Aaron Bergman's tweets, April 2023
Every public tweet, reply, quote tweet and retweet that Aaron Bergman (@AaronBergman18 on X, formerly Twitter) posted in April 2023 and has not deleted: 185 posts, oldest first, times in UTC. Each heading links to the original post on X. When Aaron replies to or quotes someone, their tweet appears as a blockquote with their name; those words are theirs, and everything outside the blockquotes is Aaron's.
This page is one month of the complete archive of Aaron Bergman's tweets, which updates automatically every few hours. Previous month: March 2023. Next month: May 2023.
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Reply to @JMannhart, 04:14 UTC · 3 likes
Jonathan Mannhart 🔎 (@JMannhart): @serbantanasa I think he‘s just focusing! It‘s really hard to have a 3+ hour conversation like that with someone you don‘t know very well.
Esp. if you know millions of people will probably watch this.
Esp. if you think that some of the fate of the world depends on you (by sheer bad luck).
Theres a reason 80k lets both sides cut stuff post-interview, doesn’t even try to do everything in a continuous take, and has no video (except randomly Ezra Klein??)
Yeah it’s extremely difficult - at least for some! Reminds me of:
Reply to @diviaprocessing, 04:16 UTC · 3 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @diviaprocessing is no longer available.)
You believe in caves? Lol
Tweet, 04:22 UTC · 15 likes
Goddamnit, Rob Wiblin can delete his Twitter but he can’t stop me from QTing him from memory anyway:
Something like “Hypothesis: 2023 will be to AI what 2020 was to COVID”
Reply to @inerati, 04:24 UTC · 48 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @inerati is no longer available.)
Inside you there are 2 wolves
Reply to @robinhanson, 06:06 UTC · 3 likes
Robin Hanson (@robinhanson): GPT6 has arrived earlier than expected:
https://gpt6.ai/gpt6
More below
Thread, continued, 06:06 UTC · 1 like
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Reply to @RachaelvsWorld, 20:41 UTC · 5 likes
Rach (@RachaelvsWorld): what’s the dumbest thing you got in trouble at school for?
Dropping a crumpled up ball of tin foil into a guy’s tuba while he was playing
Reply to @jam3scampbell, 20:51 UTC · 5 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @jam3scampbell is no longer available.)
Fuck
Monday, April 3, 2023
Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 00:34 UTC · 3 likes
Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver): Tbh my wife has rlhf'ed him by giving him a treat for dropping the knife.
We’re doomed
Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 00:45 UTC · 3 likes
Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver): @AaronBergman18 @absurdlymax I legit wasn't trying for an allegory which probably makes it a bit worse.
Thread, continued, 00:46 UTC · 2 likes
This is the first and only thing I’ve made in Freeform
Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 01:42 UTC · 2 likes
Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver): @AaronBergman18 @absurdlymax Omg that's amazing! So good. Tbh I'm a but sad that my dog probably won't understand it. Awesome!
Thx I do consider myself an artist
Reply to @daniel_271828, 03:13 UTC · 1 like
zzDANIEL_ETH (@daniel_271828): Kinda don’t like it when jobs in the EA community say they pay “competitive wages”. Competitive with what? SF tech salaries? Nonprofit salaries? Living expenses? Shrimp welfare payments? Just list the pay range!
I can think of a couple reasons not listing is worth the annoying opacity, maybe the main one being an ability to honestly make a super high offer to someone if warranted without anchoring the other 90% of hires to smth super high
Tweet, 21:11 UTC · 595 likes
Academics submitting: peer review (PR) sucks
Academics reviewing: PR sucks
Meta-scientists: PR fails to catch even the most basic of errors
Entire PR’ed sub-fields: *fail to replicate*
Elsevier: *cackles*
Randos on Twitter: PR is the foundation on which all knowledge stands
Reply to @ryancbriggs, 22:49 UTC · 10 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @ryancbriggs is no longer available.)
I mean for some this is true, but in general I disagree. Pretty sure the great majority of say, US college educated adults have such a strong immune response to the terms “forum” and “blog” that a text’s status as such renders it automatically disqualified…
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Tweet, 17:21 UTC · 8 likes
I think I’ve seen exactly 1 tweet about the event which happened a few days ago and that easily lands somewhere between “very newsworthy and reasonably important” and “extremely newsworthy and very very important” on my made up qualitative 2x2
Reply to @absurdlymax, 18:32 UTC · 5 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): @AaronBergman18 What event?
Trump indicted https://apnews.com/article/trump-stormy-daniels-case-explained-50513ce1d9ac25764d39dffbc6fe3c2a
Reply to @Bbburner19, 18:37 UTC · 2 likes
The People Mover That Was Promised (@Bbburner19): @absurdlymax @AaronBergman18 I've seen at least 100 tweets about this tbh.
Huh, the algo has decided I'm a weirdo
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 06:42 UTC · 2 likes
Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver): @bronzeageshawty Yes. Every single component down to charging refrigerant accurately in an HVAC system. Anyone claiming code as an obstacle is incapable of performing the most white collar part of this task so their answer should obviously be no.
I had to sleep outside one night for Boy Scouts. Turns out I cannot even build an effective lean-to (or whatever the branch and leaf thing is called)
It was an unpleasant, wet, and cold experience
Reply to @absurdlymax, 09:33 UTC
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax):
Yes.
Reply to @ruth_hook_, 09:40 UTC · 2 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @ruth_hook is no longer available.)_
Uh I’m pretty sure every study ever says the exact opposite of this. Like IQ >> conscientiousness>≈grit in predicting performance at ~anything
Reply to @waitbutwhy, 13:57 UTC · 16 likes
Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy): If you could send your 22-year-old self a three-word message, what would you say?
