this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
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SneerClub

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Hurling ordure at the TREACLES, especially those closely related to LessWrong.

AI-Industrial-Complex grift is fine as long as it sufficiently relates to the AI doom from the TREACLES. (Though TechTakes may be more suitable.)

This is sneer club, not debate club. Unless it's amusing debate.

[Especially don't debate the race scientists, if any sneak in - we ban and delete them as unsuitable for the server.]

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

From the comments:

Effects of genes are complex. Knowing a gene is involved in intelligence doesn't tell us what it does and what other effects it has. I wouldn't accept any edits to my genome without the consequences being very well understood (or in a last-ditch effort to save my life). ... Source: research career as a computational cognitive neuroscientist.

OP:

You don't need to understand the causal mechanism of genes. Evolution has no clue what effects a gene is going to have, yet it can still optimize reproductive fitness. The entire field of machine learning works on black box optimization.

Very casually putting evolution in the same category as modifying my own genes one at a time until I become Jimmy Neutron.

Such a weird, myopic way of looking at everything. OP didn't appear to consider the downsides brought up by the commenter at all, and just plowed straight on through to "evolution did without understanding so we can too."

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For real. Totally ignoring that evolution doesn't work on individuals, only species over MILLIONS OF YEARS, and ALSO WE STILL HAVE ALZHEIMERS, CANCER, AND HARLEQUIN ICHTHYOSIS

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Not to mention all the people that died of maladaptive mutations along the way.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

@elmtonic @dgerard "there is no difference between simulating an optimization process and actually carrying it out in the real world" is some top-tier rat shit, completely amazing

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

lol another rationalist personificating evolution, shocking