# Aaron Bergman's tweets, July 2024

Every public tweet, reply, quote tweet and retweet that Aaron Bergman (@AaronBergman18 on X, formerly Twitter) posted in July 2024 and has not deleted: 547 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](https://abergman.com/tweets), which updates automatically every few hours. Previous month: [June 2024](https://abergman.com/tweets/2024-06). Next month: [August 2024](https://abergman.com/tweets/2024-08).

## Monday, July 1, 2024

### [Reply to @UnfinishedOwl, 01:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807585670510281081) · 168 likes

> **UnfinishedOwl (@UnfinishedOwl):** was making sure I said exactly what I wanted to say and being clear and precise. got asked if I was in special ed
>
> (quoting @UnfinishedOwl: @eddieblake448 I was thinking carefully about my answers and being a bit on the slower side, so she asked if I had a learning disability or took special ed classes. apparently after I left the judge chewed her out and then found him guilty (juvenile court, so no jury))

I relate to this. I don’t want to just start yapping! If I do that I’ll probably basically lie bc brain is in next token prediction mode

### [Reply to @MichaelAArouet, 02:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807602380067750192) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @MichaelAArouet is no longer available.)_

“Reliably”

It’s apples and oranges. Only a handful of card counters reliably beat the house

### [Tweet, 07:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807679753022775623) · 7 likes

Tf does hawk tuah mean

### [Reply, 08:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807689738624573761) · 1 like

I am now fully cultured thx

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 08:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807691669409521846) · 2 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** the free market is a misaligned superintelligence

This is kinda true but also nation state governments are unambiguously more powerful

If Amazon > US Government a la Chiquita Banana Co, this would hold more real weight

### [Tweet, 08:46 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807697371213513140) · 22 likes

Humans really like to make slightly different configurations of wheat flour, water, and salt

Bread (a billion types)
Bagels
Pretzels
Tortillas
Pasta
Crackers
Matzah
Biscuits
Cream of wheat
Beer? (Is fermented wheat a thing?)
Seitan
Breakfast cereal flakes

The list goes on fr

### [Thread, continued, 08:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807698247575568503) · 5 likes

Claude added:

Dumplings
Wheat berries
Bulgur
Couscous
Kvass

### [Tweet, 10:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807721400754471132) · 3 likes

Good take (I do think “masculine” is redundant though. It’s just a virtue and one that vibe-associates with other masculine-coded things) https://www.richardhanania.com/p/free-speech-should-be-a-masculine

### [Reply to @hbdchick, 11:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807736167460168081) · 2 likes

> **hbd chick (@hbdchick):** omg, this is so wrong. ALL of the style guides (harvard, mla, etc.) have guidelines for referencing blog posts! and tweets. and for that matter "personal communication." citations are meant for crediting people for their ideas, not just for referring readers to publications. 🤦🏻‍♀️
>
> (quoting @EvolOdonata: Sorry dude, non-peer reviewed blog posts are not publications and are therefore not cited. Besides, I do not see that the paper has "clearly" been inspired by your blog post.)

### [Tweet, 11:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807744223870877763) · 5 likes

Hardware stores are a superstimulus (positive)

### [Reply to @Aria_Babu, 12:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807754306570817933) · 3 likes

> **Aria Schrecker (@Aria_Babu):** Think tanks seem to have a fair amount of influence (especially in the U.S.), but it's not clear that they sway politics in any particular direction. If we banned them, how do you think the world would change?

They don’t sway politics, they sway policy

## Tuesday, July 2, 2024

### [Reply to @mealreplacer, 01:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807955223115137149) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @mealreplacer is no longer available.)_

I basically endorse this yea

### [Quote tweet, 02:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807959787994583323) · 6 likes

Evidential decision theory makes this one hard

> **Quoting adam ✧ ❥ ~ (@adam__isom):** "go where the women are" there actually don't exist any spaces that aren't 60%+ male. I don't know how to explain this logically, but it's true
>
> partner dance classes? ha! once upon a time. church? went to a service yesterday, >60% male
>
> what else ya got?! 🤺

### [Tweet, 02:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807965006639575203) · 45 likes

Dijon mustard is the product of REGULATORY CAPTURE

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRcul2Db0AMSM4Y.jpg)

### [Tweet, 02:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807965613668675729)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijon_mustard

### [Thread, continued, 02:47 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1807969268845129734) · 3 likes

Fascinating

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRcyd7DWEAA8E8R.jpg)

### [Tweet, 09:44 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808074334151307443) · 5 likes

Someone marry this mf

### [Reply, 10:06 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808079862046888294) · 10 likes

Veganism but that’s it

### [Reply to @DeepDishEnjoyer, 18:00 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808199198111609053) · 304 likes

> **peepeepoopoo (@DeepDishEnjoyer):** Okay as much as I don't love Kamala, why the double standard between her and Donald Trump? There is no world in which Donald is more professional and competent than her
>
> (quoting @DavidSacks: Imagine going through the Cuban Missile Crisis with President Kamala Harris.)

Dare I say sexism

### [Tweet, 18:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808207209102561751) · 23 likes

Seems bad https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025

## Wednesday, July 3, 2024

### [Reply to @panickssery, 10:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808443468819099653) · 2 likes

> **Arjun Panickssery (@panickssery):** \> I'm a pretty firm atheist, but definitely not at 10^-20 that I would change my mind after extensive deliberation.
>
> That's the crux right: what's the principled way to put probabilities on stuff where nothing in the reference class has happened and you think you can explain why
>
> (quoting @NeelNanda5: @psychosort you would be highly unlikely to be wrong about any of them. This doesn't seem reasonable to me, especially on a belief where a lot of people disagree with you - it's fine to think that those people are wrong, but not at this level of confidence! Another way to…)

### [Reply, 10:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808444742285316153) · 1 like

Yeah I agree, idk why I put it that low before

### [Tweet, 11:48 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808467944583643174) · 9 likes

Wait this is a negative thing for everyone else??