“Nothing much changes in the proceeding 2 weeks”
Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 14:29 UTC · 2 likes
oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle): @AaronBergman18 @waitbutwhy This um is longer than three words
:(
Reply to his own earlier tweet, 14:30 UTC · 4 likes
Aaron Bergman, April 5, 2023: “Nothing much changes in the proceeding 2 weeks”
“…including your ability to follow simple directions”
Thursday, April 6, 2023
Quote tweet, 08:21 UTC · 10 likes
I…don’t find this that bizarre?
Seems analogous to the “fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too” copypasta thing, where a base text like
“story about shoggoths using magic spells to free humans”
is modified by some algorithm analogous to letter mixing…
Quoting Ezra Newman (@EzraJNewman): @absurdlymax
Reply to @peterwildeford, 15:42 UTC · 2 likes
Peter Wildeford🇺🇸🚀 (@peterwildeford): The FBI seizure graphics are so cool
That is a chaotic monitor setup
Friday, April 7, 2023
Reply to @dwarkesh_sp, 16:18 UTC · 3 likes
Dwarkesh Patel (@dwarkesh_sp): If you want to get to the crux, fast forward to 2:35:00 - 3:43:54. Here we debate the main reasons I think doom is unlikely.
Transcript: https://dwarkeshpatel.com/p/eliezer-yudkowsky
YouTube: https://youtu.be/41SUp-TRVlg
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3mcPjON
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3KDFzX9
Doesn’t matter but fyi
Saturday, April 8, 2023
Tweet, 10:07 UTC · 7 likes
Fake QT to stop the algo boost algorithmically boost but this is a case where my system 1 “stfu asshole” take 100% stands up to system 2 scrutiny
1) Sure, at a high level, the decision of whether to *try* [IF/keto/____] is a matter of prioritization/choice/effort, but…
Thread, continued, 10:07 UTC · 5 likes
2) Once you account for that^, actual bf% or BMI is just not something you control in any meaningful sense.
The thermostat metaphor is used so often because it’s super apt.
Once the black box of physiology (incl neurochemistry) decides what your set point is, it’s game over.
Reply to @Laura_k_Duffy, 18:31 UTC · 3 likes
Laura Muresianu 🌐🔸🇺🇸 (@Laura_k_Duffy): FYI: There’s a playlist of Rob Wiblin’s top recommended EconTalk episodes!!
I haven’t gotten to many of the old (pre-2017) episodes so super excited to binge-listen
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rob-wiblins-top-recommended-econtalk-episodes-v0-2-feb-2020/id1538606917
EconTalk is overrated
Monday, April 10, 2023
Reply to @ruth_hook_, 02:46 UTC · 13 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @ruth_hook is no longer available.)_
:(
Reply to @granawkins, 02:50 UTC · 3 likes
Grant♟️ (@granawkins): I took the train from Casablanca to Marrakesh in 2014, and the toilet was literally a hole out the bottom of the train.
Train tho
Reply to @AlexGodofsky, 11:19 UTC · 2 likes
Alex Godofsky (@AlexGodofsky): yes
Fuuuck
Reply to @absurdlymax, 16:02 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): What fiction book would you force me to read?
If I was a meaner person, and conditional on my memory being reliable over a 10 year timeframe, the hunger games ≣≝≔∝⊫☰₌⊜ 🐐
Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Reply to @AndyMasley, 00:59 UTC · 5 likes
Andy Masley (@AndyMasley): Think 71 is the Bangladesh genocide
Why was I unaware of this being a thing until 20 seconds ago? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_genocide
Reply to @pli_cachete, 18:28 UTC · 7 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @pli_cachete is no longer available.)
🐐(greatest of all Tripps)
Reply to @Aria_Babu, 18:33 UTC · 3 likes
Aria Schrecker (@Aria_Babu): I have a couple of friends who need thyroid drugs to live and are prevented from stockpiling them. I understand why, but this seems silly in world where supply chain problems or a war could quickly cut them off.
Everyone should be allowed to have a 1kg block of pure thyroxine (unironic)
Reply to @Laura_k_Duffy, 20:30 UTC · 1 like
Laura Muresianu 🌐🔸🇺🇸 (@Laura_k_Duffy): I support the burgeoning EABWNGBS movement
(quoting @JosephPolitano: @ZeframM @Amtays yes, this is why we need a new movement called Effective Altruism But With No Galaxy Brain Stuff lmao)
Boo
Reply to @absurdlymax, 20:39 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): There's something to be said for stupid levels of optimism
What the something?
Tweet, 22:29 UTC · 8 likes
Alignment has gone too far
Thread, continued, 22:30 UTC · 2 likes
...
Thread, continued, 22:31 UTC · 2 likes
looks like I'm gonna have to raw dog this one
Reply to @ptrschmdtnlsn, 22:47 UTC · 4 likes
Peter Schmidt-Nielsen (@ptrschmdtnlsn): Wow, that calibration curve, dang.
Doc should be age+sexuality+that pic alone
Tweet, 23:05 UTC · 4 likes
Some neighborhood kids have a bouncy castle going. No Happy Birthday signs or cake or anything, also no adults in sight
Very much like the symbolism here on at least several levels (I like it nonsymbolically too but that goes without saying)
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Reply to @JosephPolitano, 00:00 UTC · 2 likes
Joey Politano 🏳️🌈 (@JosephPolitano): the castle man???? Come on
I too will defend the castle
(gif, plays on X)
Tweet, 03:54 UTC · 546 likes
I won't go down without a fight
Reply to @rmcwhorter99, 04:33 UTC · 5 likes
Ryan McWhorter (@rmcwhorter99): @Tjdriii @AaronBergman18 Are you sure tho
Yup
Reply to @MarkovMagnifico, 05:23 UTC · 28 likes
Markov (@MarkovMagnifico): girls, what is the most rizz someone has ever asked you out w?
