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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   2924 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 24, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Eliezer single-handedly blowing 20 years of the AI safety movement's accumulated social capital in a single tweet

I've never really bought into the Rationalism is a Cult accusations... Until today when I saw someone tell Big Yud that he's the only person that looks good in a fedora. Yud has his upsides, but I've never seen a photo where he looked good in anything, let alone a fedora. I'm also convinced that most of the criticism of EA sex practices is just dudes being jealous that somehow this fucking guy is getting laid.

... Then again, I do have a stetson in my closet that I wear sometimes when I'm outside in the rain/snow/sun. So glass houses and all that.

Big Yud

It's crazy how up one's own ass someone can be but Yud always delivers.

Rationalism isn't a cult but it does have its social contagions. I think colloquially when people are referring to a "cult" they are loosely referring to the presence of some group behavior that has no practical basis related to the group activity (which is common for cults). It does raise some eyebrows that the bay area rationalists "normalized" polyamory among themselves to such am extent, which begs the question were they there for the rationalism or the sex? Using the colloquial definition, rationalism is more of a cult than let's say skiing or mountain biking. Or even kpop stanning.

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