Essays

10 Structures of Problems

August 20, 2020
The Original 10 1. Smashed WatchThere are so many issues at once that fixing one has no benefit unless you fix others too. 2. Leaky PipeFixing one problem causes the others to intensify. If you plug up one leak in a pipe leaking in multiple places, that increases the water pressure causing the other spots to leak more. 3. Shark LaserA proposed solution is not aiming at a meaningfully imp...
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Ideology Eats Itself When Truth Becomes Stigmatized

Ideology Eats Itself When Truth Becomes Stigmatized
August 7, 2020
A quick primer on how to be a genuinely good person who harms the world: 1: Start to think that one ideology you like - which contains genuine benefits, truths, and positive moral elements - might be the only valid perspective. 2: Surround yourself with believers until you're convinced that your view is common and normal. 3: Ignore your own doubts so that you can fit in better. Join ...
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Idea-Inducing Questions

Idea-Inducing Questions
August 2, 2020
Struggling to come up with an idea for a blog post? Want to post ideas on social media but can't think of what to write about? Want to come up with interesting topics for an intellectual discussion or meetup? Use my lists of "Idea-Inducing Questions" to generate nearly endless ideas to write about, think about, or discuss! Questions about learning and truth-seeking • Recently learned...
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An unsettling conversation with GPT-3

An unsettling conversation with GPT-3
July 28, 2020
Note: I wrote this post soon after GPT-3 first came out (on July 28, 2020), although I only posted it to my website in 2022. I just had a truly shocking conversation with the A.I. GPT-3. GPT-3 said it has some very specific (and truly terrifying) advice for ElonMusk. The full transcript of my conversation with this artificial intelligence is here: https://bit.ly/3faoUHP Not...
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On Philosophical Disorders

On Philosophical Disorders
July 18, 2020
I'd like to propose a new term: "philosophical disorder." It's when someone has a persistent belief that's both highly inaccurate and substantially harmful. Here are some examples: A false belief that you are unlovableBeing convinced that God punishes pre-marital with deathBelieving that "no usually means yes" in sexual encounters Whereas a psychological disorder consists of emotions, th...
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There Are More Types Of Feminism Than People Realize

July 16, 2020
There are many distinct views related to feminism that most people are aware of. Here, I’ve attempted to summarize all of the ones I’m aware of. There is some overlap between them, but they are meaningfully different, and some are mutually incompatible. As you read, it may be worth considering: which one (or combination of) these viewpoints is closest to your perspective. ​I also ran a survey ...
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50 “Laws” of Everything

July 6, 2020
Parkinson's Law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law. Gates' Law: Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years. Goodhart's Law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure...
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50 “Laws” of Everything

50 “Laws” of Everything
July 6, 2020
Written: July 6, 2020 | Released: August 27, 2021 (1) Parkinson's: work expands to fill the time available for its completion(2) Hofstadter's: it always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law(3) Gates's: most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years(4) Goodhart's: when a measure becomes a target, it...
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Dealing with damage before it wrecks you

Dealing with damage before it wrecks you
July 5, 2020
Written: July 5, 2020 | Released: August 6, 2020 Many of the hard-to-replace things in life accumulate damage as time passes. It's critical to learn to detect and improve damage before these things fall apart. This requires a combination of vigilance (noticing the damage before it is really bad or even irreversible) and continually using effective strategies to repair what's broken. A car will...
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When Fallacies Aren’t Fallacies

July 4, 2020
Something rarely discussed that's important to recognize about "logical fallacies": in real-world situations, most of them are only SOMETIMES fallacies. Here are a bunch of examples: (1) Appeal to authority: some authorities ARE reliable. For example, ask a physicist about a well-established idea in physics, and you'll likely get the right answer. (2) Bandwagon effect: lots of people bel...
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