Good luck to my nine fellow bookmarkers
Reply to @absurdlymax, 05:32 UTC · 14 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): I think Nathan is doing a really good job responding to some of these horrible comments and I respect it a lot
(quoting @NathanpmYoung: I very rarely express anger online But I am tempted to go to war in the replies to @KatjaGrace's dating doc. Those people need Jesus. And I mean the one in Revelation. vox populi, vox dei)
🧊
Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 05:38 UTC · 3 likes
oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle): @absurdlymax @JesseTayRiver you should work out! join the group fitness gc!
devil's advocate hat is that hs boys are less attractive cos they're not fully developed so you were right to be displeased. but yeah agree it's (at least now, if not always) not the limiting factor for most people
Can I get in on the GC
Reply to @vious_and_couth, 13:04 UTC · 4 likes
vy (@vious_and_couth): @AaronBergman18 @mattparlmer Lots of obvious clues this was written by some sort of analyst and not anyone who’s even vaguely computer literature, beginning with the “R is so amazing it’s literally Turing complete!”
U got me
Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 13:05 UTC · 4 likes
oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle): @AaronBergman18 I don't like R Studio as a text editor :'(
One reasonable critique
Reply to @granawkins, 13:24 UTC · 13 likes
Grant♟️ (@granawkins): @AaronBergman18 R is the Blackberry of programming languages
Making me want a blackberry
Reply to @NathanpmYoung, 17:32 UTC · 2 likes
Nathan 🔎 (@NathanpmYoung): Incels/manosphere
My general view is that:
- Some people do find it harder to date than others
- This *is* a problem
- The majority of the suffering seems to fall on men who want to date women
- This problem isn't women's fault or responsibility
- Hating women isn't the answer
(Not contradicting just adding…) Ambiguous terminology doesn’t help - afaik “incels” sometimes means the original (hateful) subculture or it’s self-identified members and sometimes the descriptive category of straight men who want to have sex but can’t
Thread, continued, 17:35 UTC · 2 likes
Both have corresponding pejoratives - the former deservingly so (like ‘racist’) and the latter not so much (‘low status’ in ‘racist’ clothing)
Reply, 17:38 UTC · 1 like
Yes we shall https://shiny.rstudio.com/gallery/
Reply, 17:41 UTC · 12 likes
Only the good ones use R I promise
Reply to his own earlier tweet, 18:42 UTC · 13 likes
Aaron Bergman, April 12, 2023: I won't go down without a fight
Might git push this mf
Thread, continued, 23:26 UTC · 15 likes
We're live folks https://github.com/AaronBergman/RPmeme
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Reply to @WesternScramasa, 04:00 UTC · 5 likes
Eyes Alight (@WesternScramasa): i will not eat the bugs, i will not assign variables using "<-", i will not cast to an integer with an L
Dw I don’t either, ‘=‘ works too
Reply to his own earlier tweet, 05:31 UTC · 13 likes
Aaron Bergman, April 12, 2023: I won't go down without a fight
Presented with one vacuous comment
Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 10:12 UTC · 5 likes
oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle): I stg if one more friend tells me they're into bouldering...
Not bouldering (and idk if Twitter friends count) but I’ll have you know I placed 13th in lead climbing nationals for 16-17ish y/o boys back in 2013 (and 20th the next year)
Never made natties for bouldering though - relatively too many slow twitch muscle fibers 😂
Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 10:19 UTC · 4 likes
oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle): @AaronBergman18 Hi this is tortle's friend, we found screaming and foaming at the mouth at the computer. We've sedated him and are waiting for him to calm down, but this tweet was up on his computer when we walked in. I was hoping you could help us understand what happened?
Maybe this?
(gif, plays on X)
Quote tweet, 11:25 UTC · 17 likes
Michael Lewis rn
Quoting Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru): JUST IN: Bankrupt FTX has recovered $7.3 billion in assets and is considering relaunching the exchange in Q2.
Reply to @GjMcGowan, 13:55 UTC · 2 likes
George McGowan (@GjMcGowan): @QualyThe I would like to eradicate *just* those things, not all life
No take backs
Reply, 15:05 UTC · 1 like
Just do 1 today, 2 tomorrow, 4 the next day, and so on, easy :)
Reply to @Laura_k_Duffy, 15:11 UTC · 1 like
Laura Muresianu 🌐🔸🇺🇸 (@Laura_k_Duffy): If you told my 16-year-old self I’d have to do integration by parts for my job, I’d never have believed you. But here we are and I love it
Preregistering my memory that this is the thing that goes like ∫uv= ∫uv’+vu’ before I google
Thread, continued, 15:14 UTC · 2 likes
0/1 kinda got the vibes tho
Reply to @DeadFishCapital, 15:15 UTC · 3 likes
dead fish (@DeadFishCapital): @AaronBergman18 >praises pipe command
Opinion disqualified
DeadFish%>%rm()
Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 15:17 UTC · 2 likes
oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle): What is the EV of paying for every EA employee to get the flu vaccination?
Probably negative because everyone already does
Reply to @Bbburner19, 15:25 UTC · 2 likes
The People Mover That Was Promised (@Bbburner19): @AaronBergman18 @ohwizenedtortle Miniscule but not negative. GiveDirectly for middle class westerners would be incredibly ineffective but not negative.
I was trying to account for opportunity cost of shifting money away from other things but on second thought that’s not usually how the term is used
Reply to @absurdlymax, 18:48 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): If I want to work on questions about Value Lock In, what should I study and what questions should I try to answer/write a paper about?
