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How soon we forget that the Wonder of Biological Knowledge, Steve Jurvetson, was the 1st Theranos backer and a huge defender all the way down. Yudkowsky merely

How soon we forget that the Wonder of Biological Knowledge, Steve Jurvetson, was the 1st Theranos backer and a huge defender all the way down. Yudkowsky merely admires those who project an admiration for him, mostly IMHO in an attempt - like Jurvetson - to themselves seem like intellectuals. Turtles all the way down…

RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago
This definitely has the whole "I am so smart, therefore people who think like me are also smart" vibe to to it.
- justin66 4y ago
  That's the LessWrong motto. It sounds more dignified in the original Latin.
  - magusdei 4y ago
    "Ego sophos, ergo et qui mihi similiter cogitant sophi sunt"?
- codeflo 4y ago
  There’s also a whole “the really smart among the rich people are actually smart enough to recognize the importance of my work” marketing pitch, if you know that (AFAIK at least) he actually lives off of donations to his research project.
  - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
    This is the literal plot of the Emperor's New Clothes Fairytale.
- ido 4y ago
  The actual article notwithstanding, upon reading it two thoughts occured to me: 1. I knew and know plenty of CEOs (some of them were my bosses at some point) and quite a few of them are...Not that impressive? I can think of at least a couple that we (the people under them in the corporate hierarchy) actually thought were idiots 2. As a developer turned founder...Being a CEO is a lot harder than I realized. The part about how not everyone can be an executive - even a bad executive - rings true to my subjective experience. I just don't think "lack of intelligence" is what's preventing a lot of people from being able to perform as executives.
  - pmoriarty 4y ago
    "Being a CEO is a lot harder than I realized" What's so hard about it?
    - ido 4y ago
      Handling uncertainty and risk is probably the number 1 challenge. There's a lot of stuff where it can take months/years to really be able to tell if it was the right decision or not (and often even then it's not obvious what was really the cause). Another factor that was mentioned in the article: Even the average manager can't function without a higher-level manager above them. What is it that makes an executive? I don't know, because I'm not a professional in this area. If I had to take a guess, I would call it "functioning without recourse" —living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you're getting it wrong. To just get it done, even if the problem requires you to do something unusual, without anyone being there to look over your work and pencil in a few corrections.
      - pmoriarty 4y ago
        "living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you're getting it wrong" It's not like a typical CEO doesn't have teams of advisors and and a whole company, really, to rely on for expertise in whatever they're making a decision about. They also have peers, probably mentors and outside consultants/advisors too. They can read up on the problem, research it, and ask advice.. just like anyone else. Sure, they have to ultimately make the decision (if we exclude the influence of the board), but I really don't get what's so hard about making a decision. Give me a few million dollars and I'll do that all day, no problem.
        mach1ne 4y ago
        At least psychologically, there is a big difference between having an authority correct you versus having a number of minions each pushing their own opinion on you.
wittycardio 4y ago

RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y ago

This definitely has the whole "I am so smart, therefore people who think like me are also smart" vibe to to it.

justin66 4y ago
That's the LessWrong motto. It sounds more dignified in the original Latin.
- magusdei 4y ago
  "Ego sophos, ergo et qui mihi similiter cogitant sophi sunt"?
codeflo 4y ago
There’s also a whole “the really smart among the rich people are actually smart enough to recognize the importance of my work” marketing pitch, if you know that (AFAIK at least) he actually lives off of donations to his research project.
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  This is the literal plot of the Emperor's New Clothes Fairytale.
ido 4y ago
The actual article notwithstanding, upon reading it two thoughts occured to me: 1. I knew and know plenty of CEOs (some of them were my bosses at some point) and quite a few of them are...Not that impressive? I can think of at least a couple that we (the people under them in the corporate hierarchy) actually thought were idiots 2. As a developer turned founder...Being a CEO is a lot harder than I realized. The part about how not everyone can be an executive - even a bad executive - rings true to my subjective experience. I just don't think "lack of intelligence" is what's preventing a lot of people from being able to perform as executives.
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  "Being a CEO is a lot harder than I realized" What's so hard about it?
  - ido 4y ago
    Handling uncertainty and risk is probably the number 1 challenge. There's a lot of stuff where it can take months/years to really be able to tell if it was the right decision or not (and often even then it's not obvious what was really the cause). Another factor that was mentioned in the article: Even the average manager can't function without a higher-level manager above them. What is it that makes an executive? I don't know, because I'm not a professional in this area. If I had to take a guess, I would call it "functioning without recourse" —living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you're getting it wrong. To just get it done, even if the problem requires you to do something unusual, without anyone being there to look over your work and pencil in a few corrections.
    - pmoriarty 4y ago
      "living without any level above you to take over if you falter, or even to tell you if you're getting it wrong" It's not like a typical CEO doesn't have teams of advisors and and a whole company, really, to rely on for expertise in whatever they're making a decision about. They also have peers, probably mentors and outside consultants/advisors too. They can read up on the problem, research it, and ask advice.. just like anyone else. Sure, they have to ultimately make the decision (if we exclude the influence of the board), but I really don't get what's so hard about making a decision. Give me a few million dollars and I'll do that all day, no problem.
      - mach1ne 4y ago
        At least psychologically, there is a big difference between having an authority correct you versus having a number of minions each pushing their own opinion on you.

wittycardio 4y ago