JohnPrine

7 ms·

31.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
> AI doom cult seems to think the worst outcomes are near certainties without really backing that up What are you basing this on? There have been tons of arguments written about why these worst outcomes are likely. Read Bostrom's Su
32.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
Would you rather we wait until AIs are actually posing a threat for us to study ways to align them with human values? Tons of money already goes into fighting climate change and basically everyone on earth is aware of the threat it poses. T
33.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
that's a much harder problem to solve tho
34.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
Diminishing returns don't apply for SBF - his life's goal is to fund effective altruist charities, so each billion is as valuable as the last as long as there are good projects to fund. I don't think people are comprehending
35.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
I think what you're saying is true and I appreciate it
36.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
there is certainly loss in the compression of perception to language
37.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
Excuse me, what?
38.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
The dictionary describes the way words are used by people; it doesn't prescribe the way words must be used. If the way people use a word changes (e.g. if people start using the word "sausage" to also refer to these vegan prod
39.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
> The truth is, until we can define consciousness; we can't possibly reproduce it on a binary logic playback device (aka a "computer"). There's nothing stopping us from reproducing consciousness before we fully unders
40.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
I don't understand all of these abbreviations
41.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
Agreed. People think of the best case scenario without seriously considering everything that can go wrong. If we stay on this path the most likely outcome is human extinction. Full stop
42.
by JohnPrine 4y ago
Japan has the developed world's highest life expectancies and yet the Japanese eat double the amount of recommended salt per day. To me that seems sort of inconsistent with salt being a great health risk
43.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
Yeah!
44.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
weed
45.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
A good way to do this is to become a teaching assistant in the classes you want to go more in-depth on
46.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
I strongly disagree with you. We have no idea how to align a superintelligence to act for the benefit of humanity. Your plan would only cause faster and faster advances in AI tech without corresponding advances in AI safety research which w
47.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
Sooo many people already live a virtual life in a virtual world by using social media, netflix, youtube, etc for hours and hours every day. Imagine a VR platform where you could have a virtual living room and hang out with your friends whil
48.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
By this logic Facebook never would have gotten funded in the first place. What makes you so sure the metaverse concept will fail?
49.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
Yeah, that money should go to the government instead! Because the government never wastes resources right?
50.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
If you granted me ownership of the account and then denied me access, I could take you to court. Stock ownership is a legal agreement. If the leadership of the corporation doesn't act in the shareholders' best interest, they'
51.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
The difference is that these companies actually have real assets, and holding stock legally grants you fractional ownership over them. Your hypothetical is more like an Enron situation where shareholders are told that there are assets behin
52.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
This disregards the time value of money. If I'm 80 years old, $100,000 today will have more value to me right now than $1 million paid out over 30 years.
53.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
When you're confused that very few knowledgable people agree with your model, it's usually an indicator that your model could be wrong.
54.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
Can you read my comment here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28721310 and let me know if it clears up my explanation?
55.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
Stocks represent ownership in a company. Apple has $200 billion in cash currently. Owning a share of Apple quite literally means that you own a share of that $200 billion. It's useful to think about this in terms of a company's ta
56.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
Can you read my comment here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28721310 and let me know if it makes sense to you?
57.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
I don't quite understand. Suppose a company has a bank account with $1000. I own shares equating to 25% of the company, worth $250. The company has a good quarter and the bank account grows to $2000, but it doesn't pay a dividend.
58.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
They are accessible to a regular shareholder through the ability to sell the shares
59.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
My understanding is that von Neumann recognized that science would produce these types of weapons eventually, and so pushed hard to reach an equilibrium state of non-use of nuclear weapons under Mutually Assured Destruction (the dude did fo
60.
by JohnPrine 5y ago
Sure. In the past, I've been a person with a strong desire to be right in every situation. If I thought I was right I would be very willing to stubbornly argue my point, without any consideration of the counterpoints that were presente

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