I don’t wanna go full normative “You Should Do This” but an idea that seems important but I haven’t really heard discussed is AI misalignment harm reduction:
what kinds of goals can GodAgentGPT pursue st that were confident the future is >=neutral, not filled with suffering?
Tweet, 20:34 UTC · 5 likes
Modeling(!) the Yud vs Christiano (et al) debate:
- Yud’s bundle of claims/arguments/beliefs/models -> alignment = intractable
- Paul’s bundle -> alignment = tractable
Under some pretty plausible assumptions (mainly: normative alignment agenda <> P(doom) <> tractability)...
Friday, April 14, 2023
Tweet, 06:03 UTC · 10 likes
While it still exists, the post-LLM world is funny as hell. Why make a list of links when you can make a whole website with the same aesthetic energy as a little kid decorating a cake
https://aaronbergman.neocities.org/pods
Reply to @inesferhumi, 15:26 UTC · 3 likes
Inés (@inesferhumi): Qualy q-anon. Is there a joke in here somewhere? I think so but i can’t figure out what it is. Qualy is hillary clinton or something
Qualy has ties to an organization which makes even volunteers sign NDAs, owns a castle, and can be reasonably described as a “secret cabal” of some of the worlds most influential and including an obscenely wealthy Jew
Reply, 15:45 UTC · 8 likes
From my less knowledgeable perspective, “virus causes weird bad downstream effects which don’t seem connected to the virus” also makes sense
Reply to @Laura_k_Duffy, 16:02 UTC · 2 likes
Laura Muresianu 🌐🔸🇺🇸 (@Laura_k_Duffy): Looking for new music recommendations! What are your favorite albums of all time?
Mine: The Rising (Bruce Springsteen), Joshua Tree (U2), and Wildflowers (Tom Petty)
Not much genre overlap but https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2nCLFKsFZwCKDL23Xe12RH
Reply, 21:23 UTC · 3 likes
I mean there’s this https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-108hr534eh/pdf/BILLS-108hr534eh.pdf
Reply to @absurdlymax, 23:56 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): @AaronBergman18 @joe_zimmerman
Saturday, April 15, 2023
Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 05:19 UTC · 7 likes
Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt): I’m consistently amazed that the longest escalator in the western hemisphere is 2 stops away from me on the metro. There’s not even a plaque or anything!
They should have a "try to run up the down one" charity challenge. For shrimp obviously
Reply, 07:32 UTC · 2 likes
the shrimp (in an unpleasant manner) if this doesn't come to fruition
Tweet, 07:49 UTC · 2 likes
Hope it's just an exciting game 😅
Sunday, April 16, 2023
Reply to @Willyintheworld, 01:35 UTC · 2 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @Willyintheworld is no longer available.)
I share Will’s intuition that each branch is morally independent/additive
But also, anyone who’s confident about the relationship between quantum mechanics and qualia is lying to you or to themselves
Reply to @ryancbriggs, 03:30 UTC · 3 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @ryancbriggs is no longer available.)
Alternatively: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simple-health-export-csv/id1535380115
Monday, April 17, 2023
Reply to @GjMcGowan, 18:40 UTC · 1 like
George McGowan (@GjMcGowan): @SpacedOutMatt @inesferhumi @mattyglesias Unity is strength. Matt has rabbits whereas I have a cat, important difference
Both of your pets: https://youtu.be/vq5_pz7MKAg
Quote tweet, 19:17 UTC · 3 likes
Might become a heterodox evolutionary biologist
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102899580/cabbit-myth-meets-fact/
https://macroevolution.net/cat-rabbit-hybrids.html
Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18): @GjMcGowan @SpacedOutMatt @inesferhumi @mattyglesias Both of your pets: https://youtu.be/vq5_pz7MKAg
Reply to @ruth_hook_, 21:18 UTC · 3 likes
Ruth Hook (@ruth_hook_): what are your wildest theories about eosinophils
In obesity, adipose tissue becomes dysfunctional, leading to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the development of insulin resistance. Eosinophils have been shown to regulate adipose tissue function by promoting the browning of white adipose tissue, which involves the
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Tweet, 04:55 UTC · 6 likes
He’s back
(gif, plays on X)
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Reply to @StefanFSchubert, 01:55 UTC · 4 likes
Stefan Schubert (@StefanFSchubert):
image attached
(quoting @Nigella_Lawson: Sorry to do this to you on a Monday morning, but the end of the world is nigh https://www.ft.com/content/03895dc4-a3b7-481e-95cc-336a524f2ac2)
She’s got to be one of the biggest accounts/people I don’t recognize at all. Is she more first name-y than Elon around these parts?
Reply to @Simeon_Cps, 02:31 UTC · 2 likes
Sy (@Simeon_Cps): Is there a big difference btwn 13.5 inch and 16 inch screen for a computer in terms of user experience?
Yeah. I actually sold my weeks old 14" and bought a used 16" because of this
Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 05:26 UTC · 2 likes
oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle): wait wait wait you don't know nigella lawson??
I mean all I know is that she's a renowned British journalist, broadcaster, and author, best known for her expertise in food writing, quirky personality and love of puns who has inspired countless home cooks with her approachable and delicious recipes.