### [Reply, 12:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808471150772826407) · 1 like

No that particular value was way too low (99.99%) but the general point I still stand by

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 12:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808475597573591231) · 208 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** \> "a 4.0 GPA CS major can't get employment after graduating"
>
> fixed it for you:
>
> \> "hoopjumper spends entire life jumping through hoops and is utterly lost when the trail of hoops to jump through abruptly ends"

I’ll bite the bullet and say “yes, and the second thing is indeed bad”

If you have an economy+society that basically requires employment to have a decent life, getting a job should absolutely be a “hoop” in the sense of not requiring some uncommon level of agency or ingenuity

### [Tweet, 12:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808483376078217233) · 4 likes

How does it do that

[![Video thumbnail](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1808483282268418048/pu/img/JIoBqpVoPcvgPfpm.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808483376078217233/video/1) (video, plays on X)

### [Reply, 18:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808562177462132853)

Not load bearing

[![Video thumbnail](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1808562088098283520/pu/img/AmQdtjeEsSuadnNm.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808562177462132853/video/1) (video, plays on X)

## Thursday, July 4, 2024

### [Reply to @edardaman, 04:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808722809247432835) · 3 likes

> **Emily Dardaman (@edardaman):** @AaronBergman18 @arithmoquine This puts into words something I’ve been stumbling around for…years? Five stars

🤝

### [Reply to @JMannhart, 12:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808845830616408248) · 3 likes

> **Jonathan Mannhart 🔎 (@JMannhart):** @edardaman @AaronBergman18 @arithmoquine I also really enjoyed the tweet. Although I think Aaron could have added spaces before & after the “+“ to improve legibility, as he still had three characters left under the 280 char limit.
>
> Four and a half stars

Unforgivable error imo. -10^10 stars+banned+exiled

### [Tweet, 16:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808907019178369527) · 8 likes

Man fuck summer

### [Thread, continued, 17:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808908989989630255) · 6 likes

The world hidden behind a persistent haze of sweat, sunscreen, and sweaty-sunscreen-induced tears

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 17:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808912999735828799) · 2 likes

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** @GjMcGowan @AaronBergman18 Yeah seems like someone's being a little dramatic here

Not me

### [Reply to @austinc3301, 22:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1808994876501209353) · 4 likes

> **Agus 🔸 (@austinc3301):** I wish it was just normal to use the word “startup” for entrepreneurial charities

We can use its Spanish counterpart, “comensarriba”

## Friday, July 5, 2024

### [Quote tweet, 00:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809022146745712717) · 125 likes

I totally agree, but here’s some perhaps counterintuitive perspective:

Almost all of human history (pre-agriculture) accounts for a small share of human lives (~2% - not even human life-years)

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRrwDdvaEAApEJp.jpg)

> **Quoting Ryan Briggs (@ryancbriggs):** This was my main takeaway from the seeing cave paintings in the south of France. They’re around 15,000 years old and it was just chilling to think that for over 10,000 years anatomically modern people were basically stuck living nasty, brutish, and short lives.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRro-bLXYAAkIGC.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 00:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809022149459394640) · 7 likes

These stats don’t cut one way or the other - they’re just another (probably more important) way of considering the magnitude of the past

### [Quote tweet, 00:34 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809023112718979191) · 12 likes

Forget about achievement (for a moment)

There is an absolutely tiny slice of spacetime I’d choose to be born into (probably late 20th century or later if place-agnostic, late 19th in a wealthy country) and even this I’m pretty unsure about

> **Quoting Nathan 🔎 (@NathanpmYoung):** I feel so lucky to have been born in a wealthy safe country. I probably wouldn’t achieve much at all starving or poor.

### [Thread, continued, 00:34 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809023114409279758) · 5 likes

It’s the water we swim in but to a first approximation it doesn’t even exist

### [Reply to @dylanmatt, 00:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809023427400925187) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @dylanmatt is no longer available.)_

Idk plausibly this would be good for the country and world even if it was 40 year old Obama?

### [Reply to @AlexGodofsky, 00:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809024759100793040) · 10 likes

> **Alex Godofsky (@AlexGodofsky):** 4yo told me that "whenever you say letters to mama it means something sugary"

Smart kid

### [Reply to @daniel_271828, 10:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809169530859536694) · 3 likes

> **zzDANIEL_ETH (@daniel_271828):** Putting the “LLM” in “Gell-Mann Amnesia”
>
> (quoting @shakoistsLog: Talking to an LLM on something I'm an expert on: "Hmmm, I see why you think that, but you're not \*quite\* right, and you're wrong in some critical but subtle ways" talking to an LLM on anything else: "Wow you're the smartest person I've ever known, how do you know everything?")

Nice

### [Reply to @PeterJAngel, 10:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809172422295241112) · 4 likes

> **Peter🧅📈 (@PeterJAngel):** Boooooooo
>
> (quoting @2AvSagas: The city should impose a $1000 environmental and noise fee onto every Blade ride that starts or arrives in NYC.)

Hot take externalities are real and this is fine (I have no idea if $1k is the right amount though)

### [Reply to @kenthecowboy_, 10:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809173326062837991) · 2 likes

> **ChiTown Kenny (@kenthecowboy_):** @nomanautomata Even better -- Potassium!

[![Why Not Both Take Both GIF](https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video_thumb/GRt5jLkWcAAgLCl.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809173326062837991/photo/1) (gif, plays on X)

### [Reply to @kenthecowboy_, 10:34 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809173927781957841) · 3 likes

> **ChiTown Kenny (@kenthecowboy_):** I didn't wanna go to gym, but then I slammed 400mg of k and now I'm ready to demolish this fucking elliptical

What form/product do u take?

### [Reply to @louisvarge, 10:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809175855924420748) · 2 likes

> **Louis Arge (@louisvarge):** i went to the hacker space
>
> a sweetheart trans woman greeted me. once i had passed the vibe check, she offered me an estrogen pill. i politely declined. "no thanks, i'm sober"
>
> what are you working on? "digital drugs," i explained
>
> the place looked distinctly like the arcade from mr robot.
>
> "we only communicate through IRC, it's untraceable"
>
> i spent 20 minutes setting up an IRC client
>
> overall it was a good day

What

### [Reply to @s8mb, 11:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809181202462503282) · 2 likes

> **Sam Bowman (@s8mb):**
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRtnd4PXAAA0c3l.jpg)

Crazy sunburn

### [Reply to @greenTetra_, 11:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809186244410147009) · 1 like

> **Tetra (@greenTetra_):** alright heres what you gotta know
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRqXR8Fb0AABopx.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRqXR-BbMAA2oC3.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRqXR_rbMAQ6SLd.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRqXR8DakAAE16f.png)

What’s this from

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRuFTNpWcAAhITl.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 11:59 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809195305318957524) · 49 likes

Need

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRuNiq6XoAAz7Zd.jpg)

> **Quoting X (@Pteroterror):** Currency in Iceland is top tier
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoP8LhWIAAE61j.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoP8X_WAAA8Cvy.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoP8dAWEAAPg6i.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRoP8e4X0AE_9EM.jpg)

