rationalnewsletter

Issue #115: Full List

The amplification of mask protection: Masks promote physical distancing. // arxiv.org

# Coronavirus

FHI paper on COVID-19 government countermeasures // jacobjacob, 1 min

Covid-19 6/4: The Eye of the Storm // Zvi, 8 min

Does taking extreme measures to avoid the coronavirus make sense when you factor in the possibility of a really long life? // adamzerner, 1 min

# Instrumental

The Skill of Noticing Emotions // Neel Nanda, 19 min Favorite

Effective children education // kotrfa, 2 min

Most reliable news sources? // elityre, 1 min

Your best future self // Raemon, 3 min

Overcorrecting As Deliberate Practice // lifelonglearner, 1 min

Air Conditioning // jefftk, 2 min

Restricted Diet and Longevity, does eating pattern matter? // jmh, 1 min

# Epistemic

Conceptual Engineering: The Revolution in Philosophy You've Never Heard Of // Suspended Reason, 25 min

Pasteur's quadrant // jasoncrawford, 6 min

What is Ra? // Chris_Leong, 1 min

How to validate research ideas? // Ariel Kwiatkowski, 1 min

You See The Territory or Nothing at All // calebo, 6 min

Basic Mindsets // ExCeph, 15 min

# Ai

Inaccessible information // paulfchristiano, 18 min

Reply to Paul Christiano's “Inaccessible Information” // alexflint, 6 min

Building brain-inspired AGI is infinitely easier than understanding the brain // steve2152, 8 min

Feedback is central to agency // alexflint, 4 min

GPT-3: A Summary // leogao, 1 min

Focus: you are allowed to be bad at accomplishing your goals // adamShimi, 4 min

Pessimism over AGI/ASI causing psychological distress? // Anirandis, 1 min

# Anthropic

Three characteristics: impermanence // Kaj_Sotala, 22 min

Is a near-term, self-sustaining Mars colony impossible? // ESRogs, 1 min

# Decision theory

Everyday Lessons from High-Dimensional Optimization // johnswentworth, 7 min Favorite

Why isn’t assassination/sabotage more common? // Rudi C, 1 min

Science 2.0 // Robin Hanson, 5 min

# Math and cs

Sparsity and interpretability? // spirali, RobertKirk, Tomáš Gavenčiak, 9 min

# Books

Book Review: Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind // Scott Alexander, 25 min

# Ea

Under which conditions are human beings most likely to be altruistically motivated? // toonalfrink, 1 min

Introduction to Existential Risks from Artificial Intelligence, for an EA audience // JoshuaFox, 1 min

# Relationships

A Practical Guide to Conflict Resolution: Attitude // eapache, 2 min

A Practical Guide to Conflict Resolution: Introduction // eapache, 3 min

# Community

[Poll] 'Truth' vs 'Winning' // Bob Jacobs, 1 min

C̶a̶m̶b̶r̶i̶d̶g̶e̶ Virtual LW/SSC Meetup // AspiringRationalist, 1 min

# Culture war

Problems With Paywalls // Scott Alexander, 8 min

Max Policing Is Disproportionate // Robin Hanson, 4 min

# Misc

A History Of Universalist Greed // namespace, 35 min

Visual Babble and Prune // AllAmericanBreakfast, 9 min

Dietary Debates among the Fruit Gnomes // Sherrinford, 2 min

Status-Regulating Emotions // lsusr, 2 min

The Law of Cultural Proximity // eapache, 5 min

Reexamining The Dark Arts // Bob Jacobs, 3 min

# Podcasts

What anonymous contributors think about important life and career questions (Article) // The 80000 Hours team, 37 min

c05: Babies Are Being Born with God Powers // Constellation

Currents 003: Joe Norman on Localism & Scales of Cooperation // . , 35 min

112 – Nice Places Are Nice // The Bayesian Conspiracy, 100 min

#79 - A.J. Jacobs on radical honesty, following the whole Bible, and reframing global problems as puzzles // The 80000 Hours team, 158 min

EP57 Zak Stein on Education in a Time Between Worlds // . , 109 min

# Videos of the week

DeepMind’s New AI Helps Detecting Breast Cancer // Two Minute Papers, 8 min