Reply to @PradyuPrasad, 05:27 UTC · 2 likes
Pradyumna 🇸🇬 (@PradyuPrasad): I googled her yesterday. Knew her father from the thatcher biography
Born on January 6th, 1960, in Wandsworth, London, she is the daughter of the late British politician Nigel Lawson and his first wife, Vanessa Salmon. She grew up in a well-to-do family and was educated at the prestigious Godolphin and Latymer School in London 👍
Reply to @inesferhumi, 12:12 UTC · 3 likes
Inés (@inesferhumi): I KNEW IT
(quoting @stevehou: Legend)
Legend has it Taylor is EA adjacent-adjacent-adjacent
Reply to @esceydabulyu, 12:16 UTC · 2 likes
Lark (@esceydabulyu): @AaronBergman18 @MarkovMagnifico Bro she left in the middle of the class I couldn't talk to her afterwards 💀 Give me 1 more week
Godspeed🫡
Reply to @inesferhumi, 12:20 UTC · 2 likes
Inés (@inesferhumi): @AaronBergman18 Everyone is at most 6 degrees of adjacency from any ideology on earth
Idk I think subcultural/ideological "adjacency" as generally used is more restrictive than social acquaintance
Tweet, 14:50 UTC · 8 likes
Lol at chatGPT hallucinating ~everything here
Reply to @peterwildeford, 17:12 UTC · 2 likes
Peter Wildeford🇺🇸🚀 (@peterwildeford): @austinc3301 correct
All I did was mention I work remotely (didn't even mention software/tech at all) and that was enough to trigger the question
That is a prescient dentist
Reply to @Bbburner19, 17:14 UTC · 3 likes
The People Mover That Was Promised (@Bbburner19): @peterwildeford @austinc3301 He had no idea who he was speaking with about this LMAO.
*Altman, Yud, Karnofsky, and LeCun are in the waiting room*
Reply to @NathanpmYoung, 17:20 UTC · 2 likes
Nathan 🔎 (@NathanpmYoung): Is an exogenous shock by it's nature unpredictable or just from outside?
Like if I think my country will be invaded, is that exogenous?
The etymological, nontechnical definition is just “originating from outside” like I just inhaled some exogenous air
afaik in econ “outside” is taken to mean relative to a particular model…but “particular model” sometimes implicitly means “any model a social scientist might care
Reply to @Bbburner19, 18:51 UTC · 3 likes
The People Mover That Was Promised (@Bbburner19): @ryancbriggs @frances__lorenz Along with the NBA, NYTimes, Sequoia capital and a whole bunch of other VC's. Just need to get Taylor Swift to sign the GWWC pledge and then we can have a much better figurehead than Will.
Until she breaks up with us...
(video, plays on X)
Tweet, 18:57 UTC · 16 likes
On priors it seems implausible that twinship would not be reflexive, though indeed some triplets exist
Reply to @Laura_k_Duffy, 18:58 UTC · 2 likes
Laura Muresianu 🌐🔸🇺🇸 (@Laura_k_Duffy): @absurdlymax @mealreplacer So how do you deal with piecewise functions? Also much faster for integrals and essential blackboard bold math letters! Cannot imagine proofs without LaTeX
Microsoft Word + screenshot
Thread, continued, 19:09 UTC · 2 likes
jk I ❤️ Latex
Thread, continued, 19:10 UTC · 2 likes
Microeconometrics 😤
Tweet, 21:03 UTC · 2 likes
S/o to @jacyanthis for spending some hard-earned manna on a (couple?) true, and important, and underrated response to my intergalactic-brain manifold market
(Not too late to submit though, in fact you still have a few dozen centuries till it resolves)
https://manifold.markets/AaronBergman/what-string-if-submitted-as-a-respo
Reply to @RichardMCNgo, 21:14 UTC · 7 likes
Richard Ngo (@RichardMCNgo): The universities' arguments are downright farcical. You can't defend "personality scores" which wreck Asian applications with a straight face. They're shamelessly recycling the same tactics used against Jews decades ago. The emperor has no clothes and is trying to cover his ass.
Yeah, pretty wild that it pattern matches 20th.c Jewish quotas almost perfectly and yet hardly raises the eyebrows of anyone on the left
Reply to @inesferhumi, 21:19 UTC · 2 likes
Inés (@inesferhumi): The hardest part about being gay has got to be not knowing what to do about your hair
Is there even a good explanation for why (straight I guess) female hair is generally longer across cultures?
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Reply to @absurdlymax, 03:00 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): My sense is many standardized tests are not particularly good?
Depends what you want from them, but they’re very good (and linear in sample) proxies for IQ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6963451/#B3-jintelligence-07-00026
I glanced at some of the referenced papers which seem to check out but didn’t like scrutinize them carefully
Reply to @absurdlymax, 11:07 UTC · 4 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): @RafaRuizdeLira @QualyThe This adds a new layer to the acknowledgment section of my thesis
Sneaking in a second paper on personal identity in the credits
Reply, 12:41 UTC · 5 likes
Reply to @sentientlentils, 12:42 UTC · 12 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @sentientlentils is no longer available.)
Uh because it will take your money and in return deliver you any non perishable non illegal good on the planet in 6-24 hours
Reply to @peterwildeford, 17:09 UTC · 3 likes
Peter Wildeford🇺🇸🚀 (@peterwildeford): Question about allocating credit:
If two different groups do an intervention separately without coordination, and it only takes one group to succeed such that the other group wasted their time, how do you allocate credit between them? How is timing relevant, if at all?
I think “credit” is like “credence” in that it breaks down into multiple things depending on what you really care about on edge cases
In some metaphysical sense I don’t think there’s a fact of the matter. So, social credit, evaluation of certain decisions, or something else?
Reply to @Laura_k_Duffy, 17:25 UTC · 1 like
Laura Muresianu 🌐🔸🇺🇸 (@Laura_k_Duffy): @AaronBergman18 @peterwildeford Right, ex ante
Wait I think I was wrong before, if it really is a binary outcome then who finished first doesn’t matter by assumption (which seems unrealistic but whatever)
Thread, continued, 17:27 UTC · 2 likes
In which case
credited QALYs = P(I finish)*P(nobody else does [ever])*(QALYs from anyone finishing)
Reply to @lifebettergreen, 17:39 UTC · 2 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @lifebettergreen is no longer available.)
