questions

created: ; modified:

2023

  1. what are you thinking about these days?
  2. what happens to your consciousness when you walk into a teleporter?
  3. what’s the most embarrassing cold email you’ve sent?
  4. what does good future look like?
  5. what are you absolutely certain in?
  6. does time exist?
  7. what’s one actionable from last meeting?
  8. how did the romanovs manage to rule russia for 300 years?
  9. why do you live where you live?
  10. what are the key questions?
  11. why not take a pen and a piece of paper, go offline for 1 hour and resolve one of them?
  12. why is the market capitalization of facebook, founded 15 months prior to yc by a 19 year old, larger than that of all yc companies combined?
  13. what do you want?
  14. is self eternal?
  15. what’s slowing you down the most?
  16. why is democracy the best form of government?
  17. when was the last time you took 3 months completely off?
  18. how do we understand paul christiano’s prophecies before they come to pass?
  19. what’s your destiny?
  20. is 1 week 2% of the year?
  21. how can you do better?
  22. how to solve prompt injections?
  23. when was the last time you asked for help?
  24. how to go to the center of the universe?
  25. what inspires you?
  26. why did the founding fathers decide that the president must be at least 35 year old?
  27. what would make your colleagues happy?
  28. what are you devoted to?
  29. why did the anarchists murder the single most progressive russian emperor (alexander ii) but not his extremely conservative successor?
  30. what are you confused about?
  31. how does the history judge your work?
  32. why will you fail?
  33. why is it easier to do something for the other person than to do the exact same thing for yourself?
  34. what are you flinching from?
  35. why not just stare at it for 10 minutes?
  36. does god know the future?
  37. what would you die for?
  38. did the person actually tell you no or did you just assume they would?
  39. why do holden karnofsky and sam altman write so differently?
  40. who do you want to be more like?
  41. who do you want to be less like?
  42. what would you do if you were alone in the universe?
  43. would you walk into a teleporter?
  44. how to measure ai risk?
  45. what makes you do the right thing?
  46. how do we know if an llm is telling us what it actually thinks?
  47. who are you afraid of?
  48. when was the last time you prayed?
  49. what are you proud of?
  50. why did krishna reveal himself only to arjuna?
  51. when was the last time you did something you’ve never done before?
  52. what’s the right way to regulate ai? other new technologies?
  53. do you feel better or worse after spending time with the person you spend most of your time with?
  54. was alexander worse than hitler?
  55. what are you afraid to tell to your best friend?
  56. when should one give up?
  57. what’s the ground-truth measure?
  58. why did you do something you regret?
  59. how to upload brains w/o discontinuity of consciousness?
  60. what are you afraid to tell to your partner?
  61. why did scott alexander shut down his blog and mobilize the entire sv intelligentsia against an NYT reporter who was writing an extremely balanced and charitable profile of his blog?
  62. why not travel to your favorite city as often as you can?
  63. do the fundamental laws of physics exist?
  64. am i wasting my time writing these questions?
  65. what have you promised to do and not done yet?
  66. is consciousness continuous?
  67. when was the last time you took a year off?
  68. why did the japanese keep debating whether to surrender even after two nuclear bombings?
  69. whose advice has been so correct in the past that you now just go and act on it?
