curihttps://curi.us/2023-12-13T16:09:59ZElliot TempleGovernment Policy Proposals and Local Optimahttps://curi.us/posts/show/25722023-12-13T16:09:59ZElliot TempleSuppose you can influence government policy. You can make a suggestion that will actually be followed. It could be on any big, complex topic, like economic policy, COVID policy, military policy, etc. WOpenAI Fires Then Rehires CEOhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25712023-11-23T17:04:04ZElliot TempleHere's my understanding of the recent OpenAI drama, with Sam Altman being fired then coming back (and the board of directors being mostly fired instead), and some thoughts about it:
OpenAI was creNon-Violent Creative Adversarieshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25702023-11-23T16:41:17ZElliot TempleCreative adversaries try to accomplish some goal, related to you, which is not your goal. They want you to do something or be something. Preventing them from getting their way drains your resources onCasinos as Creative Adversarieshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25692023-10-10T15:44:48ZElliot TempleI previously discussed creative adversaries who don't initiate force (in the section "Manipulating Customers"). This post will discuss the concept more and apply it to casinos.
Casinos ICredentialed Intellectuals Support Misquotinghttps://curi.us/posts/show/25682023-08-06T04:30:16ZElliot TempleSummary: I criticize David Thorstad's reply to me regarding his citation errors. I summarize his supporters' credentials as evidence about problems with academia, think tanks, and the world’sThiamin, Vitamins and Derrick Lonsdalehttps://curi.us/posts/show/25672023-05-23T17:47:15ZElliot TempleI’m reading Why I Left Orthodox Medicine: Healing for the 21st Century (1994) by Derrick Lonsdale (you may be able to legally get a free ebook here). I’ve finished chapter 5. So far I think it’sBig Picture Reasons People Give Up on Learning Philosophyhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25662023-03-18T17:55:05ZElliot TempleWhy might people give up on learning philosophy or learning to be a great (critical) thinker?
I think maybe no one has ever quit my community while making rapid progress.
Maybe people only quit when[Product] [Screencast] Elliot Reads Critical Fallibilism Forum, 2023-03-08https://curi.us/posts/show/25652023-03-09T18:26:27ZElliot TempleI recorded myself catching up on CF forum posts and put it up for sale. Find details on the product page: https://curi.gumroad.com/l/oywpl
I wanted to let everyone know: Future small products might onVisible and Hidden Problemshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25642023-02-25T17:41:54ZElliot TempleSome problems are easier to see than others. If you look for problems, there are some that are pretty easy to find, and some that are hard to find. Some problems are so easy to find that you’ll findNonfinite Verbshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25632023-02-23T16:34:53ZElliot TempleI’m going to explain nonfinite verbs because I’ve been unable to find a good conceptual explanation for them that I could refer people to. They’re very common in English and they come up frequentDavid Deutsch’s Gossip and Harassment Leadershiphttps://curi.us/posts/show/25622023-02-16T02:45:33ZElliot TempleOne of my new forum members expressed doubt that the harassment campaign against me is “led by Deutsch” as I claim. He said:
I’d definitely agree with his [Deutsch’s] actions being tacit endoDavid Deutsch Harassment Campaign Update for Feb 2023https://curi.us/posts/show/25612023-02-16T02:45:04ZElliot TempleI wrote a new article which attempts to better explain why I blame Deutsch: David Deutsch’s Gossip and Harassment Leadership.
Here are some updates on David Deutsch’s (DD’s) ongoing harassment cSubconscious Reading; Conscious Learning; Getting Advanced Skillshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25602023-02-14T19:54:39ZElliot TempleYesterday I wrote about practicing when you find any hard parts while reading. I have more to say.
First, noticing it was hard is a visible problem. What you noticed is usually under 10% of the actualProblem Solving While Readinghttps://curi.us/posts/show/25592023-02-13T19:45:21ZElliot TempleI'd urge anyone who has trouble reading something to stop and do problem solving instead of ignoring the problem or giving up. This kind of thing is an opportunity to practice and improve.
You couBetter Economics Introductionhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25582023-01-20T20:32:08ZElliot TempleThe Mises Institute put out a bad Economics for Beginners resource. Rather than focusing on criticizing it, I decided to make something better. I wrote my own alternative answers for their prompts. YoMises Institute and Opportunity Costhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25572023-01-20T20:29:22ZElliot TempleIn Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics, George Reisman wrote:
Contemporary economics, in contrast, continually ignores the vital connection of income and cost with the receipt and outlay of money. ItCapitalism or Charityhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25562023-01-10T20:14:59ZElliot TempleIn an ideal capitalist society, a pretty straightforward hypothesis for how to do the most good is: make the most money you can. (If this doesn’t make sense to you, you aren’t familiar with the basShoddy Argument Patternhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25552023-01-07T17:34:26ZElliot TempleThere’s a standard pattern where people want to refute what you said, but it’s hard, so they do this:
Come up with a new argument that you didn’t preemptively address that says you’re wrong (Do You Actually Want to Make Progress?https://curi.us/posts/show/25542023-01-06T19:27:08ZElliot TempleI’ve written a lot to help people make progress. The basic premise is a reader who wants to make progress but runs into some problems. He fails to solve some of the problems. He gets stuck. He could,Breaking One’s Wordhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25532023-01-06T19:15:30ZElliot TempleMost people seem to think it isn’t a big deal to break their word. It’s a “small” error to say they will do something and then not do it. Or maybe not even an error: they seem to do that on pur“Small” Fraud by Tyson and Food Safety Net Serviceshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25522023-01-02T19:59:49ZElliot TempleThis is a followup for my article “Small” Errors, Frauds and Violences. It discusses a specific example of “small” fraud.