### [Reply to @louisvarge, 12:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809195996741832776) · 2 likes

> **Louis Arge (@louisvarge):** @AaronBergman18 which part is unclear sir

Where do I go to learn about digital drugs

### [Quote tweet, 12:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809199873188593688) · 6 likes

Let them in

> **Quoting Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil):** When you ask people which countries they want to move to, America has held the top slot for a long time, and it will likely continue to for the foreseeable future.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRqSNO6W8AEaMtK.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 12:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809203790874317272) · 6 likes

👀

> **Quoting EA Forum Posts (@EAForumPosts):** New popular post from the EA Forum:
>
> "Rethink Priorities' Digital Consciousness Project Announcement" by Bob Fischer + 3 others
> https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/yLzHyDvfR6skhwLcZ/rethink-priorities-digital-consciousness-project

### [Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 12:44 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809206835271876849) · 2 likes

> **Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt):** 30 years old is a minimum estimate of life expectancy over the period (it's using life expectancy at the start). So the actual number is probably a decent bit lower than the 13 billion I get
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRuW1hVXkAAWFAc.jpg)

Oh shit Matt > Claude

### [Tweet, 12:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809208599094206956) · 125 likes

In hindsight it is incredibly dumb that I avoided taking the bus for 23 years bc I didn’t really know how they worked

Like do u have to pay to get on? (Yes)

Does a Smartrip card work? (Yes for metrobus at least)

How often do they run? (idk but Apple and Google maps tell you)

### [Thread, continued, 12:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809208600952455248) · 30 likes

Do they stop at every stop or do you actually have to pull the rope thing? (Pull the rope thing)

If you pull the rope thing is that saying that you wanna get off ASAP? (No, pull it to indicate that you want to get off at the next official stop)

### [Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 12:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809209708986679558) · 7 likes

> **Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt):** This is very aaron coded

Wait elaborate I am very curious

### [Tweet, 13:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809213133577167277) · 10 likes

Means of transportation, ranked

1\. Walk
2\. Drive
3\. Bike/scooter
4\. Metro/subway
5\. Bus
6\. Plane
7\. Swim
8\. Legit train
9\. Legit ship
10\. Ferry
11\. Fall/jump
12\. Run

Tbd: helicopter, teletransporter, wormhole, unicycle

### [Reply to @NathanpmYoung, 13:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809215501156917552) · 11 likes

> **Nathan 🔎 (@NathanpmYoung):** A letter to my MP.
>
> Curious if this leads to anything. If it does, then it probably doesn't take many of us to offer support to many London MPs.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRueCWLXIAAbK5k.png)

Top tier civic engagement

### [Quote tweet, 13:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809217676373274913) · 46 likes

This actually reminds me: when I was 16 a Maryland legislature candidate knocked on my door to try to convince my family to vote for him

I told him I was a single issue animal welfare voter (was I even allowed to vote? Maybe I didn’t use this term) …

> **Quoting Nathan 🔎 (@NathanpmYoung):** A letter to my MP.
>
> Curious if this leads to anything. If it does, then it probably doesn't take many of us to offer support to many London MPs.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRueCWLXIAAbK5k.png)

### [Thread, continued, 13:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809217678189457730) · 29 likes

We ended up exchanging a few emails that resulted in him adopting a pretty serious animal welfare platform and putting it on his website

### [Thread, continued, 13:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809217679741403221) · 37 likes

He lost by a few dozen or hundred votes iirc. Even if he’d won, I have no idea if it would have yielded any actual policy change. I kinda doubt it

Even still, seems like a non-terrible expected altruistic return on a few hours of high schooler time

### [Thread, continued, 13:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809217681452650700) · 35 likes

Idk if there’s an actual generalizable lesson here

Kinda suspect being cringe-level earnest with state level reps (or the equivalent outside the US) is underrated though

### [Reply to @ideopunk, 13:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809217791406264662) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @ideopunk is no longer available.)_

Trains can only move along a 1d axis

Sad

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 13:39 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809220646154506672) · 15 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 5, 2024:** Idk if there’s an actual generalizable lesson here Kinda suspect being cringe-level earnest with state level reps (or the equivalent outside the US) is…

Maybe I was 18? That would explain the “single issue voter” thing

### [Reply to @danielbrottman, 13:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809224074578510106) · 3 likes

> **daniel brottman 🪷 (@danielbrottman):** do you think anyone’s ever been addicted to cold turkey, and then they realized they had to give up cold turkey cold turkey

Turkey cold cut sandwiches were a staple for me before going vegetarian so kinda

### [Reply to @KompendiaProj, 14:05 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809227174584475755) · 2 likes

> **KJ ✨ (@KompendiaProj):** @AaronBergman18 @danielbrottman Was the vegetarianism an overnight change? If so then I think we have a winner!!

Yeah iirc

### [Tweet, 14:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809229404880425333) · 7 likes

Epigenetic inheritance of “trauma” (at least in some senses of that word) actually seems pretty plausible to me

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRusjY-WIAAR8in.jpg)

### [Tweet, 14:34 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809234440402424134) · 30 likes

I am extremely pro 🔸in bio to indicate donation. Social pressure go brr. Maybe make another one to indicate absolute amounts donated (💰per $25k?)

### [Reply to @kenthecowboy_, 14:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809234587672866834) · 2 likes

> **ChiTown Kenny (@kenthecowboy_):** @Artoria2e5 @AaronBergman18 I just take the pills from Walmart

Lovely tweet out of context

### [Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 15:07 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809242665243869542) · 3 likes

> **Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt):**
>
> (quoting @AaronBergman18: @DeepDishEnjoyer Idk who he is. I wanna say classical music guy but also maybe author? 80% it’s one of those, this is the extent of my knowledge)

F

### [Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 15:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809243548916556002) · 3 likes

> **Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt):** @AaronBergman18 It's okay, more than made up for by the good animal welfare takes <3

I was literally about to type “yeah but I have correct takes about {ethics, cause prio, all my other hobbyhorses}”

### [Reply to @AndyMasley, 18:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809296539644240105) · 4 likes

> **Andy Masley (@AndyMasley):** I think a lot of AI discourse about the current value and abilities of LLMs could be solved if more people just sat down and spent half an hour asking ChatGPT or Claude complex questions about fields they know a lot about

Before reading your second tweet I was unsure which direction you meant for this to point in (although it seems good regardless)

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 18:44 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809297367390380049) · 12 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 5, 2024:** Maybe I was 18? That would explain the “single issue voter” thing

Yeah it was 2018 when I was 18. And he lost by 12 votes! Not even “dozens” - just one of them! https://ballotpedia.org/Samir_Paul

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRvqXa0WcAAa52H.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 18:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809300648384397651) · 5 likes

This is gonna be pretty load-bearing IMO

Afaik it will be the first and only thing of its kind?

