Dichotomizer (or Oversimplifiers) vs. Difference Deniers: a dynamic regarding group differences that leads to rage and confusion

December 17, 2023

Here's a misery-filled dynamic that I believe commonly plays out regarding small observed differences between groups: (1) Two groups have a small (but meaningful) difference in their average value of some trait, with heavily overlapping distributions. (2) Some people ("Dichotomizers" or "Oversimplifiers") observe this difference (in their everyday life or media reports) and turn this small average difference into a (sometimes very harmful) oversimplification: "A's are like this, B's are l...

Valuism and X: how Valuism sheds light on other domains – Part 5 of the sequence on Valuism

July 19, 2023

By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace Image created using the A.I. DALL•E 2 This is the fifth and final part in my sequence of essays about my life philosophy, Valuism - here are the first, second, third, and fourth parts. In previous posts, I've described Valuism - my life philosophy. I've also discussed how it could serve as a life philosophy for others. In this post, I discuss how a Valuist lens can help shed light on various fields and areas of inquiry. Valuism and ...

What countries have the most billion-dollar startup companies per capita?

June 28, 2023

What countries have the most unicorns (i.e., billion-dollar startup companies) per capita (i.e., per person)? Oddly, I couldn't find this anywhere, so I calculated it. The winners: Singapore Israel the United States Estonia Ireland Here's the full chart I created: Interestingly, the top of the table pretty closely follows the amount of startup investment per capita according to this chart from Crunchbase:

What would a robot value? An analogy for human values – part 4 of the Valuism sequence

May 7, 2023

By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace This post is part of a sequence about Valuism - my life philosophy. This post is the most technical of the sequence. Here are the first, second, third, and fifth parts of the sequence. Image created using the A.I. DALL•E 2 This is the fourth of five posts in my sequence of essays about my life philosophy, Valuism - here are the first, second, third, and fifth parts (though the last link won’t work until that essay is released). I...

13 metaphors to give the flavor of why sufficiently advanced A.I. could be extremely dangerous

April 2, 2023

1. Suppose a new species evolves on earth with the same intellectual, planning, and coordination abilities relative to us that we have relative to chimps. Chimps are faster and stronger than most humans - why don't they run the show? 2. Suppose aliens show up on earth that are far smarter than the smartest among us at all cognitive tasks. They have specific goals that aren't fully aligned with ours, are completely unconstrained by human morality, and don't value our survival. What happens ne...

Should Effective Altruists be Valuists instead of utilitarians? – part 3 in the Valuism sequence

March 10, 2023

By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace Image created using the A.I. DALL•E 2 This is the third of five posts in my sequence of essays about my life philosophy, Valuism - here are the first, second, fourth, and fifth parts (though the links won’t work until those other essays are released). Sometimes, people take an important value - maybe their most important value - and decide to prioritize it above all other things. They neglect or ignore their other values in the process. In ...

What to do when your values conflict? – part 2 in the Valuism sequence

February 24, 2023

By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace Image created using the A.I. DALL•E 2 This is the second of five posts in my sequence of essays about my life philosophy, Valuism - here are the first, third, fourth, and fifth parts. Pretty much all of us have multiple intrinsic values (things we value for their own sake, not merely as a means to an end). This means that sometimes our intrinsic values come into conflict. For example, you might value: Both achieving ambitious goals and...

Doing what you value as a life philosophy – an introduction to Valuism – part 1 in the Valuism sequence – what are intrinsic values and why do they matter?

February 14, 2023

By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace This is the first of five posts in my sequence of essays about my life philosophy, Valuism - here are the second, third, fourth, and fifth parts. Many of us struggle at times to know what to do. We are surrounded by conflicting advice about how to live our lives - from our parents, peers, and communities, from ancient philosophers, and from modern gurus and intellectuals. Faced with these conflicting opinions and a limited amount of time u...

Victims and Perpetrators Of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault: Gender Differences and Rates Of Victimization and Perpetration

May 5, 2021

This piece was first written in 2017, and first appeared on my website on April 29, 2026. This essay is one in a series examining sexual harassment and assault. Sexual harassment and assault occur appallingly often. We have an absurdly long way to go as a society to correct this problem. To make progress on persistent problems, as this one clearly is, it’s often helpful to try to deeply understand the forces that drive and maintain the problem. As a small step in that direction, I ran...

Tricks for Getting Started on a Project When You’re Stuck

April 19, 2021

If you ever have trouble starting on something that's important or find yourself procrastinating on a project, you may find it useful to notice what you feel at that moment and design your approach based on it. Here is a list of "feeling-based" strategies that may help you get started on what you have trouble getting yourself to do: If you are feeling: 1. unsure of where to start-> think of three really small, simple, actionable steps that would constitute a small amount of progress...