leot

19 ms·

181.
by leot 11y ago
I don't understand your response. The primary purpose of the proposal was to illustrate what "hoarding" is. Did it accomplish that goal? If not, why? To address your concerns generally -- every tax policy has a variety of imp
182.
by leot 11y ago
Yes, the problem is hoarding. Which is proportional to the delta in potential and actual productivity of the already wealthy (and their assets). Here's a quick demonstration: imagine all US taxation (apart from excise taxes) was replac
183.
by leot 11y ago
"A physicist who chose physics over Wall Street in 1990 was making a sacrifice that a physicist in 1960 wasn't." The trouble is the proportion of those who have the highest technological leverage and are engaged in rent-seeki
184.
by leot 11y ago
But in the video I shared, it's claimed that the fancy salts can be entirely reused, and that extracting them takes relatively little energy. Thus their ongoing energy impact, and the longer-term impact of their initial cost should be
185.
by leot 11y ago
Does anyone know why forward osmosis (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R63zYZZuRvQ ) hasn't taken off yet? It seems like it has the biggest potential to do desalination at an extremely low cost energy-wise.
186.
by leot 11y ago
See also: http://blog.scholarpedia.org/2013/11/04/wikifying-scholarly-...
187.
by leot 11y ago
Environmental problems and abusive labor practices are problems and should not be tolerated. But they're nowhere close to accounting for the full discount in labor costs in China v.s. elsewhere. Business owners factor costs into their
188.
by leot 11y ago
See also: http://3.design-milk.com/images/2010/11/modern-art-craig-dam... Just because you understand something semi-esoteric doesn't mean someone else's understanding of it is worth less.
189.
by leot 11y ago
"Bad intentions" aren't even necessary -- out of control AGI will probably look more like "oops, I hit >rm -rf /". AFAIK, nearly every piece of software ever deployed has had bugs that humans have had to sub
190.
by leot 11y ago
It seems most people who take a position against the feasibility of machine superintelligence are basically making an argument-from-lack-of-imagination: "I can't think up a plausible way that bad things could happen, therefore b
191.
by leot 11y ago
Good thing nothing like this could have happened with electronic vote tabulators.
192.
by leot 12y ago
Many know a lot about intelligence, but it's piecemeal and has not been adequately integrated -- even if there was an excellent theory/model/account, difficulties of implementation, testing, or comprehension could delay (or e
193.
by leot 12y ago
... or, for that matter, "What computers still can't do" by Hubert Dreyfus. > There is no path, no one has a path This seems like a very difficult statement to support, a claim that is consequently far less rational than
194.
by leot 12y ago
Relevant, and very worth reading: http://www.simulation-argument.com/
195.
by leot 12y ago
No. A genuinely sympathetic paraphrase might be: "Machine superintelligence may or may not be controllable. If we do nothing to regulate it, or to prevent horrible outcomes, we will with X > [too big] probability find ourselves doom
196.
by leot 12y ago
Here is some knowledge: http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/brain-emulation-roadmap-report.pdf
197.
by leot 12y ago
> When the people who have real, expert knowledge of something all tell you one thing and the people who have something to gain from getting your attention by promoting sensational opinions and cherry-picked facts tell you something els
198.
by leot 12y ago
While Altman and Musk don't spend all their time on it, I'd hardly call them "lay people". Altman studied AI at Stanford, and Musk knows a fair bit more than the average person about computer science and technology. The
199.
by leot 12y ago
Japan is a country with too many people saving too much money. So, one proposal: institute a small yearly wealth tax. Avoids a lot of the problems with inflation-based approaches, and doesn't penalize people nearly as much for having l
200.
by leot 12y ago
The article you link to doesn't really support your claim: "Case reports of mental health problems following psychedelics are often comparable to case reports of mental health problems linked to intensive meditation, visiting holy
201.
by leot 12y ago
You only have to try MDMA once. Its acute effects will last around six hours. I've met many people who have attested to the profound effect it's had on their lives. Religion is a bit more of a commitment. And, for it to have the d
202.
by leot 12y ago
It's not just convenient and pleasant: just like everyone, those who are successful recognize the impact of their own decisions and behavior on a moment to moment basis. They succeed when they try hard, forego immediate pleasure for de
203.
by leot 12y ago
It is certainly true that productively developing a valuable skill set will set you apart from the vast majority. With a few helpful insights, the right attitude, and an ability to quickly overcome obstacles, you will be an exceptional pers
204.
by leot 12y ago
Sounds like the guy might be using the host's electricity to do bitcoin mining. Super scammy. This kind of thing should be criminal.
205.
by leot 12y ago
Dude. Russia is annexing by duplicitous force parts of a neighboring country. Full stop. There is no way to spin that as OK.
206.
by leot 12y ago
Except they are, apparently, mature enough to be put in prison for their decisions and actions. Funny how that works.
207.
by leot 12y ago
Indeed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. On the other hand, if it is "broke", the long-term effects of tDCS are about as well-studied as the long-term effects of many of the psychoactive substances (legal and otherwise)
208.
by leot 12y ago
FTA: “LA is and always has been a city that creates mass-market products. We’re closer to culture than Silicon Valley, so we’re crushing it in social mobile. Web 2.0 might have been there. Web 3.0 is here.” -Mike Jones, CEO of Science
209.
by leot 12y ago
This will probably make me unpopular. But: coding and designing (most) mobile apps* no longer is "tech". As they quoted in the article: “Silicon Valley has created the platforms. The maturation of the space is what you put on tho
210.
by leot 12y ago
Much of your thesis relies on the following: > If you are illiterate, the number one thing you can generally do to improve your life is learn to read. I agree that this certainly holds true today , since our culture now uses reading t

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