> **Quoting Agus 🔸 (@austinc3301):** omg yes
>
> THE WORLDVIEW INVESTIGATIONS TEAM IS SO BACK

### [Thread, continued, 18:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809300650339049622) · 3 likes

There was the AI Consciousness Report by a bunch of big names including @rgblong but afaict it wasn’t even trying to put quantitative estimates on relevant parameters (eg P(GPT-4 instances can suffer))

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2308.08708

### [Reply to @DaCaveOfWonders, 19:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809303507633054047) · 2 likes

> **Tiger Lava Lamp (@DaCaveOfWonders):** @AaronBergman18 Not sure my 💰💰💰 in bio is going to come across the right way to someone who doesn't know what it means

Hmm yeah. May I suggest 🔪🩸💉🔞or💦

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 19:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809303714823315502) · 2 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** @AaronBergman18 idk,🔸does work to signal \*effort\* as opposed to effort times wealth, which has value imo

Wait are u saying idk to the diamond or my suggestion to have smth for absolute amounts?

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 19:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809306085783744537) · 2 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** @AaronBergman18 your suggestion

I mean the thing that actually matters is (marginal charity goodness per dollar)\*(dollar donation), not % of income or wealth donated

(There are a bunch of reasons why I don’t think it makes sense to have an emoji that factors in the first thing but it’s mostly intuitive)

### [Thread, continued, 19:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809306768943591460) · 2 likes

Ofc % matters a lot for everything besides altruistic impact (eg how generous of a person I think you are), but altruistic impact really matters!

This is the main issue I take I with the GWWC pledge (like messaging hard around % rather than trying to make (possibly a lot) more)

### [Reply to @heartbulbous, 19:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809308512599576954) · 2 likes

> **Juan (@heartbulbous):** @AaronBergman18 Dustin Moskovitz 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰

I miss him

### [Reply to @nickcammarata, 19:34 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809309805737394633) · 1 like

> **Nick (@nickcammarata):** or pretend that it has no answer. I think it probably has a very specific and fascinating answer and we just don’t know it yet

I mean it really seems like recursive “why” questions aren’t gonna ground out. Idk if this logically entails “no answer” (maybe there are just infinitely recursive questions each paired with a specific answer) but it sure seems to point that way

### [Reply to @bayeslord, 19:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809310142267089361) · 4 likes

> **bayes (@bayeslord):** wait no, wtf is existence. why are we here. why is anything here. don’t pretend like you don’t care. these are the deepest questions we can ask

Idk

### [Reply to @Duderichy, 19:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809315324648648773) · 1 like

> **the Rich (@Duderichy):** I think I just got the ick watching this
>
> (quoting @stoolpresidente: I went full alpha male mode today putting up a fence so peaches couldn't escape)

I guess everyone is dunking bc he’s doing it wrong

I assumed the issue was having a cat or dog and relying on physical barriers to keep them from running away

### [Reply to @KellerScholl, 20:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809319054769025031) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @KellerScholl is no longer available.)_

Waiting for someone to ask this lol

I don’t plan on taking the pledge in say the next year or so because the worlds in which I’m able to earn decent money ≈ those in which I’m able to (and willing to, and hopefully do) try something a bit more entrepreneurial

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRv-F2SW0AEcC5a.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 20:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809319680164917503) · 3 likes

For better or worse the GWWC pledge points in the direction of risk aversion (ie to be able and willing to meet your commitment) which I think is bad for a nontrivial subset of pledgers or would-be pledgers

### [Thread, continued, 20:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809320081220071477) · 2 likes

I also have pretty radical uncertainty about what the future looks like (personally but in this context mostly at large) so I’m pretty hesitant to make any declaration of any type that has literally no default expiration date

### [Reply to @KellerScholl, 21:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809334910660014106) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @KellerScholl is no longer available.)_

For better or worse I’m pretty sure (fact check?) the vast majority of EA-inspired giving has been by people with a net worth of say at least $10M at the time of donation

If a person has no intention of trying to make a lot of money (relative to current salary) I agree with

### [Thread, continued, 21:18 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809335952482992177) · 2 likes

your six month thing, but basically think the EA etg norms should emphasize risk tolerance way, way more, which probably means more than that for most people, especially those supporting a family

If I heard that someone currently making $150k and supporting a family had

### [Thread, continued, 21:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809336427144180004) · 2 likes

stopped donating in order to save enough so that they could try founding a startup for a year without their family bearing ~any risk of having to adjust to a lower standard of living, I’d think that was awesome and super high EV

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 21:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809337336611721282) · 5 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 5, 2024:** I am extremely pro 🔸in bio to indicate donation. Social pressure go brr. Maybe make another one to indicate absolute amounts donated (💰per $25k?)

I also think some of you should stop giving away tens of thousands of dollars and start trying to make tens of millions or more to give away, even if that means saving instead of donating right now

(Read the whole thread here if interested)

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 21:46 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809343086079930802) · 13 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 5, 2024:** Do they stop at every stop or do you actually have to pull the rope thing? (Pull the rope thing) If you pull the rope thing is that saying that you wanna get…

Yes, you have to actually be visibly waiting at the bus stop! I found this out a few days ago the hard (not that hard) way

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 21:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809344529134133519) · 4 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** is pleasure just absence of suffering?

Honestly I can’t believe anyone says this (I’m being facetious), it’s like a claim you’d get by prompting GPT-2 to say something that sounds insightful and Buddhist (but is obviously wrong to anyone who understands what the words mean)

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 21:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809345605585526899) · 2 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** @AaronBergman18 this is my view, and why i ask the question (to see if anyone takes it seriously)

“this” being the phrase in ur tweet or my reply?

### [Reply to @fluxtheorist, 22:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809354550861521386) · 40 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @fluxtheorist is no longer available.)_

Horny on x axis / quality of life on y axis is a U shaped curve fr

### [Thread, continued, 23:07 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809363593844146410) · 2 likes

Hope ur doing ok brother

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRwmmYsaQAAIM4j.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 23:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809364604344000746) · 15 likes

Fuck

> **Quoting Joe Biden (@JoeBiden):** Let me say this as clearly as I can:
>
> I’m the sitting President of the United States.
>
> I’m the nominee of the Democratic party.
>
> I’m staying in the race.

### [Thread, continued, 23:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809364606038454318) · 4 likes

Can’t say I understand the personal psychology here. Why would you want that stress and responsibility when you could be doing like literally whatever tf you want as a former president?

### [Reply to @mimi10v3, 23:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809365085904670732) · 4 likes

> **˚♡⋆mimi ˚♡⋆｡☆∴ (@mimi10v3):** life gets easier when i wear the autism earplugs that dampen painfully loud noises ... is there an emotional equivalent to the earplugs?

