Mechanistic Mind
Cognitive science asks: what are the mechanisms that make up a mind? This is a blog about cognitive science, linguistics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and life. Also sometimes about effective altruism and the wider world. Sometimes told through the lens of game design, and I hope you find these posts entertaining as well as thought-provoking.
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The Coming Wave of Goal Pursuit in Large Language Models
If you work in AI, then probably none of this is new to you, but if you’re curious about the near future of this technology, I hope you find this interesting! Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown impressive results in the past few years. I’ve noticed there’s some uncertainty among my friends about how far…
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My Experience with Notion and a Personal Wiki
I don’t blog very much, but I often journal for myself. I think journaling has a reputation for being about personal feelings and the happenings of the day, and I do a lot of that sort of writing. But I find that much of what I write is more a reflection of what I’m reading.…
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How I Learned to Wake Up on Time
I’m not naturally a morning person. When I was younger, I struggled to get out of bed every morning. But now, I get up early and on time almost every day. Here are some things that worked for me: I hope these work for you, too.
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In Defense of AI safety Research
I am an effective altruist, so I’m naturally skeptical of schemes to improve the world that don’t have a lot of evidence behind them. I try to do a lot to support efforts to alleviate global poverty (mostly donating money). I like giving that way because I think it’s very certain that it will do…
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Functional Decomposition of AGI
Broad claim: There is not just one central problem of intelligence, not just one master algorithm. Instead, intelligence consists of solving distinct types of problems using distinct algorithms. By analyzing what types of problems are composite to intelligence, we can find algorithms that match those problems, and by composing those algorithms properly, we can construct…
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Cost Effectiveness of Climate Change
Originally posted on the effective altruism forum, and there’s some good discussion in the comments there. (Epistemic status: Low confidence in end result. I’m not an expert, and I am likely to be overlooking something important. The methodology is informative and there are good links. I’ve tried to point out sources of numerical uncertainty.) How…
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Willpower
What is willpower? Why does it feel limited? Why do some people seem to have more of it? The answer, I think, is that much of our behavior is driven by reward seeking decisions calculated deep within the brain. The reward driven part of our mind is integral to action taking, where actions are defined…
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How Much Covid Precaution is too Much?
Should I stay safe in order to avoid getting covid? My assumption is yes, but I want to think it through with a cost/benefit analysis. A better question might be “how much am I willing to do to avoid getting covid, such that the marginal cost of additional avoidance equals the marginal additional cost in…
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Universal Basic Income as Tax Break
[Epistemic status: not sure this would work] The single largest complaint about the idea of a Universal Basic Income is that would cost a ton of money. This is sort of an inescapable fact. On the other hand, Republicans often lower taxes without worrying too much about the costs. Their starve the beast strategy sort…
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