rationalnewsletter

Issue #235

Did you know that mitochondria actually look nothing at all [like in textbooks], and are actually spread out all over your cells like a web? // twitter.com

# Instrumental

Popular Personal Financial Advice versus the Professors (James Choi, NBER) // aidan-fitzgerald, 3 min

My search for a reliable breakfast // [email protected], 3 min

# Epistemic

Wisdom Cannot Be Unzipped // Sable, 8 min

When apparently positive evidence can be negative evidence // cata, 1 min

Is the meaning of words chosen/interpreted to maximize correlations with other relevant queries? // tailcalled, 1 min

# Ai

The heritability of human values: A behavior genetic critique of Shard Theory // geoffreymiller, 24 min

How To Make Prediction Markets Useful For Alignment Work // johnswentworth, 2 min

Scaling Laws for Reward Model Overoptimization // leogao, 1 min

Response to Katja Grace's AI x-risk counterarguments // ejenner, 18 min

They gave LLMs access to physics simulators // ryan_b, 1 min

# Longevity

Luck based medicine: my resentful story of becoming a medical miracle // pktechgirl, 15 min

Designing a Methylation Clock that Reliably Evaluates Anti-aging Interventions // Josh Mitteldorf, 11 min

# Anthropic

How to Take Over the Universe (in Three Easy Steps) // Writer, 14 min

What is Consciousness? // belkarx, 4 min

# Decision theory

Decision theory does not imply that we get to have nice things // So8res, 34 min

Plans Are Predictions, Not Optimization Targets // johnswentworth, 5 min

Notes on "Can you control the past" // So8res, 26 min

Legal Brief: Plurality Voting is Unconstitutional // ctrout, 13 min

Rough Sketch for Product to Enhance Citizen Participation in Politics // rodeo_flagellum, 1 min

# Math and cs

Open Problem in Voting Theory // Scott Garrabrant, 7 min

Maximal Lottery-Lotteries // Scott Garrabrant, 4 min

# Books

Book Review: Rhythms Of The Brain // Scott Alexander, 15 min

Fossil Future // Robin Hanson, 2 min

# Relationships

A scheme to become sexier // rockthecasbah, 3 min

# Community

aisafety.community - A living document of AI safety communities // zeshen, 1 min

# Culture war

The harms you don't see // ViktoriaMalyasova, 12 min

# Fun

Another Bay Area House Party // Scott Alexander, 15 min

# Misc

Age changes what you care about // Dentin, 2 min

Untapped Potential at 13-18 // belkarx, 1 min

The importance of studying subjective experience // Q Home, 8 min

Crypto loves impact markets: Notes from Schelling Point Bogotá // wearsshoes

Moorean Statements // David Udell, 1 min

# Podcasts

173 – Oh Lawd, Strong AI is Comin’ // The Bayesian Conspiracy, 124 min

Currents 072: Ben Goertzel on Viable Paths to True AGI // The Jim Rutt Show, 110 min

YANSS 244 – How to develop the mental skills required to know which goals and plans are worth sticking to and which are not //

# Videos of the week

[LEAKED] Google’s new AI is absolutely TERRIFYING. // Jake Tran, 16 min