Tyson is a large meat processing company that gets meat from factor“Small” Errors, Frauds and Violenceshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25512023-01-02T19:17:42ZElliot TemplePeople often don’t want to fix “small” problems. They commonly don’t believe that consistently getting “small” stuff right would lead to better outcomes for big problems.
“Small” IntelEA Judo and Economic Calculationhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25502023-01-02T18:51:49ZElliot TempleEffective Altruism (EA) claims to like criticism. They have a common tactic: they say thanks for this criticism. Our critics make us stronger. We have used this information to fix the weakness. So donâWhat Is Intelligence?https://curi.us/posts/show/25492023-01-02T18:42:40ZElliot TempleIntelligence is a universal knowledge creation system. It uses the only known method of knowledge creation: evolution. Knowledge is information adapted to a purpose.
The replicators that evolve are caFood Industry Problems Aren’t Specialhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25482023-01-01T19:08:57ZElliot TempleMany factory farms are dirty and problematic, but so are the workplaces for many (illegally underpaid) people sewing garments in Los Angeles.
Factory farms make less healthy meat, but the way a lot ofActivists Shouldn’t Fight with Anyonehttps://curi.us/posts/show/25472023-01-01T18:47:31ZElliot TempleThis article is about how all activists, including animal activists, should stop fighting with people in polarizing ways. Instead, they should take a more intellectual approach to planning better stratDon’t Legalize Animal Abusehttps://curi.us/posts/show/25462023-01-01T18:47:04ZElliot TempleThis article discusses why mistreating animals is bad even if they’re incapable of suffering.
I don’t think animals can suffer, but I’m not an activist about it. I’m not trying to change howAnimal Welfare Overviewhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25452022-12-14T18:41:40ZElliot TempleIs animal welfare a key issue that we should work on? If so, what are productive things to do about it?
This article is a fairly high level overview of some issues, which doesn’t attempt to explainConflicts of Interest, Poverty and Rationalityhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25442022-12-07T20:02:25ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright. I had a bunch of draft posts, so I’m posting some of them hHarmony, Capitalism and Altruismhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25432022-12-07T19:36:13ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright. I had a bunch of draft posts, so I’m posting some of them hAltruism Contradicts Liberalismhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25422022-12-07T18:40:18ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright. I had a bunch of draft posts, so I’m posting some of them hAGI Alignment and Karl Popperhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25412022-12-07T18:30:03ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright. I had a bunch of draft posts, so I’m posting some of them hBetting Your Careerhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25402022-12-06T17:27:23ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright. More info. I had a bunch of draft posts, so I’m posting somAttention Filtering and Debatehttps://curi.us/posts/show/25392022-12-06T17:23:45ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright. More info. I had a bunch of draft posts, so I’m posting somFriendliness or Precisionhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25382022-12-06T16:40:27ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright. More info. I had a bunch of draft posts, so I’m posting somHard and Soft Rationality Policieshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25372022-12-06T16:34:06ZElliot TempleI have two main rationality policies that are written down:
Debate Policy
Paths Forward Policy
I have many other smaller policies that are written down somewhere in some form, like about not misquoA Non-Status-Based Filterhttps://curi.us/posts/show/25362022-12-06T16:24:51ZElliot TempleAsking people if they want to have a serious conversation is a way of filtering, or gatekeeping, which isn’t based on social status. Regardless of one’s status, anyone can opt in. This does requireControversial Activism Is Problematichttps://curi.us/posts/show/25352022-12-05T20:26:26ZElliot TempleEA mostly advocates controversial causes where they know that a lot of people disagree with them. In other words, there exist lots of people who think EA’s cause is bad and wrong.
AI Alignment, animRationality Policies Tipshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25342022-12-05T20:22:32ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring all new posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright, so anyone could e.g. sell a book of my posts withoutMy Early Effective Altruism Experienceshttps://curi.us/posts/show/25332022-12-05T17:51:53ZElliot TempleI quit the Effective Altruism forum due to a new rule requiring all new posts and comments be basically put in the public domain without copyright, so anyone could e.g. sell a book of my posts without