical location. In a small population, there may be some people with fringe ideas or unusual interests, but not in great enough numbers to form dedicated communities. But … Continue reading The paradox of interconnectedness →