High dose SSRIs for some and antipsychotics for all. Might not actually like what comes along with “easier” though

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 23:20 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809366777031241946) · 41 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** you eat meat because you don't care about ethics
>
> i eat meat because i do care about ethics, and i accept the repugnant conclusion
>
> we are not the same
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRwoF6XacAAFKHy.jpg)

Virtually all meat comes from animals who were made worse off by being born

### [Reply to @zheer_kejlberg, 23:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809367108805079165) · 2 likes

> **Zheer Kejlberg Al-Mashhadi (@zheer_kejlberg):** R friends, I want to do a shiny. I’ve never done a shiny before. What’s the best resource to get started doing a shiny?

ChatGPT+ or Claude Pro (not being sarcastic)

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 23:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809367684183887899) · 18 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** @AaronBergman18 i'm shitposting ik

Ah fair, not gonna delete bc this is a real argument people make

### [Reply to @brundolfsmith, 23:27 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809368509576810901) · 2 likes

> **brundolf (@brundolfsmith):** Over time vibecamp may become a way of verifying that \[handle\] is a real person and not an AI
>
> Like in the 1980s when people would have IRL parties to exchange encryption keys

Eventually an AI is gonna pay some guy to show up

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 23:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809369560891462121) · 17 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** @AaronBergman18 wait seriously? lmao

Often not put in repugnant conclusion terms tbc but yeah

### [Tweet, 23:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809371149559599340) · 38 likes

You think this coconut just fell out of a coconut tree?

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRwteG3XkAAbxGw.jpg)

## Saturday, July 6, 2024

### [Reply to @UWHS75819288, 00:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809379130271584767) · 4 likes

> **Leontiev (@UWHS75819288):** @AaronBergman18 @fluxtheorist Concave up or down?

Down lol

### [Reply to @lillybilly299, 00:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809382568707441058) · 1 like

> **Lilly (@lillybilly299):** NO. Laws do not exist to compel people to live moral lives. They exist to ensure society functions stably and predictably and provide a framework for resolving conflicts. We do not live in a theocracy or fascist dictatorship wtf
>
> (quoting @SarahTheHaider: On the whole I think laws and norms should be based on what is most good for most people. What we have now is a combination of what is best for the uncommon case: preventing extreme abuse (harm outlier) + and granting maximum individual freedom (benefit outlier).)

Ok but you’re not gonna get “a framework for resolving conflicts” without implicitly taking an ethical stance sometimes

At the end of the day a person either goes to prison or doesn’t go to prison. Either is compatible with a stable society in most cases

### [Reply to @daniel_271828, 11:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809552934071357534) · 4 likes

> **zzDANIEL_ETH (@daniel_271828):** @AaronBergman18 Coconuts exist in the context of all in which they live and what came before them.

Big if true

### [Reply to @peterwildeford, 11:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809552998412022007) · 1 like

> **Peter Wildeford🇺🇸🚀 (@peterwildeford):**
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRyu_haacAM98z4.png)

Nobody tell him

### [Reply to @JasonBotterill, 11:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809553406488387644) · 2 likes

> **JB (@JasonBotterill):** @AaronBergman18 bait is so good that I can’t tell if it’s real or not

Lol

### [Tweet, 14:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809596277442621521) · 33 likes

Petition to destroy the sun

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRz6OSjXQAAPRid.jpg)

### [Tweet, 14:39 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809598031097933975) · 13 likes

We should do the thing where countries give each other large metal objects but without the war first

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRz70RBXUAAW8mJ.jpg)

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRz70RAXgAEgHHX.jpg)

### [Reply to @ciphergoth, 14:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809601360184373307) · 4 likes

> **Paul Crowley (@ciphergoth):** @AaronBergman18 Since the beginning of time, Man has yearned to destroy the Sun.

We must honor our ancestors by doing their will

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 19:20 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809668674556461056) · 7 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 3, 2024:** Not load bearing

Load bearing

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR08ES9acAUhGig.jpg)

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 19:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809669435793219895) · 2 likes

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** @AaronBergman18 We should just normalize this for friends

I’ll ship u some tin foil origami

## Sunday, July 7, 2024

### [Reply, 01:06 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809755865756450856) · 1 like

😢

### [Reply to @michael_nielsen, 01:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809757220969619670) · 1 like

> **Michael Nielsen (@michael_nielsen):** Looking for examples of what might be called intransitive trade - where you’d trade A for B (but not vice versa), B for C (ditto), and C for A (ditto)
>
> Can you think of any?

FWIW this can happen without issue when the trade options take place in different hypothetical universes and the specific things on offer provide relevant information about their value

### [Quote tweet, 01:48 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809766338732208189) · 5 likes

Causation is real

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR2U5DOXwAAJVgX.jpg)

> **Quoting Andy Ayrey (@AndyAyrey):** can someone please explain acausality to me, it sounds like a one way trip up the schizo escalator and I need more infohazards

### [Reply to @hamandcheese, 03:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809792775556043210) · 11 likes

> **Samuel Hammond 🦉 (@hamandcheese):** It is hard for high IQ people to imagine what it's like to be less intelligent, which creates a kind of blindspot for the importance of intelligence per se, analogous to the "burden of knowledge."
>
> (quoting @mattyglesias: High IQ causes left-wing political beliefs which in turn cause denialism about the importance of IQ. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289624000254)

People also forget how selected their social and professional network is

Even for more representative groups people might be influenced by, it’s hard to think of one that isn’t biased in the direction you yourself deviate towards (eg public school, any level)

### [Reply to @ElytraMithra, 07:45 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1809856212797694027) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @ElytraMithra is no longer available.)_

Now that I am actually living in a 75 sq ft room (not including shared bathroom and kitchen and a bit of other common space tbc) I feel extremely qualified to reaffirm that these are perfectly fine

## Monday, July 8, 2024

### [Reply to @frances__lorenz, 00:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810108913880031712) · 1 like

_(The tweet being replied to by @frances__lorenz is no longer available.)_

Well has anyone

### [Quote tweet, 00:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810110762364354776) · 4 likes

Ideal writing style

> **Quoting Rafael Ruiz ⏸️🔸 (@RafaRuizdeLira):** Another banger by Richard Chappell. A great read.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR3vivGWEAAJ6aK.jpg)

### [Reply to @tasshinfogleman, 00:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810112092525023640) · 3 likes

> **Friend Tasshin (@tasshinfogleman):** what luxury might u buy urself if u had a billion dollars?

