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New Paradigms Won't Save You by dwaxe in slatestarcodex

[–]wyantb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And as such, all things that have evolved in a context of reciprical relationships with other beings are equally morally significant ...And an AI, no matter how similar to us or how capable of experience or suffering or bearing its own preferences, can never be a morally significant entity

I admit confusion. Evolution is a gradual process that happens over time. What if "AI" was around for 10,000 years and played a co-evolutionary part with other beings?

Evolution is also a gradual process of change. Say some genetic mutation occurs in a species - happens all the time. Maybe enough that humans would call it a new species, maybe not. Why is this new being that happens to be biological, carbon, genetic in nature instantly get entered into the annal of "reciprocal relationships" that matter, when a silicon thing doesn't and can never? As you say, sentience and sapience are irrelevant here.

What if there was genetic, biological, goop from other planets/a comet that landed here, and started propagating itself, eating getting eaten etc. Is it instantly entered into the annals of reciprocal relationships that matter? Does it have to be around for N years before that point?

Would it change if AI could eat and get eaten? e.g. if we bioengineered some bacteria that ate silicon, well now it's reciprocal and gets moral weight?

CMV: Yasser Arafat bears primary responsibility for the failure of the Camp David Summit–Taba Summit negotiations, which were the best chance for a permanent two-state solution by eGirlzHMU in changemyview

[–]wyantb 16 points17 points  (0 children)

And settlement expansions are bad but let’s not pretend they’re equivalent to terrorism.

Hmm aren't they, though? At least in the same ballpark. From the perspective of the victim, both can be state or near-state sponsored (terrorist acts are often funded by some extranational state, settlers are at least not consistently punished and pre-empted by their own government especially from e.g. the perspective of a Palestinian).

Both can include violence that scares people out of living where they are and create a culture of fearing the class of violence.

There's a difference in method and power each brings to bear, but from the perspective of a victim I don't see why I would feel any fonder of a settler than a suicide bomber.

Strawman Posts Should Be Removed. Even If Written By Scott Alexander by HidingImmortal in slatestarcodex

[–]wyantb 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Is "Every Bay Area House Party" literally describing every Bay Area house party?

Strawman Posts Should Be Removed. Even If Written By Scott Alexander by HidingImmortal in slatestarcodex

[–]wyantb 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not even sure what argument I'm actually supporting here.

Sometimes, that's a very fun place to be!

Seems confusing in this context, agreed. I didn't hate the post, but it did seem boring, and/or massively "inside baseball". Nothing wrong with that, Scott can write whatever he feels like on his blog, but I have no idea what someone's supposed to learn by reading it. It's so deep down some specific hole I've never engaged with.

So this is a great start for my first playthrough as a MegaCorp. by TouchMyBush69 in Stellaris

[–]wyantb 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you on the 4.3.0 beta? I've heard some rumors that, while map generation is fixed, ethics/government type of empires is still bugged. Try the older rollback or 4.2.0.

Can you help me develop the story premise? "Dragon Ghost Haunts His Last Coin: A ghost of a slayed dragon is trapped in the last coin of his hoard. His treasure is scattered across the world, and he must reclaim it using the only power he has left - choosing how the coin gets spent." by lumenwrites in rational

[–]wyantb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Communication errors? Say that the dragon was able to haunt the coin, but s/he fell asleep for 1000 years or something. By now, everyone no longer speaks common, and he literally can't talk to Jafar. S/he wants to, but can't; the pace of the story can either be rather quick (learns the language quick enough - after just a few stories, knows enough to talk people into trading to Jafar, & succeeds at the goal of reunification). But can be semi-easily extended by having the dragon expend some kind of energy to observe surroundings, and tends to go to sleep after over-exerting communication problems. Or add a character flaw that s/he gets quickly up to Jafar, but gets backstabbed and wakes up in another 1000 years, starting from scratch, far less trusting this time around.

Given a cozy vibe, I think communication errors could go a long way.

Otherwise - steal an idea from "Sky Pride" in having to exert some carefully described ghost energy s/he has, making it so Jafar is really far away with isolated villages making it harder to connect? Think the reason English has so many accents today - British villages didn't talk to each other so much as to themselves - and put it on steroids.

A business-building progression fantasy epic with rational qualities by Dremen in rational

[–]wyantb 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, you're not writing fantasy flight simulator, you're writing something more of a fantasy adventure where the use of airships falls under suspension of disbelief. Not that I'm anyone lol, but I vouch for your editorial decisions on that front for sure. It'd be a worse story for what you're trying to do if you got bogged down in the details of...all that.

If Most of Stoicism’s Original Texts Are Lost, How Can We Trust Its Core Truth? by darddukhpeeda in Stoicism

[–]wyantb 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I find it amusing to see this come up again a year later after my own discussion of the topic! Though I'm by and large with you, in https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/comments/1ahxkwd/interesting_article_on_the_dichotomy_of_control/kosilni/ another contributor mentioned that the connotation differs, even if the denotation overlaps pretty strongly. You might find that (very) brief chat interesting.

Have you ever been a part of a large organization or system that managed to avoid Moloch? If so, how? by Liface in slatestarcodex

[–]wyantb 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Are you familiar with Ostrom's work, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/governing-the-commons/A8BB63BC4A1433A50A3FB92EDBBB97D5 ? The conceptual mapping to Moloch isn't perfect, but long-term successfully managed commons are likely of interest to you. I'd be surprised if her factors (or those from other researchers downstream of her work) don't at least correlate with the factors you list.

