Aug 16, 2022
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/mantic-monday-81522
In 2014, Victoria University in New Zealand struck a deal with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency that regulates some markets in the US. CFTC would let...
Aug 14, 2022
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/your-book-review-god-emperor-of-dune
[This is one of the finalists in the 2022 book review contest. It’s not by me - it’s by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done, to prevent their identity from influencing...
Aug 12, 2022
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/will-nonbelievers-really-believe
There’s a popular saying among religious apologists:
Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe in nothing; rather, the problem is that they will believe anything.
Big talk, although I notice that this is...
Aug 12, 2022
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/a-cyclic-theory-of-subcultures
David Chapman’s Geeks, MOPs, and Sociopaths In Subculture Evolution is rightfully a classic, but it doesn’t match my own experience. Either through good luck or poor observational skills, I’ve never seen a lot of sociopath takeovers. Instead,...
Aug 9, 2022
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/why-not-slow-ai-progress
Imagine if oil companies and environmental activists were both considered part of the broader “fossil fuel community”. Exxon and Shell would be “fossil fuel capabilities”; Greenpeace...