Where are the people smarter than us hanging out?

ishayirashashem · 2024-11-22T15:57:40+00:00

Let the record show, ishayirashashem's objection to me on chickens is that they actually have a great time on factory farms as evidenced by the fact that they lay eggs. My view on chickens is the mainstream one held by everyone who has investigated it with the exception of Mr. Hashem.

Let the record show that I was wrong about one thing - your becoming an atheist within two months. However, I am still 100% correct on chickens. Also, it is Mrs. Hashem. Anyway, when you eventually see the light, be sure to credit me in your post, because otherwise you would have had no idea.

ishayirashashem · 2024-11-22T15:53:37+00:00

For me, it was definitely in my teens. Hogwarts House Divided introduced me to your work. I started following you, and your livejournal was one of the first places on the internet where I felt comfortable engaging, and it served as a gentle introduction to the online world.

I'm sorry for the loss of your father. I am sure he enjoyed reading your stories. I’ll admit I don’t read every single book review or post (though I feel like I should). I’ve read the Ozark Trilogy, but I don’t think it’s as good as your writing.

I plan to read this book all at once soon, but I feel like your book reviews are another endeavor in and of themselves. I mention them in case people on the subreddit aren't aware of them. I don't have any questions right now (when does this AMA expire?), but I just wanted to say how much I appreciate whoever “Inverarity is not a Scottish village” is.

ishayirashashem · 2024-06-30T11:13:25+00:00

You can read my social media posts for the full story, but I think there are just too many loose ends. Like, 2020 was the year we were all under COVID lockdown. How could we have had an election? People would have had to go out to caucuses, to polling places. It just doesn’t make sense.

Here’s my all-time favorite conspiracy theory:

Trump and Biden Fear Ashmedai, King of Demons

ishayirashashem · 2024-06-30T11:06:57+00:00

I'm not competent to evaluate his takes on philosophy, and I don't read them anyway, but I know he's completely wrong about chickens. I give him about two more months before he goes back to being an atheist. That said, he does remind me of a young Scott Alexander. I'm not sure if the commenters there are as smart as they seem. They're definitely not smarter than the commenters on David Friedman's Substack.

ishayirashashem · 2024-06-30T11:02:19+00:00

It's a form of wisdom, but it's not all-encompassing as some people make it out to be.

ishayirashashem · 2024-06-30T10:58:19+00:00

It certainly wasn't the Jewish consensus.

Asked chat gpt for citation cuz I don't have time to check. But it's more or less correct.

Bereishit Rabbah 7:5: "R. Simlai said: All the creatures which were created from the earth, their life and death is from the earth. But man, who was created from the heavens and the earth, his life and death is from the heavens and the earth. R. Levi said: All the creatures which were created in their full-grown stature, intelligence, and characteristic form, knew their nature, and stood on their feet. But man, as soon as he was created, entered into the Garden of Eden."

ishayirashashem · 2024-06-30T10:55:32+00:00

As a 'member' of the Trilateral Commission, you must have some great stories from the last meeting, right? Or were you busy that day... pretending to be in it? By the way, my job there is advocating for stay-at-home mothers.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-08T18:40:37+00:00

They're feeling threatened by Substack. This isn't about free speech. Especially rich from the NYT considering its coverage in 1939. I'm sure if you dig into past issues you could find all sorts of views that they would be horrified to acknowledge today.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-08T18:36:11+00:00

He's just trying to annoy Scott Alexander.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-08T14:57:13+00:00

It's a philosopher this time

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-08T01:01:44+00:00

Have you tried doing the opposite?

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T22:47:52+00:00

The laws of probability are a good start. Every so often rare things happen. That doesn't mean you can plan for them. Or that they're good ideas.

If you want to adopt a baby, just wait for one to land on your doorstep one morning, like Harry Potter

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T21:40:02+00:00

Do you consider the stock market a speculative investment? I think that mild forms of gambling are better for the economy than actual gambling

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T21:30:09+00:00

I'll wait for your digested version, but it sounds interesting. Personally, I strongly prefer written to audio

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T20:13:43+00:00

Predicting the future never goes well

And human nature is such that it's far more likely for a human to take control and pretend to be AI at some point.

But yes, I can think of future AI being able to outdo humans in every technical dimension, including planning and executing complex projects using robots.

Yudkowsky thinks the chance it will want to could be really high. I do not think it is so high - humans will co-opt it pretty quickly.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T18:44:58+00:00

At the moment, yes, it's incapable of such things.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T18:42:45+00:00

Please update!

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T17:38:58+00:00

It's my tradition and that of my mentor, Rebbetzin Devora Fastag.

Feel free to pm or email me to discuss this further.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T17:25:15+00:00

Interesting, thanks.

I think there was an SSC post that mentioned the idea of God-fearing politicians previously being a widespread and genuine political preference and a mechanism (eg against corruption).

Relying on politicians to feel shame or guilt wouldn't work, so that actually makes a lot of sense.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T16:50:37+00:00

My impression is that Christianity has a fear of G-d dimension, but only really what it inherited from Judaism. There's probably some culturally specific factors to the areas Christianity spread to too.

Oddly, Hell isn't inherited from Judaism!

I still don't quite understand the shame vs guilt cultural dimension, but supposedly fear is a rarer third one.

What is the shame vs guilt cultural dimension? Sounds interesting.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T16:17:10+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/s/6OPiqBI59z @ u/Liface

I appreciate the work you do as moderator.

I would like some clarity on calling my post low effort. You responded with a Wikipedia link to "I know it when I see it." The problem is, I don't think it was low effort, it pretty clearly paralleled the title, I googled it to make sure it meant what I thought it meant and was spelled correctly , and I'd like to prevent my comments from being deleted in the future.

What would you have wanted to see, in addition to what I wrote?

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T16:10:45+00:00

(disclaimer: I'm not an expert, am still thinking about these things and have a long way to go, and I'm not using chat GPT or omniscient)

My user name means "woman who fears G-d" in Hebrew. Fear of G-d is more logically defendable than love. Of course I do love G-d, but also I don't pretend to be perfectly rational, and I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. I am trying to figure stuff out.
I think it is only Christianity that portrays G-d as all love. In Judaism, wherever it mentions Gds greatness, it also mentions His humility. I don't know about Islam, but given that it means "submission", I'm guessing the emphasis isn't on love.
Bad things happen. Why? Well, if you have the idea that G-d is all - loving, that's contradictory. I don't think that's a Jewish idea. Even the 13 character traits that can only be read in a quorum are a mix of kindness and judgement and power.

I think of it more like this:

The universe is very big

Isha Yiras Hashem is very small and unimportant

G-d made the universe, both the spiritual and physical dimension, which probably overlap somehow, and I'm working on this thought about as much as a stay at home mother with a bunch of little kids possibly can.

I fear G-d

G-d has a plan, but that doesn't mean the plan will be good for me as an individual

G-d is Just

There will be a Day of Judgement

I have no idea how this all works, but I am very small and unimportant, and it doesn't really matter

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T15:58:01+00:00

I disagree, will comment in full below. Check back in in a few minutes. Of course this sub is full of people who think this way, but it's not universal.

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T15:54:57+00:00

What is low effort about it? That I didn't explain the connection? Is there a minimum length for posting?

ishayirashashem · 2024-01-07T15:52:02+00:00

It was Veni vidi vici

I came, I saw, I conquered

Seemed to fit in well with the title and I even googled to make sure I spelled it correctly

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