This is a slightly emotional response off the back of a discussion with a heavily TESCREAList family member recently. Which concluded with his belief there are a very small number of humans with incredible information processing abilities that know the real truth about humanity’s future. He knows I hate Yudkowsky, I know he considers him one of the most important voices of our time. It’s not fun listening to someone I love and value heading into borderline scientology territory. I kind of feel like, just with Peterson a few years ago, this is the next post-truth battle on our hands.
Well, I don’t know if we’re more fixated on individual genius now than ever before. But it does feel like we’re living through a retreat from democracy. I don’t know what’s coming next but it probably won’t be good.
Isn’t Yudkowsky the nimrod from LessWrong? I’ve never actually met a fan of his in real life, but I empathize with your situation.
I’d never heard of Yudkowsky until a few months ago, until my brother ruined a dinner with doomerism dressed up as credible science, and I had to dig deep to discover the insidious bullshit. Big thanks to Timnit Gebru and Emile Torres on that front.