8 ms·

>I am David Schneider-Joseph, an engineer formerly with SpaceX and Google, now working in AI safety. Alzheimer’s isn’t my field If anyone wants to know who wro

by Drupon 6mo ago

>I am David Schneider-Joseph, an engineer formerly with SpaceX and Google, now working in AI safety. Alzheimer’s isn’t my field If anyone wants to know who wrote the article linked before wasting time reading it, there you go.

trhway 6mo ago
there is even easier way to estimate the chances of time wasting - it is a "rationalist" website, an "effective altruism"-like version of rationality. wrt. original post - quickly googled, and that for example https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Amyloid-Plaques.aspx https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Amyloid-Plaques... - pretty short and seems to be clear that amyloids do have some correlation while may or may be not the cause. "Amyloid plaques form one of the two defining features of Alzheimer’s disease, the other being neurofibrillary tangles" Interesting that the latter is inside the neurons while the former is outside - speaking of complexity. The article also describes that activating microglia back helps with amyloid plaques while this https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33010092/#:~:text=The%20study%20found%20that:%20*%20**Ramified%20microglia,contribute%20to%20focal%20neurodegeneration%20characteristic%20of%20PPA%2DAD. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33010092/#:~:text=The%20stud... "The neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and amyloid-ß plaques (AP) that comprise Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology are associated with neurodegeneration and microglial activation. " Human body reminds a large monolith codebase - fixing one thing breaks some other :). Claude Code, Human Body CRISPR edition, can't come soon enough...
- ifwinterco 6mo ago
  Huge codebase with years of fixes, features and hacks added on top and nothing ever refactored. It’s a miracle it works at all
  - generic92034 6mo ago
    It is worse. The code changes are mostly random, only surviving the tests of fitness nature is applying (on various levels though; immediately catastrophic changes on level of cell biology are sorted out). And at least the high-level tests are also random and unreliable.
    - ravenstine 6mo ago
      So basically it's a codebase mostly composed of bugs, and the features mysteriously work because they're based on bugs that happen to be mitigated by other bugs. :)
  - deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
  - D-Coder 6mo ago
    A billion years of kludges.
- gruez 6mo ago
  >there is even easier way to estimate the chances of time wasting - it is a "rationalist" website, an "effective altruism"-like version of rationality. Is that supposed to be an endorsement or a dismissal? The ostensible goals of "rationality" seem like good things, so it sounds like an endorsement, but in the wake of the FTX/SBF fallout they got a bad rap.
  - deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
  - trhway 6mo ago
    there is a big difference between a theory/idea and espousing the theory/idea as an ideology.
fn-mote 6mo ago
For you, simply listing the author of the post is enough to discard it. Not everyone is that well informed, so it would be helpful for you to add another sentence explaining why this author has no credibility with you.
- jkman 6mo ago
  It is self-evident? What do you mean. The guy is not an expert, end of story
  - codexjourneys 6mo ago
    By this logic, we wouldn't have some of the breakthroughs made throughout history. Outsiders have made some pretty interesting leaps (later honed by experts). Expertise is great, but it can exist outside of formal education, and it isn't the only metric.
  - Barbing 6mo ago
    Might this be a doctor vs. physician assistant situation? The people who know the most are probably busy and (not to be rude) are not necessarily the strongest educators. Maybe my standard is too low here or I have a different need than you, would make a different accuracy-accessibility tradeoff…
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
DavidSJ 6mo ago
Many in this thread, who have evidently spent very little time studying the topic, have confidently concluded the experts are wrong. I, also a non-expert, spent six months studying what the experts are doing, concluded that they actually seem to know what they’re talking about, and shared my understanding of that with other non-experts. If you’re going to dismiss me for saying the experts are right, since I’m not an expert, then shouldn’t you dismiss those who spent far less time than I to learn about the subject, who are saying the experts are wrong?
- card_zero 6mo ago
  DSJ! I remember you from about 2001, when you had made the chatbot VIAL. I can vouch for you being a smartypants 25 years ago, don't know about now.
  - DavidSJ 6mo ago
    Ha! You must be using a different username than I knew you by then. Hit me up on one of the many platforms we’re probably both on if you like, would be good to reconnect.
- Drupon 6mo ago
  >then shouldn’t you dismiss those who spent far less time than I to learn about the subject, who are saying the experts are wrong Already have

