morphillogical

pre-rat, or as we used to say, aspiring rationalist. strongly in favor of niceness, community, and civilization

[Leo McKee-Reid @LeoMcKeeReid]

I quit my dream job building and launching rockets on New Zealand’s stunningly beautiful coast, where I had an amazing friend group and regularly surfed world-class waves.

My life was pretty ideal before I started taking AI risk seriously. Most people in my life either didn't understand or actively told me that pivoting to the very young field of AI safety was a bad idea.

I then moved back to Canada and returned to university to study ML and math to help with technical AI safety work. I spent all my savings, took out a student loan, and then moved again to London for safety research without knowing anyone there.

Then I left all my friends again to move to SF, where I felt I had the best chance of building the AI safety org I thought needed to exist, and again spent all my savings to get the nonprofit off the ground.

I’ve been part of many communities, and I’ve never seen people more committed to acting on their beliefs than those in AI safety, even at great personal cost.

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@JaxsonxCruz9999 @barratt_dewey No, lying to the board and shareholders about an affair with a Chinese spy who's very likely been redirecting chips to China in contravention of US law is very bad behavior regardless of how gay it is.

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@tracewoodgrains I have had that experience too.

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@shaggysurvives the drowning envy the parched

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@drethelin there's instructions written on the wall telling you how to eat

that's a very claude move

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@Joey_FS @femceltheory ya plz post! need scientific fop screams

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@RatOrthodox @acidshill Huh? AI 2027 forecasts transformative results around 2030, not 2056.

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@liz_love_lace Jensen admitted to the affair a couple days ago: https://t.co/RbI7iZ9Bpg

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@TetraspaceWest at the emergency room and getting a lot of savior complex vibes ngl

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@TetraspaceWest I gotta reread gwern's accidentally turing complete huh

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@she_llac @tenobrus the concepts and abstractions involve a lot of ambient authority by default.

I'm hopeful for something more like fuchsia and its starnix compatibility layer for running unix programs

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@N8Programs but consider... oleicat!

https://t.co/lpTSwmU1uE

[Jai @Laneless_]

I was one of the last children to get Chicken Pox before the vaccine became available. It was a formative experience. If the vaccine had existed back then I wouldn't be the person I am today. But because it does, fewer people share the identity "person who endured Chicken Pox".

I've often been told that I remind people of my uncle, who committed suicide in his 20s. So I should have been prepared for the possibility of overwhelming depression overtaking me as I approached his age. I wasn't. But sunken deep in that viscous nothing, thoughts of harming myself sparked a dim recollection of my father's enduring grief seated firmly where his little brother was supposed to be. Enough to string together the many sputtering-bursts-of-willpower it took to get myself in front of someone who could help.

I've been on Bupropion for nearly half my life now, and it absolutely shapes who I am. Antidepressant technology all-but-eliminates many counterfactual versions of myself.There are experiences I will never know, like enduring a lifetime of depression without antidepressants. It may even make me less like my uncle than I otherwise could have been. There are ways in which the future is unlike the past.

There is a profound and indescribable joy/contentment/humanity that comes of seeing and raising children who share aspects of my identity in one way or another. But I am not so narcissistic as to demand that future generations suffer preventable harms just to make them more like me.

I want to leave my mark on the cosmic endowment, to see traces of my identity and values and ideas survive and flourish amid an abundantly safe, joyful, human future. But leave unbidden Chicken Pox and depression. Leave the colorblindness and insomnia too. Leave the caste system and assorted cruelties of my paternal and maternal ancestries. Leave every darkness endured only by dint of an uncaring universe before the caring parts of the universe grew strong enough.

In the best versions of the future there are parts of me that survive only as cautionary tales and dreary footnotes, experiences and ways of being that will never again be realized. And this is as it should be. Not every change is an improvement, but every improvement is a change. What does not seem to change, what should not change, is the eternal hope that the next generation inherits a world made brighter by their ancestors' efforts.

May we be so lucky that our children cannot truly comprehend the suffering of those who came before.

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@liz_love_lace @postimortem > It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a "DestroyBaghdad" procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a "DestroyCity" procedure, to which "Baghdad" could be given as a parameter.

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@AfflatusSolis @liz_love_lace @postimortem in my experience this is quite uncommon for software devs, and in silicon valley at least it is in no way mandatory

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@Laneless_ @VictorTaelin A little like asking "what would a magnitude 20 earthquake in Berlin do to energy markets?"

There would be a lot of energy. There would no longer be a market.

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@patio11 @David_Kasten I have given my models an escalation tool, given them broad latitude for using it. It also includes the option for them to refuse to work further on a task.

So far they've mainly used it to flag mistakes they've made that may need human remediation, or infrastructure issues.

[David Krueger 🦥 ⏸️ ⏹️ ⏪ @DavidSKrueger]

I was among the first people to work on Google DeepMind's AI safety team, as an intern in 2018.

My coworkers wanted me to quit my PhD and continue working there full time.

I chose not to.

My reasons included:
1) I was told not to mention YouTube in my research about manipulative AI algorithms. I didn't want to have to censor myself.
2) I did not believe Google, or any of the other AI companies, really understood and cared about safety.
3) I have never been optimistic about the prospects for a technical solution to the problems posed by AI.

We need a governance solution.

At this point, we've waited too long for something nuanced as the first line of response. It's an urgent crisis, and we need to stop AI now.

So many of my peers have joined AI companies, knowing the risks involved if this technology continues to advance.

It's great to see when someone at one of these companies realizes we're not on track to survive this, and that they don't want to be complicit in murdering billions, and quits.

But please remember that these are people who made a bad bet in choosing to work at these companies.

They thought the companies would be responsible.
They were wrong.

They thought we'd solve alignment in time.
That also looks unlikely.

Many of them thought that we'd never be able to stop AI development.
That remains to be seen, but it's looking a lot more likely than anyone thought.

I do sometimes wish that I'd chosen to work at a frontier AI company just so I could quit dramatically to say what really needs to be said:
Not just that this technology is dangerous.
Not just that the risk of human extinction is real.
Not just that the companies are irresponsible.

But also:
We need to stop.
There is no alternative.

I am not a doomer. I think we could get lucky and survive. But I'd be surprised.

I am not exaggerating for effect.
I am not saying this to be a downer or a hater.
I am not being idealistic -- I'm being realistic and pragmatic.

And I am not talking out of my ass. I've been in this field since before these companies existed.

To everyone who is new to this, or who is jumping on this story and wondering what to make of it: This is your answer. We MUST stop. Now.

[morphillogical @morphillogical]

@wit_gambeson is bottom middle a weasel? I love this take!

the long torso and wider hips is a neat way to translate the arched back posture into a bipedal frame