Brb getting fake crow to attract local ducks
Reply, 18:13 UTC · 2 likes
I think this is just the model bumping up against intuitions from real life. Like the covid vaccine: in principle one excellent vaccine could be sufficient, but there are supply constraints and maybe different side effects and
Reply, 18:15 UTC · 2 likes
who knows maybe Moderna will pull an FTX and collapse in 2 days So there are usually good reasons to want redundancy
But if 1 success really is (by assumption) totally sufficient for the best outcome w zero uncertainty, redundancy is just waste
Reply to @warty_dog, 18:24 UTC · 2 likes
troon (@warty_dog): are you EA | would you step into the park pond to save a duck from being group r*p*d by male ducks
Hey I’m wild animal suffering pilled as anyone but my base rate for anything like this is 0%
Reply to @PradyuPrasad, 21:32 UTC · 17 likes
Pradyumna 🇸🇬 (@PradyuPrasad): A rat went into my bathroom last night. Spent a lot of time looking for it. Couldn't find it. No way to escape.
About to open said bathroom rn
Have u tried saying “new LW post with 800 upvotes and -16 agreement!”
Reply to @PradyuPrasad, 23:00 UTC · 4 likes
Pradyumna 🇸🇬 (@PradyuPrasad): @AaronBergman18 Maybe I should put a poster of Yudkowsky neat the exit
Nah won’t work they love to countersignal intellectual independence
Reply to @TenreiroDaniel, 23:06 UTC · 43 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @TenreiroDaniel is no longer available.)
Choose chaos
Import pandas as torch
Import numpy as conda
Import sys as python
Import matplotlib as model
Import os as dot
Reply to @absurdlymax, 23:52 UTC · 4 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): @AaronBergman18 @PradyuPrasad I hate when someone makes my joke before I can, and better than I would have
It wasn’t a fair race, I had the secret head start of having written this draft which I’m now floating to gather preliminary reactions to
Friday, April 21, 2023
Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 00:23 UTC · 2 likes
Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt): @AaronBergman18 @absurdlymax @PradyuPrasad This is the oldest Yudkowsky writing I can easily find https://extropians.weidai.com/extropians.96/2519.html
Wild. I’ll be poking around there haha
In 1996 my parents were using typewriters, as were most Americans apparently
Thread, continued, 00:25 UTC · 2 likes
I, on the other hand, wasnt using such passé normie devices (or anything else, being -4)
Reply to @then_there_was, 16:19 UTC · 88 likes
Andrew Ruiz (@then_there_was): The legend of Cleo in the Mathematics StackExchange. 😂
Have people considered whether she just makes alt accounts on vpns to submit questions which she started with the answer to?
Quote tweet, 16:30 UTC · 97 likes
Ok tell me it isn’t a little sus that the accounts asking for random proto-impossible integral solutions made their account in the same month, a few months before Cleo
Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18): @then_there_was Have people considered whether she just makes alt accounts on vpns to submit questions which she started with the answer to?
Reply to @absurdlymax, 16:44 UTC · 20 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): How deep does this go??
Clinton and Soros are freaking out rn
Reply to his own earlier tweet, 19:33 UTC · 16 likes
Aaron Bergman, April 21, 2023: Have people considered whether she just makes alt accounts on vpns to submit questions which she started with the answer to?
https://x.com/aaronbergman18/status/1649450421050638336?s=46&t=zFSMbdq7sUeaJ_kJen_W-g
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Reply to @AlecStapp, 00:01 UTC · 4 likes
Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp): Example of why @RyanRadia is the best reply guy on here:
Sorry guys. @ODOT_Statewide who puts exits on the left side of the highway??
Thread, continued, 00:04 UTC · 2 likes
Tbc I did crash a car but the car suffered the only injury
Reply to his own earlier tweet, 06:43 UTC · 10 likes
Aaron Bergman, April 21, 2023: https://x.com/aaronbergman18/status/1649450421050638336?s=46&t=zFSMbdq7sUeaJ_kJen_W-g
This is a surprising development
Reply to @chloe21e8, 06:49 UTC · 20 likes
@CHLOE21E8 (@chloe21e8):
(quoting @chloe21e8: chloe21e8 in the club managing her alt account ecosystem like it’s a voguing ballroom)
Thought I cracked an internet mystery wide open and a month old post is just like:
Tweet, 22:10 UTC · 4 likes
None of the pictures of a food/supplement listed on Amazon is of the nutrition+ingredients label 🚩🚩🚩
Sunday, April 23, 2023
Reply to @absurdlymax, 01:43 UTC · 4 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): I fucking love clouds
R u high
Reply to @BootsPlatypus, 08:12 UTC · 2 likes
Platypussy in Bio (@BootsPlatypus): does sun make you feel better? sunny weather always makes me depressed
Even sunny and cold? For me mood is best during winter and fall
Reply to @Laura_k_Duffy, 14:03 UTC · 2 likes
Laura Muresianu 🌐🔸🇺🇸 (@Laura_k_Duffy): Hey everyone! I’m going to start putting this together today, so get any other submissions in now! 😊
(quoting @Laura_k_Duffy: Announcing: EA Twitter Cookbook! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 (with @baesrule1 and @ryancbriggs) If we get enough submissions, I’ll make an e-cook book for everyone! What are your favorite recipes? Link them/post pictures below!! To start: Kimchi fried rice, but with udon noodles instead 🍜 😊)
Toasted Asian Great Soufflé in an aqueous-nut reduction
1) combine Rice Krispies and almond milk
2) serve with no garnish
Thread, continued, 14:04 UTC · 2 likes
*grain, though great works too
Reply, 23:53 UTC · 1 like
Ceteris paribus, sure, but awareness≠alignment
Monday, April 24, 2023
Tweet, 03:34 UTC · 4 likes
I don't know anyone with UpToDate access (who's fond of sharing 😊) do I?
