Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Why Democracies Always Fail


Two centuries ago, a somewhat obscure Scotsman named Tytler made this profound observation: "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury.

Life is not a problem to be solved ...

I've seen this movie.  I found it a bit boring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb73PRt37o8

Thursday, January 11, 2024

WARNING: ChatGPT Could Be The Start Of The End! Sam Harris

Sam Harris spends 30 minutes talking about the dangers of AI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmlrEgLGozw

He makes assumptions about the future. I think that he underestimates the difficulty of building a general AI.  

I think that ChatGPT is overhyped.  It is like a Wikipedia that can talk.  It has no understanding except to predict what words should follow other words based on statistical information.  This is why it gets so much wrong.  I asked it to write some computer code and the answer wasn't even remotely correct.  

We will inevitably develop general AI, but AI is a tool to solve specific problems.  We don't have to make an AI that matches human intelligence when it is more efficient to have problem-specific AI.  Calculators can do math far better than I can, and even the best 8-bit chess computers can outplay me at chess.  It would be like saying that when we developed mechanical locomotion, we needed to make a machine that functioned exactly like a horse.  We found better ways to do locomotion.

This means that AI will be solving problems long before we have a general AI, but more importantly, we will be treating it as a tool, just like any other tool.  For example, twenty years ago I was annoyed when Microsoft Word automatically corrected my spelling without asking me.  It felt like the machines were already becoming smarter than us.  Although that was a novel experience twenty years ago, we wouldn't think twice about it today.


Friday, December 29, 2023

The single greatest failing of the human species

The single greatest failing of the human species is the tendency to believe almost anything without good evidence.  There are many cults where you can see this.  People lack the ability or are unwilling to step back and look at things objectively.  People don't question what they hear.  Humans have a strong tendency toward Confirmation Bias, where if something supports their narrative, they will take it as gospel.

Things have been said about the COVID pandemic and vaccines that are not supported by the evidence.  I see many sources claiming that it has been proven that the vaccines don't work and are dangerous.  However, the data shows a much lower rate of death among the vaccinated.  It doesn't mean that the vaccines are perfectly safe or effective, but the evidence shows that you are much safer taking the vaccines.

I have multiple friends who think that vaccines are part of a conspiracy to kill off the human race.  One of my doctors has encountered this and called these people paranoid.  

Fear is the most powerful emotion and our greatest motivator.  It is normal for people to have fears and be wary.  This makes them susceptible to fearmongers.  Many sources claiming to be scientific and objective are really just playing to people's fears.

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Friday, November 17, 2023

This Is Easily the Most Important Speech Jordan Peterson Has Ever Done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTS57hkAUk&t=65s

I differ from Peterson in that we cannot reliably assume the supernatural.  There are many different opinions on what the divine means, so we cannot reliably assume that a higher power has expectations of us.

We live in a society where we think that people should be good, but not all cultures share this view, or they disagree on what good means.  However, we think that societies work better when people aren't cruel, cooperate with each other, and show compassion.
I don't think that humans should necessarily be sacrificial animals for others.  Taken to the extreme, the individual becomes a slave to power structures.  However, voluntarily caring for others seems to make us better and stronger people.

The best speech I have heard Jordan Peterson give is this one...


He speaks at such a high level, it forces me to pay close attention to keep up.