I am always baffled that people get taken in by Yudkowsky. The first time I ever saw him speaking or read his writing I was forcefully reminded of a classmate who would wax lyrical about their ability in all subjects, somehow this never reflected in their actual marks.

Similarly, yudkowsky has no intellectual achievements. He doesn't publish anything under peer review (this can be way too difficult if you aren't slavishly following academic trends, but it's still possible). All he has is fanfic, the ludicrously long "sequences", and a "decision theory" that just says "this theory recommends the best decision" in a beautifully closed circle.

[–] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I think that is why he trains his followers to believe that science is corrupt and incompetent, its institutions and customs are irrelevant, and a gifted child can easily outdo the whole scientific community. He is on board with the eugenics so the EAs and LessWrongers with educations and achievements can tell themselves "at least he is good for the cause." And his playmates have a fetish that needs filling.

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 11 points 3 days ago (3 children)

And yet people are willing to call him an "AI theorist" or an "AI researcher". That's like calling me the theologian who finally cracked the Problem of Evil with my Hellraiser fics.

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 4 points 2 days ago

And yet people are willing to call him an “AI theorist” or an “AI researcher”.

Its technically correct to call him both - he "theorises" about a pseudoscientific idea that conflates the living, breathing human mind with spicy autocomplete, and "researches" how plagiarism-fueled lying machines can magically become omniscient omnipotent acausal robot gods and turn all of humanity into paperclips.

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

That is pretty cool, less cool is that there is no option to read them without voiding my rights.

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Also dont think this is legally binding, acknowledging they are different doesnt mean much. But IANAL.

Blake "Evil Solver" Stacey

[–] BigMuffN69@awful.systems 5 points 3 days ago

Bruv no way lmaou ty for this

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 4 points 2 days ago

Lot of these people are really into science fiction, tech science fiction and tech workers and tech enthousiasts. For a lot of these people thinking you know better is the default, and if you remain in that bubble you do not get proven otherwise.

Sexists an racists have the same problem, which explains the overlap.