Thread, continued, 03:34 UTC · 3 likes
$720/year is a liiitle steep
Reply to @austinc3301, 03:45 UTC · 3 likes
Agus 🔸 (@austinc3301): @AaronBergman18 What do you need it for?
curing myself of miscellaneous things
Reply to @ylecun, 21:06 UTC · 112 likes
Yann LeCun (@ylecun): An essential step to becoming a scientist is to learn methods and protocols to avoid deluding yourself into believing false things.
You learn that by doing a PhD and getting your research past your advisor and getting your publications to survive peer review.
I really think peer review does the exact opposite. Not a coincidence cs survives on preprints!
Reply to @151Call, 21:28 UTC · 3 likes
call-151 (@151Call): @AndyMasley @mattyglesias change is not "entirely" by humans - the question isn't valid.
“Mostly or entirely”
Reply to @CineraVerinia, 23:35 UTC · 2 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @CineraVerinia is no longer available.)
The catch is that they cut the monthly check in half first :(
Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 23:38 UTC · 4 likes
Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt): Bennet losing the all-important fish welfare vote
(quoting @MichaelBennet: I caught that fish! How are you celebrating #EarthDay this weekend?)
Maybe he’s saving it from a predator
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Reply, 00:09 UTC · 7 likes
You mean nuts?
Reply to @absurdlymax, 00:11 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): @SpacedOutMatt Its not obvious to me that we shouldn't eat fish but I do feel for that little guy what has EA done to my brain
I’m unironically in favor of eating wild-caught fish that is killed the Japanese stabby way
Reply to @mealreplacer, 11:18 UTC · 6 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @mealreplacer is no longer available.)
Take out the huel part and I 90% endorse this unironically
Tweet, 12:43 UTC · 6 likes
It’s a transformer-instantiated token-predicting neural network with user-modulated stochasticity
Reply to @atroyn, 16:33 UTC · 5 likes
anton 🇺🇸 (@atroyn): scott alexander: ‘government oversight boards have likely killed millions of people by blocking life saving medical studies’
also scott alexander: ‘a.i needs government oversight or it might kill us all!!!’
Yes because some government things are good and others are bad
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Reply to @jam3scampbell, 06:35 UTC · 2 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @jam3scampbell is no longer available.)
It feels like a mean joke the universe is playing that maybe the single most morally important question ever - what, if anything, is the subjective experience of a very non human-like mind (system? object? event?) - seems utterly and intrinsically intractable
Reply to @azsantosk, 06:44 UTC · 1 like
KAS (@azsantosk): How could a planner possibly have access to all economically important information about everything?
In principle it’s possible, or at least possible to get very close, but you’re right that it’s not (at this margin) bottlenecked by compute
Like you’d need a mechanism for informing the central planning machine how much I would pay for ~everything at this very moment
Reply to @ReflectiveAlt, 09:40 UTC · 2 likes
Reflective Altruism (@ReflectiveAlt): "Is Thorstad just one bad thinker" because ... I made two typos and said one word people don't like. Seriously? https://criticalfallibilism.com/checking-citations-from-david-thorstad/
Oy vey
Reply to @joe_zimmerman, 23:00 UTC · 4 likes
Joe Zimmerman (@joe_zimmerman): I'm not saying Roko is necessarily right, but at some point, Roko will become right
Compute is necessary but not sufficient, so maybe, but not just bc that graph keeps going
Reply to @austinc3301, 23:43 UTC · 1 like
Agus 🔸 (@austinc3301): @Laura_k_Duffy I more or less hate your country but your civic spirit is inspiring
^Ooh yeah I wanna know why
Reply, 23:50 UTC · 4 likes
Wait I have a guess
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Tweet, 02:19 UTC · 11 likes
From middle school through college, my main/default method of studying was just to rewrite dozens of pages of notes and examples, verbatim, over and over, because eventually things would “just sink in”
Pretty sure this was grokking, or at least something very closely analogous
Thread, continued, 02:22 UTC · 4 likes
Did it work? Yeah I’d say so, except for abstract algebra
Reply to @absurdlymax, 03:50 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): @AaronBergman18 Huh, I never studied and abstract algebra was the only math class I got really easy
What
I mean I think some idiosyncratic circumstances contributed to my C+, but “getting everything without studying” would have been sufficient to overcome those lol
At least I can say I’ve never gotten a B in math 🥳
Reply to @austinc3301, 05:03 UTC · 5 likes
Agus 🔸 (@austinc3301): I hate pandas with every fiber of my being
I have a solution
Friday, April 28, 2023
Reply to @MalekPyrrhonist, 02:23 UTC · 4 likes
Μαλεκος (@MalekPyrrhonist): IBS is, to a significant degree, diagnosed by exclusion.
You diagnose a patient with it precisely when you exclude other (including bowel) conditions.
Looked this way, the results aren't that surprising.
^correct take. It’s anticorrelated with IBD by definition
Reply to @cremieuxrecueil, 02:32 UTC
Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil): What a confusing take given that it's correlated with a variety of gut problems.
Which? It’s correlated with its own symptoms, but not with anything that describes a biological primary cause afaik
Tweet, 14:36 UTC · 24 likes
In honor of 1002 followers
(so it would take an impossible level of coordination to bring me under 1k):
AMA, Low Status Edition*!🙋♂️🤨
*AMALSE is like a normal AMA except you pin the announcement post and it goes on indefinitely bc your expected rate of question receiving and…
Thread, continued, 14:36 UTC · 6 likes
opportunity cost of time are both sufficiently low to permit an unbounded time window for questioning
So if you’re reading this and there’s no update below calling things off, AMA!
