On Casey Newton and the shallowness of anti-skepticism.
Hard-forked! Casey Newton’s distorted portrait of Gary Marcus and AI skepticism
What Casey Newton’s new essay skewering AI skepticism does—and does not—get right
The Phony Comforts of AI Optimism
A few months ago, Casey Newton of Platformer ran a piece called "The phony comforts of AI skepticism," framing those who would criticize generative AI as "having fun," damning them as "hyper-fixated on the things [AI] can't do." I am not going to focus too hard on this
Contra Ptacek's Terrible Article On AI — Ludicity
A few days ago, I was presented with an article titled “My AI Skeptic Friends Are All Nuts” by Thomas Ptacek. I thought it was not very good, and didn't give it a second thought. To quote the formidable Baldur Bjarnason:
The Cult of Bayes' Theorem
I'm no longer a skeptic, but still I can't resist the old skeptic urge to do a bit of debunking. After all, there are a lot of crackpots out there. There are people, for example, who believe that a superintelligent computer will arise in the next twenty years and then promptly either destroy humanity or cure death and set us free. There are people who believe that one of the best works of English literature is an unfinished Harry Potter fanfic by someone who can barely write a comprehensible English sentence. There are even people who believe the best thing you can do to help the poor and the starving is become a city stockbroker or Silicon Valley entrepreneur! And more often than not, the same people believe all these crazy things!
Science rightly impinges on Virtue Ethics
Iris Murdoch, C. P. Snow, Alasdair MacIntyre, and the role of Truth
Who and What comprise AI Skepticism?
An attempt to do justice to a diverse community
The "No True Leftist" Fallacy
Against the “anti-technology” strawman
Have no doubts about the one who tells you he is afraid But be afraid of the one who tells you he has no doubts – Erich Fried 1) Somewhere between the first page and the tenth page of most bo…
Eliezer Yudkowsky Is Frequently, Confidently, Egregiously Wrong
It is bad when people who are consistently egregiously wrong become deferred to on everything
The GOP and the Rise of Anti-Knowledge | BillMoyers.com
Ben Carson’s rise to the top of the Republican presidential field shows that many Republicans, especially Christian fundamentalists, have decoupled from the real world — and are proud of it. The more that GOP candidates embrace “anti-knowledge” the more popular they become, as Mike Lofgren explains.
Don't let AI make you dumber - Marginal REVOLUTION
That is the topic of my latest Free Press column, here is one excerpt: I do not think the skeptics would put it this way, but as I read Conti, I find he has a pretty bleak fundamental view of humanity. Are we all really just looking to veg out and abandon curiosity and inquiry, […]
Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valley’s War Against the Media
How a controversial rationalist blogger became a mascot and martyr in a struggle against the New York Times.
Ezra Klein’s “Why We’re Polarized” and the Drawbacks of Explainer Journalism
A Darwinian reading of American politics leaves little room for the motivations of conscious, rational agents.
Deepfakes, Elections, and Shrinking the Liar’s Dividend
Heightened public awareness of the power of generative AI could give politicians an incentive to lie about the authenticity of real content.
Influencers, Bullshitters, and How We Lost a Shared Reality
A new book explores the ambiguous dominion of those who feign expertise online for clout.
