5 ms·
> “You’re [X]?! The quantum physicist who’s always getting into arguments on the Internet, and who’s essentially always right, but who sustains an unreasonable
by t_mann 1y ago
> “You’re [X]?! The quantum physicist who’s always getting into arguments on the Internet, and who’s essentially always right, but who sustains an unreasonable amount of psychic damage in the process?”
> “Yes,” I replied, not bothering to correct the “physicist” part.
Didn't read much beyond that part. He'll fit right in with the rationalist crowd...
- simianparrot 1y agoNo actual person talks like that —- and if they really did, they’ve taken on the role of a fictional character. Which says a lot about the clientele either way. I skimmed a bit here and there after that but this comes off as plain grandiosity. Even the title is a line you can imagine a hollywood character speaking out loud as they look into the camera, before giving a smug smirk.
- FeteCommuniste 1y agoI assumed that the stuff in quotes was a summary of the general gist of the conversations he had, not a word for word quote.
- riffraff 1y agoI don't think GP objects to the literalness, as much as to the "I am known for always being right and I acknowledge it", which comes off as.. not humble.
- Filligree 1y agoHe is known for that, right or wrong.
- Ar-Curunir 1y agoI mean, Scott's been wrong on plenty of issues, but of course he is not wont to admit that on his own blog.
- bmacho 1y ago> —- 0.o > No actual person talks like that I think it is plausible that there are people (readers) that find other people (bloggers) basically always right, and that would be the first think they would say to them if they met them. n=1, but there are some bloggers that I think are basically always right, and I am socially bad, so there is no telling what would I blurt out if I met them.
- junon 1y agoI got to that part, thought it was a joke, and then... it wasn't. Stopped reading thereafter. Nobody speaking like this will have anything I want to hear.
- derangedHorse 1y agoIs it not a joke? I’m pretty sure it was.
- alphan0n 1y agoIf that was a joke, all of it is. *Guess I’m a rationalist now.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y agoIt doesn’t really read like a joke but maybe. Regardless, I guess I can at least be another voice saying it didn’t land. It reads like someone literally said that to him verbatim and he literally replied with a simple, “Yes.” (That said, while it seems charitable to assume it was a joke but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to assume that.)
- geysersam 1y agoI'm certain it's a joke. Have you seen any Scott Aaronson lecture? He can't help himself from joking in every other sentence
- myko 1y agoI laughed, definitely read that way to me
- IshKebab 1y agoI think the fact that we aren't sure says a lot!
- Viliam1234 1y agoIt says a lot, but what does it say a lot about? https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/aaaah https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/aaaah
- dcminter 1y agoAlso... > they gave off some (not all) of the vibes of a cult ...after describing his visit with an atmosphere that sounds extremely cult-like.
- wizzwizz4 1y agoNo, Guru Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote an essay about how people asking "This isn’t a cult, is it?" bugs him, so it's fine actually. https://www.readthesequences.com/Cultish-Countercultishness https://www.readthesequences.com/Cultish-Countercultishness
- NoGravitas 1y agoHank Hill: Are y'all with the cult? Cult member: It's not a cult! It's an organization that promotes love and.. Hank Hill: This is it.
- throwaway314155 1y agoDoes this quote make more sense in context? I don't watch the show.
- AntiDyatlov 1y agoIt makes perfect sense as a comment, seeing the clip from the show doesn't add anything.
- throwaway314155 1y agoI think i'm seeing it now. "This is it" implies Hank is actually looking for the cult in question, something that I guess seems odd to me without knowing the plot of the episode. Thanks for clarifying though! Oh wait, you didn't.
- dcminter 1y agoExtreme eagerness to disavow accusations of cultishness ... doth the lady protest too much perhaps? My hobby is occasionally compared to a cult. The typical reaction of an adherent to this accusation is generally "Heh, yeah, totally a cult." Edit: Oh, but you call him "Guru" ... so on reflection you were probably (?) making the same point... (whoosh, sorry).
- James_K 1y ago[flagged]
- johnfn 1y agoTo be honest, if I encountered Scott Aaronson in the wild I would probably react the same way. The guy is super smart and thoughtful, and can write more coherently about quantum computing than anyone else I'm aware of.
- NooneAtAll3 1y agoif only he stayed silent on politics...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- kragen 1y agoWhy would you comment on the post if you stopped reading near its beginning? How could your comments on it conceivably be of any value? It sounds like you're engaging in precisely the kind of shallow dismissal the site guidelines prohibit.
- JohnMakin 1y agoAren't you doing the same thing?
- kragen 1y agoNo, I read the comment in full, analyzed its reasoning quality, elaborated on the self-undermining epistemological implications of its content, and then related that to the epistemic and discourse norms we aspire to here. My dismissal of it is anything but shallow, though I am of course open to hearing counterarguments, which you have fallen short of offering.
- casey2 1y agoYou are clearly dismissing his experience without much though. If a park ranger stopped you in the woods and said there was a mountain lion up ahead would you argue that he doesn't have enough information to be sure from such a quick glance? Someone spending a lot of time to build one or multiple skills doesn't make them an expert on everything, but when they start talking like they are an expert on everything because of the perceived difficulties of one or more skills then red flags start to pop up and most reasonable people will notice them and swiftly call them out. For example Elon Musk saying "At this point I think I know more about manufacturing than anyone currently alive on earth" even if you rationalize that as an out of context deadpan joke it's still completely correct to call that out as nonsense at the very least. The more a person rationalizes statements like ("AI WILL KILL US ALL") these made by a person or cult the more likely it is that they are a cult member and they lack independent critical thinking, as they outsourced their thinking to group. Maybe their thinking is "the best thoughts", in-fact it probably is, but it's dependent on the group so their individual thinking muscle is weaken, which increases their morbidity (Airstricking a data center will get you killed or arrested by the US Gov. So it's better for the individual to question such statements rather than try to rationalize them using unprovable nonsense like god or AGI).
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]