Shrimp stunner

### [Tweet, 01:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810124109927362973) · 21 likes

Museum with a semi-autistic nerd friend tour guide  >>

### [Reply to @slimepriestess, 01:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810125551568302464) · 65 likes

> **Ra (@slimepriestess):** it's the first date, you're eight hours into an acid trip and have already had sex, it's 4am. she pulls out her phone and says she wants to read you this essay called Meditations on Moloch, wyd?

Propose

### [Tweet, 18:58 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810387958643466652) · 685 likes

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR_KQMnWcAAbvOR.jpg)

### [Reply to @NathanB60857242, 18:59 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810388326043861115) · 46 likes

> **Nathan Barnard (@NathanB60857242):** I find it pretty bizarre that the EA community (on twitter) is adjacent to this kind of complete insanity.
>
> (quoting @eigenrobot: @DanielleFong speaking as a white person i think an optimal legal system would try and most likely hang him i dont expect this expression of support will help the situation in oakland but if it makes you feel less like you're taking crazy pills, you know maybe its the thought…)

I think you should delete this, since “guilt by adjacency” is a really bad and illegitimate reason for something to be bad

### [Reply to @daniel_271828, 19:00 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810388617912791444) · 7 likes

> **zzDANIEL_ETH (@daniel_271828):** Choose your fighter
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR7GtVBbsAAKHyh.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR7GtVBbYAACrbN.jpg)

I’d be very pro- US and china competing on drone art and nothing else

### [Reply to @GarrettPetersen, 19:04 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810389500792811895) · 33 likes

> **Dr. Dad, PhD 🔄🔼◀️🔽▶️ (@GarrettPetersen):** R?  R????

Yes, the best and in fact only legitimate programming language

### [Thread, continued, 19:05 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810389674801954842) · 9 likes

### [Reply to @ryancbriggs, 19:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810392763613196361) · 4 likes

> **Ryan Briggs (@ryancbriggs):**
>
> [GIF attached](https://x.com/ryancbriggs/status/1810391298291195982/photo/1)

Based

### [Quote tweet, 19:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810394136543113581) · 209 likes

I unironically think I could be emperor of the universe and simply not be corrupt

Idk, seems like a skill issue

> **Quoting Grace (@kindgracekind):** They say power corrupts, but I like to think I could be corrupt without having any power at all

### [Reply to @IsaacKing314, 21:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810422189969269151) · 7 likes

> **Isaac King 🔎 (@IsaacKing314):** @AaronBergman18 @NathanB60857242 I agree with the second part, but I think angrily asking people to delete tweets that you disagree with is \*also\* bad.

I didn’t intend this to be/come off as angry although I do have a bit of a knack for saying things online that don’t come off as intended

### [Reply to @IsaacKing314, 21:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810427688886087755) · 6 likes

> **Isaac King 🔎 (@IsaacKing314):** @AaronBergman18 @NathanB60857242 It's just not a productive conversation pattern, and I'd prefer people are open about their views rather than feeling a need to hide them in order to get approval from their subculture.

Thanks, and I think this applies in some cases, but I’m standing by this one because part of what I mean to convey is “I don’t merely disagree - I think \*you\* would disagree on reflection”

This comes from having spoken to Nathan quite a bit even off of twitter!

### [Reply to @Rado9910, 21:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810427965924065477) · 2 likes

> **Rado9910 (@Rado9910):** @ContainerEnjoyr @AaronBergman18 I suspect the world would be a much better place if he were, so he probably isn't.

🥰🥰🥰

### [Reply to @ContainerEnjoyr, 21:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810428010442473581) · 2 likes

> **Container Enjoyer (@ContainerEnjoyr):** @Rado9910 @AaronBergman18 Well, there's a lot of title inflation these days, maybe Emperor is a mid-level role.

Lol

### [Quote tweet, 21:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810428250922913828) · 8 likes

If this is true, we should change the aphorism to “corruption empowers”

> **Quoting Isaac King 🔎 (@IsaacKing314):** @AaronBergman18 Being non-corrupt with infinite power is one thing. Being non-corrupt when corruptness is necessary to retain power is another.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs

## Tuesday, July 9, 2024

### [Tweet, 08:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810586931249471561) · 30 likes

Turns out @SpacedOutMatt @absurdlymax @FrostedSapling and @arthur_wright\_ exist irl too

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSB_OAEWcAE81EE.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 08:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810587719833194683) · 17 likes

Got word of a cool csv, now you can explore avg big 5 personality traits by city (US only)

http://city-personality.streamlit.app

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** This is an open invitation to always send me any csv’s u stumble across. Idc how, drive link or url or just paste it into DM or reply
>
> I love a good csv 🙏🏼

### [Reply to @inesferhumi, 08:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810599006776533292) · 3 likes

> **Inés (@inesferhumi):** OMG but also why is this the darkest and blurriest pic I have ever seen in my life

Asked a guy to take the pic for us - I zoomed in a bit, this is the original which is maybe better

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSCKM3yWQAA5Czi.jpg)

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 09:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810603464231129127) · 2 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 9, 2024:** Got word of a cool csv, now you can explore avg big 5 personality traits by city (US only) http://city-personality.streamlit.app

The word came from a lion

### [Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 09:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810603531038085184) · 3 likes

> **oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle):** @AaronBergman18 Wow what a cool dataset to have found!

I repent for my use of passive voice 😔

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 09:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810604233625936056) · 13 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** why is there only One (1) qualia research institute. how is this possible
>
> naively one would expect a QRI in every single university

They need more normie aesthetics

### [Reply to @austinc3301, 09:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810609573964698042) · 2 likes

> **Agus 🔸 (@austinc3301):** For context, not too long ago I tried to hunt down some military researchers to try to get them to share a proprietary caffeine dose response algorithm with me

Ok

### [Reply to @Thomasdelvasto_, 10:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810622219074121888) · 2 likes

> **Θωμᾶς del Vasto ✈️ atx 10/10 - 10/19 (@Thomasdelvasto_):** @AaronBergman18 Problem is there are a million ways to be corrupt, and a narrow path to being good

I would simply stay in that narrow path

### [Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 11:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810637698249736205) · 5 likes

> **Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt):** More pixels (but also never ask a man to take a photo of you)
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSCqiRQXoAAcY-T.jpg)

What do we think about this version

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSCtY7wbcAAOmPQ.jpg)

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 13:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810670449136685261) · 3 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** let's fucking go the sun is coming up i have permission to stop trying to fall asleep

I relate to this too much

### [Reply to @arthur_wright_, 13:54 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810673930836820092) · 3 likes

> **Arthur Wrong 🔸 (@arthur_wright_):** Shameless self-endorsement: I will be starting full-time next Monday as Effective Altruism DC's Head of Community!! 🎉
>
> If you are an active member I don't already know or would like to get involved, don't hesitate to reach out! My DMs are open, and I'd love to connect.

