
Inadequate Equilibria by Eleizer Yudkowsky - lisper
https://equilibriabook.com/
======
ivraatiems
Eliezer Yudkowsky has an extremely devoted, almost cult-like following, as
does the Less Wrong rationality movement.

But I've never seen an appraisal of him or his work from anyone _outside_ the
movement that describes its value or lack thereof. Many of his ideas make
sense (if you accept all of his theoretical premises), but I'm not sure
they're grounded in reality.

Does anyone here know of such an outside appraisal?

Edit: To be clear, I'm talking about the work that is actually unique to the
movement, such as the Overcoming Bias blog and other original stuff. Things
like Bayesian reasoning are already proven on their own, but also didn't come
from Less Wrong originally.

~~~
OscarCunningham
This seems a bit unfair. Outsiders who agree with Yudkowsky are more likely to
become insiders.

Anyway (speaking as an insider) _Inadequate Equilibria_ doesn't intersect with
Yudkowsky's theories about AI. It's about how to tell the differences between
the circumstances where you should trust your instincts vs those where you
should go with the crowd.

~~~
stcredzero
_This seems a bit unfair. Outsiders who agree with Yudkowsky are more likely
to become insiders._

Any cult could say that, however. One question I'd ask, is how likely is it
for outsiders who partially agree with Yudkowsky to become insiders? Quite
often, it's much less the "leader" and much more the mob inside a cult which
creates much of the cult-like atmosphere. I remember posting an idea in the
HPMOR reddit about creating a muggle magic detection device that could be used
to game-balance the power of the muggle world vs. the magical world. The knee-
jerk reactions, followed by the feeling that I must be a horrible person for
doing so made me pause.

 _It 's about how to tell the differences between the circumstances where you
should trust your instincts vs those where you should go with the crowd._

So, in part, it's how to tell if you're being suborned by groupthink.

Always keep in mind that scene from _The Life of Brian,_ where the crowd
shouts, "We are all individuals!"

The thing to keep in mind when trying to start a movement of rationalists that
doesn't take on the qualities of a cult: Ask yourself if you are as smart and
self aware as others who have tried the same. Why is it you will succeed where
those others have failed?

(Do I think the Less Wrong crowd is a cult? It's a foregone conclusion that
any such group has grown an outer rind which has at least some cult-like
qualities. The real question is, what is the state of the inside? And if you
are inside, how do you know you haven't been suborned by groupthink?)

~~~
gtt
Look at how do they react to jokes. My observation is that all those
destructive cult-like organization cannot laugh at themselves.

~~~
stcredzero
_My observation is that all those destructive cult-like organization cannot
laugh at themselves._

It cuts both ways, actually. In this, as in many things, there is a moderated
middle path. There is a kind of rather derisive, malevolent kind of humor
which is used by certain adherents to nihilist philosophies. If you look very
closely, then you will see that they also "cannot laugh at themselves" \-- but
on the surface, it looks like they can.

------
josh_fyi
Please correct spelling Eleizer ->Eliezer