by Drupon 6mo ago

trhway 6mo ago

there is even easier way to estimate the chances of time wasting - it is a "rationalist" website, an "effective altruism"-like version of rationality. wrt. original post - quickly googled, and that for example https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Amyloid-Plaques.aspx https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Amyloid-Plaques... - pretty short and seems to be clear that amyloids do have some correlation while may or may be not the cause. "Amyloid plaques form one of the two defining features of Alzheimer’s disease, the other being neurofibrillary tangles" Interesting that the latter is inside the neurons while the former is outside - speaking of complexity. The article also describes that activating microglia back helps with amyloid plaques while this https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33010092/#:~:text=The%20study%20found%20that:%20*%20**Ramified%20microglia,contribute%20to%20focal%20neurodegeneration%20characteristic%20of%20PPA%2DAD. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33010092/#:~:text=The%20stud... "The neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and amyloid-ß plaques (AP) that comprise Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology are associated with neurodegeneration and microglial activation. " Human body reminds a large monolith codebase - fixing one thing breaks some other :). Claude Code, Human Body CRISPR edition, can't come soon enough...

ifwinterco 6mo ago
Huge codebase with years of fixes, features and hacks added on top and nothing ever refactored. It’s a miracle it works at all
- generic92034 6mo ago
  It is worse. The code changes are mostly random, only surviving the tests of fitness nature is applying (on various levels though; immediately catastrophic changes on level of cell biology are sorted out). And at least the high-level tests are also random and unreliable.
  - ravenstine 6mo ago
    So basically it's a codebase mostly composed of bugs, and the features mysteriously work because they're based on bugs that happen to be mitigated by other bugs. :)
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
- D-Coder 6mo ago
  A billion years of kludges.
gruez 6mo ago
>there is even easier way to estimate the chances of time wasting - it is a "rationalist" website, an "effective altruism"-like version of rationality. Is that supposed to be an endorsement or a dismissal? The ostensible goals of "rationality" seem like good things, so it sounds like an endorsement, but in the wake of the FTX/SBF fallout they got a bad rap.
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
- trhway 6mo ago
  there is a big difference between a theory/idea and espousing the theory/idea as an ideology.

fn-mote 6mo ago

For you, simply listing the author of the post is enough to discard it. Not everyone is that well informed, so it would be helpful for you to add another sentence explaining why this author has no credibility with you.

jkman 6mo ago
It is self-evident? What do you mean. The guy is not an expert, end of story
- codexjourneys 6mo ago
  By this logic, we wouldn't have some of the breakthroughs made throughout history. Outsiders have made some pretty interesting leaps (later honed by experts). Expertise is great, but it can exist outside of formal education, and it isn't the only metric.
- Barbing 6mo ago
  Might this be a doctor vs. physician assistant situation? The people who know the most are probably busy and (not to be rude) are not necessarily the strongest educators. Maybe my standard is too low here or I have a different need than you, would make a different accuracy-accessibility tradeoff…
deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]

DavidSJ 6mo ago

Many in this thread, who have evidently spent very little time studying the topic, have confidently concluded the experts are wrong. I, also a non-expert, spent six months studying what the experts are doing, concluded that they actually seem to know what they’re talking about, and shared my understanding of that with other non-experts. If you’re going to dismiss me for saying the experts are right, since I’m not an expert, then shouldn’t you dismiss those who spent far less time than I to learn about the subject, who are saying the experts are wrong?

card_zero 6mo ago
DSJ! I remember you from about 2001, when you had made the chatbot VIAL. I can vouch for you being a smartypants 25 years ago, don't know about now.
- DavidSJ 6mo ago
  Ha! You must be using a different username than I knew you by then. Hit me up on one of the many platforms we’re probably both on if you like, would be good to reconnect.
Drupon 6mo ago
>then shouldn’t you dismiss those who spent far less time than I to learn about the subject, who are saying the experts are wrong Already have