Further Notes on Rape Culture in AI Social Circles

On the Red Means No rape-roleplay party and how it relates to AI/safetyist culture.

CEA's response to sexual harassment

In this piece, I discuss the sexual harassment I experienced at the Centre for Effective Altruism, the organisation’s response, the outcomes of two i…

Effective Altruism Is a Dangerous Cult — Here's Why

Understanding the "Scientology of Silicon Valley." (7,700 words)

Effective Altruism Has a Hostile Culture for Women, Critics Say

Seven women connected to effective altruism tell TIME they experienced harassment and worse within the community

Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults?

There’s a lot to like about the Rationalist community, but they do have a certain tendency to spawn — shall we say — high demand groups. We sent a card-carrying Rat to investigate what’s really going on.

The Zizians and the Rationalist death cults

What is the deal with Rationalism and cults?

Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults?

There’s a lot to like about the Rationalist community, but they do have a certain tendency to spawn — shall we say — high demand groups. We sent a card-carrying Rat to investigate what’s really going on.

The Inside Story Of Leverage Research 1.0

Between 2011-2019, Leverage Research explored the deep psychology of Effective Altruism and Silicon Valley, then suddenly dissolved among rumors of "demons." What happened?

Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults?

There’s a lot to like about the Rationalist community, but they do have a certain tendency to spawn — shall we say — high demand groups. We sent a card-carrying Rat to investigate what’s really going on.

Humans Love Having Pets. Seems Like Some Other Primates Do, Too.

We aren’t the only animals that like to take care of other species. A new study finds that the roots of keeping a pet may stretch deep into our primate past.

Heterospecific social behavior in primates: insights into the evolutionary roots of pet-keeping

Primate interspecific interactions with both other primates and non-primate species range from predator–prey dynamics to affiliative behaviors such as grooming, play, and carrying. While many primates participate in interspecific associations or commensal relationships, to our knowledge interspecific social interactions have never been systematically synthesized. Here, we present the first comprehensive review of such interactions, compiling 427 cases from the literature, media sources, and a global survey of primatologists. These involved 88 primate species and 127 non-primate species (including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, malacostracans, and insects) across wild (n = 311) and captive (n = 111) contexts. The most frequent interactions occurred within or between primate families (e.g., Cercopithecidae–Cercopithecidae, Cebidae–Atelidae), though affiliative behaviors were also directed toward distantly related taxa such as dogs and birds. Play (n = 139) and grooming (n = 136) were most common. Juveniles and infants predominantly engaged in play, while adult females were more likely to groom. Adult males were less affiliative overall. Contrary to expectations, affiliative behaviors were not more often directed toward immature than adult heterospecifics. Primates were the initiators in most interactions. These findings offer new insights into the diversity and contexts of heterospecific sociality in primates and suggest that some behavioral tendencies relevant to later forms of human–animal companionship – such as caregiving, tolerance, and exploratory play – may be more widespread among primates than previously recognized.

Approaching an unknown communication system by latent space exploration and causal inference | Royal Society Open Science | The Royal Society

Abstract. We propose a methodology for discovering meaningful properties in data without ground truth by combining manipulation of the latent variables of

The phonology of sperm whale coda vowels | Proceedings B | The Royal Society

Abstract. Sperm whales (Physeter macro­cephalus) communicate using series of clicks known as codas. In previous research, sperm whale codas have been shown

Labeler Relay

A tool for finding atproto labelers, aggregating their data, and rebroadcasting a unified event stream.

skywatch-bsky/labeler-relay

A relay which discovers and aggregates Bluesky labelers com.atproto.label.subscribeLabels

The phonology of sperm whale coda vowels | Proceedings B | The Royal Society

Abstract. Sperm whales (Physeter macro­cephalus) communicate using series of clicks known as codas. In previous research, sperm whale codas have been shown

Data of 600,000 Gaza households exposed in WFP cyber-attack

With over 2 million people registered in Gaza, it may be the largest-known breach of humanitarian beneficiary data to date.

The Signal Code: A Human Rights Approach to Information During Crisis | Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

The Signal Code is the result of a six month study by the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to identify what human rights people have to information during disasters. The Signal Code identifies five rights from multiple sources of international human rights and humanitarian law and standards that already exist and apply to humanitarian information activities (HIAs).

Learning From the International Struggle

Over the last twenty years, illiberal forces have coordinated ideas, personnel, and finances across international borders. Liberals can learn from this.

Transnational advocacy networks in international and regional politics

Click on the article title to read more.

ed3dai/ed3d-plugins

Ed's repo of Claude Code plugins, centered around a research-plan-implement workflow. Only a tiny bit cursed. If you're lucky.