Robin Hanson, economist, former AI researcher, and prolific blogger, is the author of The Age of EM: Work, Love, and Life When Robots Rule the Earth, and The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life. In this podcast with Max More, Robin tells us about:
I disagree with Robin's view on medicine. The reason for our irrationality about medicine is because people treat it as a religion, with the MD's being priests. The covid-19 debacle makes this abundantly clear. Medicine is the modern-day state religion and the MD's are priests.
I do not disagree with Robin on the bogosity of much of medicine. We know 90% of "modern" medicine is bullshit. I disagree with his argument as to why people spend money on medical treatments that do not work. I say they do it because they treat conventional medicine as the modern day state religion and MD's are the priests. Even hard engineering types I work with turn off their brains when dealing with medical stuff.
You and I both know that nearly all of "modern" medicine is BS. Unfortunately far too many people even in our own community (cryonics, life extension) still swallow the Kool-aid far too often. I am not going to name any names. But two of the guys in our community I sparred with on Facebook over the covid-19 vaccines back in '21 are now gone. Both of them "deanimated" unexpectly. As a consequence, both of them got crappy suspensions, but did make it into the dewer. I am concerned about a third because he actually doing real work to push us forward and I really do not want him to go down. Needless to say, we do not talk about the shots.
Since the covid-19 debacle, I rarely talk about these matters at all with most people. I work for a company where 80% of the staff got the clot shots. Today no one talks about the shots at all. In fact, we don't talk about covid-19 at all either. I'm more than content to keep it this way because it avoids awkward conversations . At one point management was considering a mandate. I was prepared to walk in this case and even took several interviews with people I knew who rejected the shots as I did. Fortunately I did not have to do that as I now make in the top 10% of people who do my work.
You and I know full-well that all of the future bio-engineering advances we want (cure aging, reanimate people from cryonic suspension) are going to have to be developed within our community by people who share our values. This was clear to me 20 years ago. The covid-19 debacle made this even more abundantly clear.
Many conservatives turned to religion in the wake of the covid-19 debacle, probably over the culture wars. I can tell you covid-19 has brought out my inner Ayn Rand in a big way.
Guys, curing aging in the next 40 years or so will ensure that enough of the "smart fraction" of humanity survives such that we can continue to progress into the future. We don't need AI, biotechnological life extension (SENS, Turnbuckle protocols, etc.) is enough to get us into an open, unlimited future.
Kurt, I think you are agreeing with what I termed longevity accelerationism. Keep progress as fast as possible in all areas that affect the realization of life extension. That matters more than anything else. AI may well be an important technology for solving the aging problem.
I agree. But I think this AI, which is based on LLM, is hype and will not amount to anything. Too many people think AI is some magic bullet that is going to solve our problems. I am dubious of the proposition that sentient AI is even possible with digital semiconductors.
I disagree with Robin's view on medicine. The reason for our irrationality about medicine is because people treat it as a religion, with the MD's being priests. The covid-19 debacle makes this abundantly clear. Medicine is the modern-day state religion and the MD's are priests.
What view exactly are you disagreeing with? Robin is a skeptic about the value of much of modern medicine.
I do not disagree with Robin on the bogosity of much of medicine. We know 90% of "modern" medicine is bullshit. I disagree with his argument as to why people spend money on medical treatments that do not work. I say they do it because they treat conventional medicine as the modern day state religion and MD's are the priests. Even hard engineering types I work with turn off their brains when dealing with medical stuff.
You and I both know that nearly all of "modern" medicine is BS. Unfortunately far too many people even in our own community (cryonics, life extension) still swallow the Kool-aid far too often. I am not going to name any names. But two of the guys in our community I sparred with on Facebook over the covid-19 vaccines back in '21 are now gone. Both of them "deanimated" unexpectly. As a consequence, both of them got crappy suspensions, but did make it into the dewer. I am concerned about a third because he actually doing real work to push us forward and I really do not want him to go down. Needless to say, we do not talk about the shots.
Since the covid-19 debacle, I rarely talk about these matters at all with most people. I work for a company where 80% of the staff got the clot shots. Today no one talks about the shots at all. In fact, we don't talk about covid-19 at all either. I'm more than content to keep it this way because it avoids awkward conversations . At one point management was considering a mandate. I was prepared to walk in this case and even took several interviews with people I knew who rejected the shots as I did. Fortunately I did not have to do that as I now make in the top 10% of people who do my work.
You and I know full-well that all of the future bio-engineering advances we want (cure aging, reanimate people from cryonic suspension) are going to have to be developed within our community by people who share our values. This was clear to me 20 years ago. The covid-19 debacle made this even more abundantly clear.
Many conservatives turned to religion in the wake of the covid-19 debacle, probably over the culture wars. I can tell you covid-19 has brought out my inner Ayn Rand in a big way.
Guys, curing aging in the next 40 years or so will ensure that enough of the "smart fraction" of humanity survives such that we can continue to progress into the future. We don't need AI, biotechnological life extension (SENS, Turnbuckle protocols, etc.) is enough to get us into an open, unlimited future.
Kurt, I think you are agreeing with what I termed longevity accelerationism. Keep progress as fast as possible in all areas that affect the realization of life extension. That matters more than anything else. AI may well be an important technology for solving the aging problem.
I agree. But I think this AI, which is based on LLM, is hype and will not amount to anything. Too many people think AI is some magic bullet that is going to solve our problems. I am dubious of the proposition that sentient AI is even possible with digital semiconductors.
There are the "Turnbuckle" protocols over on Longecity forums.