Thread, continued, 14:36 UTC · 5 likes
I’m not actually certain this makes sense - I can think of a few reasons why an implicit time bound is a necessary part of the social machinery that makes AMAs a thing, but there’s only one way to find out 👍
Reply to @xuanalogue, 14:39 UTC · 4 likes
xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen) (@xuanalogue): kids who do this are so based
(quoting @alexa_sacchi: Please share & RT! We are inviting children (ages 8-11) who were raised in meat-eating families, but chose to go vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian on their own to participate in a short online study. 🥕 Link for more information & to sign up here!…)
Drove my parents fucking insane but thx
Reply to @absurdlymax, 17:55 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): What's something you care a lot about/think about a lot/ spend a lot of time on that if you tweeted about you'd get 0 engagement
This isn't exactly answering ur question (and Ill try to think of a real answer to add) but...anything?
What I mean is that there seems to be an inverse relation between how long I've thought about something before tweeting about it and how much engagement the tweet gets
Reply to @absurdlymax, 20:20 UTC · 2 likes
Max Alexander (@absurdlymax): What's something you care a lot about/think about a lot/ spend a lot of time on that if you tweeted about you'd get 0 engagement
All my literal answers are trivial and obvious ("sleeping") but a juicier half answer is the IBS/GI symptoms that kinda suddenly appeared a few months ago and is reasonably often the ~*only* thing I think about
I'm not really embarrassed/shy - more just don't wanna seem like I'm
Thread, continued, 20:20 UTC · 2 likes
farming sympathy engagement.
Also its just not very interesting of a topic lol
Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 20:28 UTC · 4 likes
Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt): Have you updated on your views of the best animal charity to donate to since the RP moral weights came out?
Nah, but maybe it should? So far RP and Shrimp WI seem slightly overdetermined (relative to others, not to each other)
If you're reading this and have a take: vote! https://manifold.markets/AaronBergman/what-donationaccepting-entity-eg-ch
Reply to @dwarkesh_sp, 23:42 UTC · 12 likes
Dwarkesh Patel (@dwarkesh_sp): Who should I have on the podcast to discuss The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind?
Yes, I know it's bonkers and probably false, but it's also really interesting.
Especially interested in someone who has studied what the historical evidence has to say about the psychology/gods of the ancients.
Bonus points for anyone who can comment on Jaynes's claims about neuroscience, linguistics, and/or schizophrenics.
Not super familiar with that book beyond what I think is the main thesis, but check out Iain McGilchrist
The Master and His Emissary (which he wrote) probably my single favorite book, making some pretty grand, prima facie “bonkers” claims
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_McGilchrist
Reply to @tomowenmorgan, 23:43 UTC · 2 likes
Tom Morgan (@tomowenmorgan): I think @BrettPAndersen or obviously @dr_mcgilchrist would be amazing.
Beat me by a few minutes!
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Reply to @bryan_caplan, 02:38 UTC · 13 likes
Bryan Caplan (@bryan_caplan): Democracy enthusiasts baffle me.
How can anyone get excited about a system where people you loathe rule half the time?
Hate to be such a normie but have you seen all the other ones?
Reply to @krishnanrohit, 12:40 UTC · 2 likes
rohit (@krishnanrohit): Are there regularly used mathematical functions which can't be replicated or approximated by matrix multiplications?
Thinking through implications of what types of questions LLMs can only approximate solving.
Just on intuition, the more productive question would be about real number operations rather than matrix multiplication
AFAIK the literal matrices are of direct representations of floating point ie real numbers
Tweet, 13:17 UTC · 15 likes
I regret to report that Spotify has short, doomy timelines
Reply to @adam__isom, 19:01 UTC · 2 likes
adam ✧ ❥ ~ (@adam__isom): I truly believe that once I get 1k followers I will never want for more
I now live in a state of timeless ethereal bliss
Reply to @catehall, 23:12 UTC · 3 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @catehall is no longer available.)
Doesn’t seem like geopolitical power should be the main consideration for where you personally live tho?
If everyone I knew moved to Canada I’d probably move there too
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Reply to @NathanpmYoung, 05:23 UTC · 4 likes
Nathan 🔎 (@NathanpmYoung): @ReflectiveAlt Thoughts:
I think this is true but I'm not sure it's worse than mainstream academia. I'm not sure it's a priority.
Topical bias seems good(?)
Like yeah I want more research about whatever OpenPhil cares about relative to whatever % that would be absent philanthropic funding
Reply to @pearl_please, 15:47 UTC · 2 likes
(The tweet being replied to by @pearl_please is no longer available.)
Have you fully modeled the long run steady-state equilibrium effect on aggregate wild animal welfare of negative marginal birds
Reply to @powerfulwizerd, 15:58 UTC · 34 likes
powerful wizerd (@powerfulwizerd): The craziest post of all time is that one where that girl said she got the ick from the way her bf flailed around during a car crash i think about it daily
Attention females: when I crashed my car (to assert dominance over it) I willed my body to remain stationary relative to the road, floating in a seated position in mid air until the vehicle came to a stop
Reply, 18:50 UTC
Idk if this checks out at all but they both share the feature of being attracted to earth by gravity but not so strongly that they collide, which might place bounds on how big astronomical objects of this type can look
Thread, continued, 18:52 UTC · 1 like
Boundary width seems mostly due to density variation, but this again is bounded because too high gives u a black hole and too low means a coherent entity won’t be held together
Thread, continued, 18:52 UTC · 1 like
@AndyMasley fact check
Tweet, 21:50 UTC · 12 likes
New post: conversation with @austinc3301, dedicated to my fellow "where do u do python" wonderers
https://www.aaronbergman.net/p/tf-is-a-kernel
Thread, continued, 21:50 UTC · 3 likes
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