  70. why not ask them for a piece of advice?
  71. why do children who grow up without a real authority become spoiled?
  72. what’s the top 1 work goal today?
  73. what’s the top 1 personal goal today?
  74. is the failure condition clear?
  75. why are so many actors and actresses political activists?
  76. what are you flinching from thinking about?
  77. why do people sign false confessions?
  78. when was the last time you talked to someone you really admire?
  79. is solving alignment different from building agi?
  80. what have you learned about yourself in the last year?
  81. what would you do in utopia?
  82. are ai capabilities more like those of bombs or of computers?
  83. what are you going to regret in a year?
  84. how does the brain generate consciousness?
  85. have you spent 1 minute today on your biggest goal?
  86. have you spent 1 hour today on your biggest goal?
  87. have you spent 10 hours today on your biggest goal?
  88. how to prepare for the times of change?
  89. can you be more specific?
  90. what’s the most common advice you give to people?
  91. do you follow it yourself?
  92. does the world need to be saved?
  93. what can you do in the next 60 seconds that will make you feel proud of yourself?
  94. what are you wrong about?
  95. what’s agi?
  96. why not invite someone you like talking to for a dinner?
  97. why do people disagree on p doom?
  98. what’s p doom?
  99. what’s doom?
  100. who’s consistently ahead of you?
  101. why don’t you catch up?
  102. how to overcome the second law of thermodynamics?
  103. who should you report to?
  104. how did zuck make a comeback?
  105. what do you wish you could do but you’re absolutely confident you can’t?
  106. how do you know?
  107. what’s the humanity’s frontier?
  108. should you do lasik?
  109. what exists?
  110. what doesn’t exist?
  111. when was the last time you closed your eyes for a minute and asked yourself if you’re doing the right thing?
  112. what can you do all day long and feel great going to bed?
  113. what is the shape of the solution to ai alignment?
  114. where in the world is your tribe?
  115. what are the key factors of pluralist future?
  116. do you like yourself when you look in the mirror?
  117. what’s the strongest case for technological accelerationism?
  118. what’s the strongest case against technological accelerationism?
  119. does anyone believe they’re evil?
  120. what’s the eta to the dyson sphere around the sun?
  121. what do other people tell you about you that you are always surprised to hear?
  122. why?
  123. why does the universe exist? why does anything exist at all?
  124. what’s your plan?
  125. what is the level of resolution you’d need to replicate your brain in to create someone you’d consider to be you?
  126. what would you do if you couldn’t make the world better?
  127. how do the experiences of sleep, general anesthesia, and death differ?
  128. do you believe in yourself more than you believed 5 years ago?
  129. have you updated all the way?
  130. why is maintaining eye contact sometimes easy and sometimes difficult?
  131. is your laptop a superintelligence?
  132. have you read a good history book today?
  133. what’s the rubric for the role you’re hiring for?
  134. what are you trying to do?
  135. how did the humanity manage to never deploy a hydrogen bomb?
  136. what’s the next step?
  137. what are the key factors of good future?
  138. what do you have no competitors in?
  139. how do you know what someone will do when the push comes to shove?
  140. what’s the right thing to do?
  141. what’s humanity’s destiny?
  142. what do you feel behind on?
  143. what’s the silver bullet?
  144. how do you know?
  145. why not?

