Nate Soares and Big Yud have a book coming out. It’s called “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies”. From the names of the authors and the title of the book, you already know everything you need to know about its contents without having to read it. (In fact, given the signature prolixity of the rationalists, you can be sure that it says in 50,000 words what could just as easily have been said in 20.)
In this LessWrong post, Nate identifies the real reason the rationalists have been unsuccessful at convincing people in power to take the idea of existential risk seriously. The rationalists simply don’t speak with enough conviction. They hide the strength of their beliefs. They aren’t bold enough.
As if rationalists have ever been shy about stating their kooky beliefs.
But more importantly, buy his book. Buy so many copies of the book that it shows up on all the best-seller lists. Buy so many copies that he gets invited to speak on fancy talk shows that will sell even more books. Basically, make him famous. Make him rich. Make him a household name. Only then can we make sure that the AI god doesn’t kill us all.
Nice racket.
LW was pushing this book hard - multiple posts by Habryka, custom color scheme on the front page. Granted, it’s perfectly in line with the site’s “mission” but several people commented on it.
In the meantime, I hope Nate finds happiness as an author b/c he doesn’t seem to find it by trying to use DOOM as a pretext to get laid:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dqSwccGTWyBgxrR58/turntrout-s-shortform-feed?commentId=9tK6DiFxk7bGqNMdT
A-and yep, that’s my dose of cursed for the day
In a world where technofascism stalks the halls of power like a fedora-wearing xenomorph it is good to see a reminder of the original context of these discussions: making Yudkowsky and friends feel important without ever actually doing anything important.
Not to mention, these discussions partially enabled the rise of technofascism, making Yudkowsky and friends outright complicit in this shit.
That thread is wild. Nate proposes techniques to get his kooky beliefs taken more seriously. Others point out that those very same techniques counterproductively pushed people to into the e/acc camp. Nate deletes those other people’s comments. How rationalist of him!