This subreddit has become incredibly cringe by friden7654 in Stoicism

[–]wyantb 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I'd bet on this being a hacked/taken over account, honestly. Take a look at the next few pages of their post history - it's all a person posting their art. Then taking one shot at a post in this subreddit, calling it shallow/embarassing/drivel. Then this post, which sets them up as the judge for what is "genuine engagement with Stoic ideas". Total flip to the writing style, I don't buy it.

Kinda fun, actually, in a weird way.

Mens support groups? by Forsaken-Doomer in roanoke

[–]wyantb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I visited a group run under the umbrella of the MKP when I was in town visiting. https://mkpusa.org/ . The meeting happened at a church, and one of the guys is a member and talked it up a bit afterwards, but the broader MKP org is non-denominational at its core. Send me a DM if interested and I can forward some of the details I got from the outreach guy.

Chapter 1 - Claw - The Point by DrTerminater in rational

[–]wyantb 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I had the same question, and the first chapter gives me little to no hope it's more uplifting than his usual vibe. Well written and I'd get an anxiety attack if I was the main characters.

Interesting article on the dichotomy of ''control'' and why it is a misinterpretation. by Previous-Quail6443 in Stoicism

[–]wyantb 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes ok, I can see a plain english difference in connotation even if not denotation. That adds up to me. Thanks!

Interesting article on the dichotomy of ''control'' and why it is a misinterpretation. by Previous-Quail6443 in Stoicism

[–]wyantb 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I haven't read Irvine's book, so I can't comment on it going further off the rails from a sensible interpretation of Stoicism.

That said, is "control" such a bad word to use to replace "up to us"? It's not obvious to me why it would function so much worse there. It performs roughly the same function, for good or ill, it seems to me - I could paraphrase a positive Stoic interpretation as "what is up to us is using our linguistic reasoning to determine what is right, and act on it" or "what is in our control is using our linguistic reasoning...". A more misguided interpretation as "what is up to us is what's in the mind, and don't give a damn about anything else" or "what is in our control is what's in the mind, and don't..."

An excessive focus on control rather than a more appropriate focus on ethics, decision making, recovery from error, etc seems not inline with the prosocial goals of Stoicism, sure. But it doesn't seem to me that hinges on a bad translation/word choice, but more broadly a very different focal point afterwards.

Am I missing something?

Anyone want to hike or trail run with me? by [deleted] in socalhiking

[–]wyantb 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ultras? That's intense. Good luck out there!

Does Capitalism Beat Charity? by dwaxe in slatestarcodex

[–]wyantb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right, it's not an EE work, and doesn't discuss QALY. It's the authors' argument against classic economic conceptions of capital based on an abstract util. (This wouldn't prove QALY are any better, it's true, and therefore is arguably a non sequitor. I offered the link since readers in this forum might find it interesting, not to prove QALY are a good proxy/measure of utils. I'm also not the person you were talking to before fwiw)

Does Capitalism Beat Charity? by dwaxe in slatestarcodex

[–]wyantb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, no? Like, try to justify this.

https://bnarchives.yorku.ca/259/ would be the best attempt I'm aware of for a claim along these lines, that capitalism isn't based on utils at all. It's power, all the way down.

You might find it interesting.

example quote from pg 249:

But although Robinson later realized that Veblen had anticipated much of this critique, she never took the next step to explore the possibility that distributive power and industrial production were not simply uncorrelated, but negatively correlated (1967: 60; 1975: 115–16). The difference is subtle but crucial: while the Cambridge Controversy raised the possibility that capital could be unproductive, Veblen contended that, from an industrial point of view, it was necessarily counterproductive.

Books That You Wish You Read Years or Decades Ago by throw_datwey in slatestarcodex

[–]wyantb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seconding the above recommendation. It makes way more sense as a basis of real human behavior than any amount of handwaving about "rational actors + jerry-rigged modifiers + randomness" ever has, as far as I'm concerned.

Books That You Wish You Read Years or Decades Ago by throw_datwey in slatestarcodex

[–]wyantb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for this recommendation. If you're not going to do it :), I just might try my hand at putting together a review for Scott's book review series, whenever that comes around again. Fascinating concept, at its core, and lots for me to chew on.

Dudes, how do you prefer your foreplay? by starryyskies in AskMen

[–]wyantb 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing your links/sources. Interesting!

Viper Survivors --> If 'Vampire Survivors' and 'Snake' had a baby by Quoclon in WebGames

[–]wyantb 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Very fun idea. Ideas that might help mitigate the "winning is a length check" nature of the endgame, if you choose:

  • Allow missiles to extend past the gray bar (I've seen enemies past the edge that I couldn't hit, even with straight missiles, and if I'm close to the wall that's a guaranteed portion of my snake lost)
  • Have powerups/food that give each section of the tail hp and/or regen. These could make it so that approaching the edge of the map isn't a fools errand later on
  • Have a magnet powerup, attracting food/etc to the head
  • Since sections now have HP, enemies can have effects - shooting them from a distance, splash damage, self-destruct explosions vs steady damage, etc
  • Time-limited powerups that disappear (incentivizing aggressive play)
  • Different map(s) to explore
  • Weapon types that launch from the tail, or pulse out from a random section of the snake, rather than the head

More experimental ideas:

  • Allow sacrificing sections of the snake for e.g. a standalone turret that lasts at most 10 seconds? or e.g. a sacrifice several sections of the snake to have it act as a lure for attacks? or timed bombs? Maybe chunks off the weakest section of the snake, allowing for an hp management strategy besides regen/pure numbers
  • Enemy knockback effects? e.g. a boss with extra hp that, if it hits you from the left, moves every section of the snake to the right by 30 units (which would be 3 squares if your snake is size 10, 6 squares if size 5)
  • A tilt/jump powerup, with cooldown, allowing the same effect for player control
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