let me know if you have answers

2024

  1. will we, humans, fly to the stars? or will we just send probes? or will we not even send probes? what, if anything, will we send to the stars?
  2. will humanity give up its future and/or destroy itself without the physical frontier is economic growth a sufficient substitute for physical frontier?
  3. how to make the world perfectly just?
  4. will humanity be superceded? should it?
  5. what are the scientific rules for life?
M ↓   Markdown
UpvotesNewestOldest
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Anonymous
0 points
21 months ago

For 29, without knowing any of the relevant history, I'd guess that it's for the same reason Mao liked Nixon and other American right-wingers but detested Western leftists. Firm and principled opposition inspires respect; mealymouthed "I kind of agree but you're going a bit too far" results in contempt.

P
Patrick Wilson
0 points
21 months ago

Hmm... some nice breakfast for thought. Spoiler alert - answers here:

  1. so many things, and it's pointless chasing or policing one's own thoughts too hard; that way solipsistic totalitarianism lies
  2. nothing, cos teleporters don't exist
  3. probably a press release about the geometry of reverse parking
  4. for me, something like this - https://pathfindings.substack.com/p/awakening-the-ancestors
  5. I am suspicious of all absolutes, prefer catma to dogma
  6. give me a minute and I’ll tell you (or see 5)
  7. arrange the next meeting
  8. how does anyone manage to rule russia? In their case I guess it was largely about continuing to bear heirs
  9. if we didn’t live here, we’d be somewhere else
  10. which locks do these keys open?
  11. that sounds dull
  12. network effects and something something capitalism (yawn)
  13. peace, love and happiness, a booming bass, a smiling face for a loving race etc
  14. only at 3am (see 6)
  15. inertia
  16. it isn’t the best, it’s just the least bad
  17. off what?
  18. never heard of him
  19. (see 13)
  20. (see 6)
  21. do what?
  22. are prompt injections a problem?
  23. this morning
  24. (see 1)
  25. most things, even these questions
  26. as fathers, they knew the kids are all fools
  27. hard to generalise but more holidays?
  28. my wife, of course
  29. anarchists are often confused
  30. quantum physics
  31. it doesn’t, yet
  32. hubris, as usual
  33. It’s often harder
  34. attack by predators
  35. it moves fast
  36. god knows
  37. willingly, nothing
  38. which person?
  39. they are different people
  40. Ursula k. le guin
  41. Vladimir putin
  42. play god
  43. (see 2)
  44. yes, many solutions
  45. you’re asking the wrong guy
  46. with a long ruler
  47. my wife (see 28)
  48. we don’t know if it thinks
  49. my wife (see 28)
  50. when your ai is nicely lined up straight
  51. this morning
  52. with a straight ruler
  53. our children’s achievements
  54. gods are sneaky like that
  55. this morning
  56. (see 28)
  57. both (see 28)
  58. no
  59. (see 28)
  60. when one is bored, or tired
  61. the soles of your feet
  62. (see 32)
  63. (see 2)
  64. god may not exist
  65. cos fake news
  66. familiarity breeds contempt
  67. law is an ass
  68. (see 6)
  69. I expect my wife will think of something
  70. not under general anaesthetic, or death
  71. (see 17)
  72. Bushido
  73. (see 28)
  74. no need, she is an unfailing source of advice
  75. do they?
  76. (see 13)
  77. (see 28)
  78. occasionally
  79. they can’t stop acting
  80. pension plans
  81. peer pressure
  82. this morning, also (see 28)
  83. yes
  84. I’m a year older and better than ever
  85. all good things, obvs.
  86. both
  87. don’t know, don’t care (yet)
  88. network effects, and something something complexity
  89. yep
  90. yep
  91. give us a chance, it’s only 9am here
  92. keep an open mind and wide network of allies
  93. maybe, but why would I?
  94. cheer up and exercise more
  95. oh yeah
  96. no, though parts of it can be improved
  97. u
  98. dunno, but (see 28)
  99. (see 4) https://pathfindings.substack.com/p/awakening-the-ancestors
  100. I usually skip dinner
  101. we’re all different
  102. probability of doom?
  103. https://pathfindings.substack.com/p/apocalypse-now-later-or-maybe-never
  104. (see 28)
  105. why don't you catch up?
  106. live a little
  107. (see 28)
  108. what’s zuck?
  109. fly, like in dreams
  110. gravity sucks
  111. what's a frontier?
  112. never heard of it
  113. the universe, whatever that is
  114. an answer to this question
  115. just now, answering this question
  116. my usual routine – work, family, football, tennis, cycling, swimming, samba
  117. circular
  118. all over
  119. pluralist present
  120. yep
  121. ask https://chat.openai.com/
  122. https://pathfindings.substack.com/p/keep-smiling-its-still-a-material
  123. yes
  124. 3am
  125. I confuse them
  126. my style of expression
  127. (see 36)
  128. so many
  129. 1:1
  130. try not to make it worse
  131. sleep is active, the others not so much
  132. maybe
  133. never
  134. some eyes are more intense than others
  135. seriously?
  136. yes
  137. not currently hiring
  138. answer these questions
  139. luck and good judgement (for now)
  140. forward, carefully
  141. https://pathfindings.substack.com/p/rabbits-robots-and-resurrection
  142. Love, peace and happiness
  143. Shove them and see
  144. Not that
  145. more humanity (see 141)
  146. writing, always
  147. a small piece of metal used to kill werewolves
  148. from here on this bridge
  149. why not indeed? xP
T
Tobi Lehman
0 points
21 months ago

does time exist?

David Deutsch gave a definition of existence that would be useful here: "An entity exists if it has a place in a particular explanatory structure. More precisely, it exists if it is a part of some theory that plays a role in the best available explanation of something."

Time is essential to both quantum mechanics (the direction along which the wavefunction evolves), and general relativity (the one weird dimension that has an opposite sign on it's component of the pseudometric). So it exists by that definition.