Congrats!!! I aspire to one day be part of the EA DC community

### [Reply to @beala, 14:27 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810682183037731149) · 3 likes

> **Alex Beal 🆎 (@beala):** I was this many years old when I learned "the 21st century" began on Jan 1, 2001. Anyway I found a new thing I can be annoying about.

Wait what

### [Reply to @eshear, 16:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810711084200054844) · 5 likes

> **Emmett Shear (@eshear):** Power corrupts your world model, it’s not a matter of being “good”
>
> (quoting @eshear: People desire to exercise power. Exercising it through others is just as good, so if you have power other people find ways to attempt to direct your use of that power.)

This sounds plausible but I don’t grok (sorry) it yet lol. POTUS is very powerful. What happens to a presidential candidate-turned-president that “corrupts” their world model (more)?

What does corrupt even mean here?

### [Quote tweet, 16:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810711527122514335) · 11 likes

Sell me on any of the “power corrupts in some clever non-obvious way independent of one’s character” theses

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** @eshear This sounds plausible but I don’t grok (sorry) it yet lol. POTUS is very powerful. What happens to a presidential candidate-turned-president that “corrupts” their world model (more)?
>
> What does corrupt even mean here?

### [Reply to @phenoatypical, 16:25 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810711967595630712) · 19 likes

> **Paola (@phenoatypical):** I am constantly getting sick, feeling exhausted to a pretty extreme degree, etc., what are some unconventional things I can try to fix this? I have attempted pretty much all of the usual stuff

Blood tests

B12, folate, vit d, CBC, CRP, testosterone and free test if male, TSH, thyroid antibodies, Lyme, probably a bunch more I’m forgetting

### [Reply to @TrevorVossberg, 16:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810714526964482450) · 2 likes

> **Trevor Vossberg (@TrevorVossberg):** @AaronBergman18 Do you need a clever model? Selection into being successful can bias one’s expectations of likelihood of future success.

Not sure I’d call that “corruption”

### [Reply to @beala, 17:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810733193622081888) · 3 likes

> **Alex Beal 🆎 (@beala):** Lots of reddit-level takes in this part of twitter that failing at CICO is a skill issue. But I think there's good evidence that "CI" and "CO" aren't independent and the level of correlation varies a lot from person to person.
>
> (quoting @beala: @SpencrGreenberg I think (1) and (3) explain the majority of this, but I'm not sure about the ordering of those two. I think there's good evidence that "calories in" and "calories out" aren't independent, and the variation between individuals is quite large.…)

Cursed discourse

### [Reply to @absurdlymax, 23:45 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810822597065495004) · 3 likes

> **Max Alexander (@absurdlymax):** @inesferhumi @SpacedOutMatt @AaronBergman18 @FrostedSapling @arthur_wright\_ This is one of the only photos of me online 🥰

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSFVjfZWYAAbk_Q.jpg)

## Wednesday, July 10, 2024

### [Tweet, 06:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810924976020640056) · 2 likes

Experiment: which poem do you like better? Poll below

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSGyeQmXgAAJDDD.png)

### [Reply to @ContainerEnjoyr, 07:06 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810933641100546531) · 5 likes

> **Container Enjoyer (@ContainerEnjoyr):** Is it weird this made me cry? I just want those little chicken dudes to be ok.
>
> (quoting @Lewis_Bollard: The best plant-based chicken nuggets outperformed animal-based nuggets in new blind taste tests! @ImpossibleFoods nuggets and tenders were the top performers. (Still work to do to on plant-based burgers, hot dogs, and bacon, but this is a great start)…)

People who only cry over things that don’t make sense to cry about to 99.99% of the population gang

### [Reply to @yifever, 07:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1810936354236190773) · 3 likes

> **yifei e/λ (meetmeinshibuya Oct 18) (@yifever):** If you're not either
> a) in all kinds of psychological pain
> b) horny beyond belief
> you're not learning optimally and you can be more efficient about it.
> These are the 2 optimal emotional states for learning.

I don’t think this is true

### [Quote tweet, 15:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811055224183804238) · 122 likes

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSIpIIoWoAAXoWc.jpg)

> **Quoting ThinkingWest (@thinkingwest):** Feudalism was actually a pretty good system.
>
> Here’s why:
>
> \-everyone had a defined role that served society as a whole: peasants, vassals, and lords all had responsibilities to each other
> \-it was extremely decentralized
> \-it’s hierarchy ensured long-term stability
> \-with hereditary monarchy, it was a lot more difficult for influence peddlers to buy off leaders
> \-hereditary monarchs’ interests were tied to those of the people since they ruled for life
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSC8Q11a4AAwmmV.jpg)

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 15:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811058195361612210) · 2 likes

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** Q for foot scientists or whatever. Every time I lose a toenail the one that grows back is just as ugly as the one it replaced. Pretty sure I'm about to lose another soon - is there anything I can do to make the new one turn out nicely?

Megadose beta carotene and maybe it will permanently become orange

### [Reply to @NathanpmYoung, 15:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811066281862336542) · 7 likes

> **Nathan 🔎 (@NathanpmYoung):** I don't strongly buy white saviour arguments, but if I did, @GiveDirectly seems to satisfy them.
>
> It's literally giving poor people resources directly. How could one be less white savioury than that?

There are no white savior arguments afaict. There’s just a phrase. Yes sometimes white people do things that literally prevent other people from dying

### [Quote tweet, 15:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811067326348833186) · 1,295 likes

I am going to stake out my position as a trash can study defender. It probably makes sense to carefully study the effects of even a boring and intuitive policy change that affects ~10⁷ people

> **Quoting Chris Bakke (@ChrisJBakke):** The next time you have imposter syndrome at work, just remember:
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSIp40FakAA7VJc.jpg)

### [Reply to @solarsystern, 16:06 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811069464693072228) · 541 likes

> **irα!! (@solarsystern):** u might think being one of the boys is about crushing beers and smoking weed and whatever but it's actually about dissecting what their one (1) tinder match of the week meant by heart emoji sparkle emoji

One per week? Must be a 6’7” movie star

### [Reply, 16:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811070140533842154) · 128 likes

> **Coase’s "Net effect?" Ghost 🏴🕊️ (@GhostCoase):** A meta comment: given the shameful association between intellectuals and Leninism in the 20th century, replication crises, peer-reviewed journal acceptance scandals, suppression of the lab leak hypothesis and so on, academics should at least marginally shift to trial-by-market.

