flowsnake

InfoSec, @reactjs, @reactnative, @graphql and stuff

[banteg @banteg]

>be me
>longtermist
>future people matter just as much as people alive today
>completely agree
>there could be trillions of them
>also agree
>therefore we must decide what they need now
>hang on

>born in 1990
>making plans for people born in 2190
>they will have 164 more years of science
>164 more years of political experience
>164 more years of technological progress
>possibly machine superintelligence
>fortunately they also have me
>guy with a pdf

>explain that future generations may be unimaginably capable
>they could cure diseases
>build space habitats
>engineer new forms of intelligence
>solve problems we cannot even formulate
>incredible
>anyway i've worked out their priorities

>friend asks why they can't decide for themselves
>because by then it may be too late
>too late for what
>for us to tell them what to do

>imagine 5000 BC
>very serious longtermist meeting
>our descendants will face unimaginable dangers
>we must prepare
>manufacture 80 million stone axes
>bury them in strategic caches
>future-proof civilization
>bronze age begins
>lol
>lmao
>committee publishes report blaming insufficient stone-axis funding

>obvious lesson
>don't just leave descendants tools
>leave them the ability to make better tools
>education
>institutions
>science
>wealth
>optionality
>capacity to change course
>sounds suspiciously like helping people who are alive
>quickly return to asteroid scenarios

>friend says maybe the best thing for 2200 is to help 2050 become competent enough to help 2100
>then 2100 helps 2150
>then 2150 helps 2200
>sounds inefficient
>why use succession when i can personally optimize the year 2200 from my laptop

>explain moral uncertainty
>we should expect future people to know more than us
>possibly be morally wiser than us
>this is why we must be very careful not to lock in today's values
>friend nods
>asks whether they should be allowed to reject our values
>that's value drift

>very important distinction
>future people are morally equal to us
>they are not epistemically equal to us
>obviously
>they know less
>friend points out they literally live in the future
>ignore heckler

>write grant proposal
>goal: preserve humanity's option value
>excellent
>preserve options by building institution dedicated to one worldview
>hire people who agree the worldview should remain influential for centuries
>call this epistemic diversity

>someone proposes spending money on children today
>ridiculous
>their effect on the distant future is impossible to calculate
>someone proposes funding my speculative intervention
>its effect on the distant future is impossible to calculate
>exactly
>that's why expected value is so large

>imagine ancestor from 1720
>leaves me a letter
>dear descendant
>i have carefully considered your interests
>you must invest in sailmaking
>avoid electricity
>maintain the divine right of kings
>and under no circumstances revise these instructions
>laugh at primitive idiot
>open document titled
>"Recommendations for the Long-Term Future of Humanity"

>begin to understand the actual duty to descendants
>not "solve their problems for them"
>more like "don't destroy the world and leave them a functioning civilization"
>this seems disappointingly normal
>where are the exponents

>try new framing
>humanity is an intergenerational relay race
>our job is to hand over the baton in good condition
>next runner may be faster
>may choose a better route
>may discover the race is actually swimming
>important thing is not welding the baton to our hand

>colleague objects
>some problems really are irreversible
>asteroids
>nuclear war
>engineered pandemics
>AI
>fair enough
>then show that this problem actually requires action now
>show that delay destroys future options
>show that your intervention helps
>this sounds like a lot of work
>can't we just say 10^50 people

>realize the funniest part
>entire argument for longtermism depends on future civilization becoming vastly more capable than us
>entire argument for present control depends on future civilization being unable to reconsider our decisions
>Schrödinger's descendant
>smart enough to colonize the lightcone
>too dumb to edit the roadmap

>future humans convert stars into computronium
>build minds beyond our comprehension
>master matter and energy
>open ancient archive from 2026
>"hello descendants, we anticipated your needs"
>everyone stops
>thank god
>the stone-tool people left instructions

--
this part is inspired by some @visakanv writings

[Jeremy Gordon @jeremypgordon]

When I was 27, I decided it was time to get serious and spent six months staying in to write as my friends went out — and, ultimately, produced about 45,000 words of a shockingly mediocre novel that I eventually abandoned. With some luck and willpower, you could do the same

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@hanifbali om vi joinar NATO, vad händer med våra fina flygplan? Får vi fortfarande flyga flygplan

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@SwiftOnSecurity I don't really use Twitter anymore yet I still go on here to read this feed for the 8th year in a row

[☀️👀 @zei_squirrel]

Chomsky is asked about the Russia-Ukraine crisis and points out the obvious which is entirely absent in Western media: "The question we ought to be asking ourselves is why did NATO even exist after 1990? If NATO was to stop Communism, why is it now expanding to Russia?"

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@BentleyAudrey deadlock

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@Inzo_Music I’ve wanted to hear a sick remix / musical cover of Rudyard Kipling’s IF for so long, and I think you’d ace it - what do you think? https://t.co/cRkdBBx6oC

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@nytelife26 @Viking_Sec @JRoosen @CharlesDardaman It was the first result

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

if I had one dream in the world it's ve to skydive with @pamfoundation and @DavidHasselhoff at the SAME time #dreamgoal just need some faith - and fate 😃

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@SkydiveRamblers

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

There is nothing I would want more in my life than to skydive with @DavidHasselhoff 🥳 Please come skydive in Australia

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@tonyhawk my pal said this ain't a proper Tony Hawk skateboard and I said this is a fantastic Tony Hawk skateboard

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@elonmusk hi man could you please use some space money to build a skydiving dropzone on the moon (Skydive the Moon), that would be sick

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@RaphDeslandes I WAS TRYING TO DO GOOD BUT I AM CLUMSY IN MY HEAD

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@RaphDeslandes I once dropped coins into this guy's cup and he got so upset "THAT'S MY TEA MAN!!!" and I felt like such a fuckin ass

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@RaphDeslandes did i pass

[flowsnake @fl0wsnake]

@VLXCAT same and it was when I was 13, I really need to work on changing that because it fucking sucks