I don’t think McKinsey is academia/intelligentsia

### [Reply to @tracewoodgrains, 16:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811070991251972150) · 9 likes

> **Jack (@tracewoodgrains):** targets of the admin's ire on Wikipedia, direct or aimed at their publications, include @ohabryka, @aaronsibarium, @clairlemon, @nickgillespie and @MattWelch, @bariweiss, @KelseyTuoc, @sentientist, @Aella_Girl, and most of all @ESYudkowsky and @slatestarcodex.

This is just a list of the most intellectually honest people on the internet

### [Reply, 16:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811071292185137196) · 1 like

I’d like to think so, at least for some number of good life-years

### [Quote tweet, 16:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811075168153813419) · 10 likes

Rookie numbers. Gotta get that number up

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSI7Q_pXIAAXPWu.jpg)

> **Quoting henry (@arithmoquine):** made http://ratpuritytest.com. enjoy
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSB_PRBacAAqf2q.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 17:07 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811084885462802758) · 6 likes

Seeing AI stuff on normal TV news is high key uncomfortable for me. I want it to stay on twitter, not leach into the real world

> **Quoting Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett):** Robots in the news
>
> [video attached](https://x.com/adcock_brett/status/1811078394488262757/video/1)

### [Reply to @amazingmap, 17:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811086693241340115) · 3 likes

> **Amazing Maps (@amazingmap):** Chile is so long that it could serve as a bridge connecting Spain to Canada across the Atlantic Ocean
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSE7mtpaYAA9ghV.png)

Construye el puente

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSJFvzQaUAQCX4J.jpg)

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 21:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811147807119507457) · 1 like

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** The guy shot around his feet a bunch of times which is just very typical and normal good guy behavior

Philly doesn’t fuck around

### [Reply to @shauseth, 21:18 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811148136557199625) · 15 likes

> **shaurya (@shauseth):** wait till you find out a billion is just a thousand of those

Big if true

### [Tweet, 21:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811153099983097917) · 18 likes

I wonder what salt would taste like if we hadn’t evolved to need it as a nutrient

Probably just “rock” I guess

### [Quote tweet, 21:43 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811154299608826009) · 4 likes

Ok wait where did hunter gatherers get their sodium? And they probably needed a lot right?

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** I wonder what salt would taste like if we hadn’t evolved to need it as a nutrient
>
> Probably just “rock” I guess

### [Reply to @nocontextmemes, 21:45 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811154808113619168) · 2 likes

> **no context memes (@nocontextmemes):**
>
> [video attached](https://x.com/weirddalle/status/1810977271513239720/video/1)

@Laura_k_Duffy

### [Reply, 22:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811164250574070185) · 9 likes

_(The tweet being replied to is no longer available.)_

That’s not a log scale

### [Quote tweet, 23:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811177867687936193) · 69 likes

It’s cool that a few SWEs just solved applied epistemology

> **Quoting Jay Baxter (@jaybaxter):** Community Notes is inspired by approaches like Wikipedia... but I am very happy with our choice to not display notes before they are rated as helpful by people who've disagreed in the past.
>
> As a result, Wikipedia is quite vulnerable to single rogue individuals in a way we aren't

### [Tweet, 23:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811184291721683147) · 12 likes

Guy who’s vegan except for (humanely killed) screwworms because we need to remind egregious parasites and predators who’s boss

### [Reply to @PstafarianPrice, 23:45 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811185066912981407) · 2 likes

> **Cristine Rice (@PstafarianPrice):** Do you respect Scott Alexander?

98th percentile easily on my respect axis

## Thursday, July 11, 2024

### [Tweet, 01:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811211960345591840) · 9 likes

Born to walk around on a beautify sunny fall day // forced to walk in DC summer with 10^10% humidity

### [Reply to @bijibiji2023, 01:39 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811213605892653563) · 2 likes

> **hoff 🧒🏻😻 (@bijibiji2023):** @AaronBergman18 I’ve been camping in Delaware for like 30 days and it’s been pretty insane even being from TX

This sounds miserable lmao

### [Tweet, 01:59 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811218616966053907) · 9 likes

Ok but, as a straight white man, how \*do\* I have a brat summer?

### [Reply to @menhguin, 02:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811226834886865386) · 2 likes

> **Minh Nhat Nguyen 🦭 (@menhguin):** My plans are measured in centuries
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSK9d_TWEAEpVBN.jpg)

Lmao but also based

### [Reply to @menhguin, 02:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811226879967314391) · 4 likes

> **Minh Nhat Nguyen 🦭 (@menhguin):** I brought up Mr Beast in EA a lot over the past 2-3 years, im gonna pretend i was partly responsible for this

Based

### [Tweet, 02:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811227188567359844) · 7 likes

PSA at night a bunch of sprinklers go off and nobody stops you from running through them and/or just hanging out near them to reapply water (ie cooling agent)

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 08:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811318472162304059) · 1 like

> **Aaron Bergman, May 30, 2024:** done that and then selectively reported one result with at least a partial implication that this result wasn’t one of 100 possibilities. More generally proxy…

(Kinda forgot about this but we are so back)

50\) I think I might finally grok the left's "systemic change" critique of EA:

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSMYI7tXMAAgVQe.jpg)

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 14:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811402942962143431) · 3 likes

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** If you believe that cico is true but trivial and find this article illuminating you might not actually hold the view that cico is true
> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/why-it-was-easier-to-be-skinny-in-the-1980s/407974/
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSNcklrbgAAIQoW.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSNcklbWkAATBYZ.jpg)

Huh? Holding diet and exercise constant doesn’t mean CO stays the same. Lots of ways for the body to use slightly more or less energy, and going from CI=CO to CI=CO+10 each day yields +1 pound of fat/year, which would explain 20 pounds if this happens (on avg) every day from

### [Thread, continued, 14:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811403260139319453) · 2 likes

15 to 35

10 calories is really not much, that’s like 15 minutes of just being alive

### [Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 14:15 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811403905567273039) · 3 likes

> **oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle):** @asbelcas @goblinodds It's 23:23 and I'm desperately trying to fall asleep and despite how much I scroll I'm still awake

Random but thanks for saving my puppy trapped under a truck the other day. I didn’t think anyone could lift it up like that

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 14:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811405912256467279) · 2 likes

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** @AaronBergman18 That's not what they're arguing

I just inferred from the screenshots. 0/1

### [Tweet, 15:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811420537471791542) · 37 likes

.@JesseTayRiver ur famous

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSN1YMra4AAzOod.jpg)

### [Reply to @dissproportion, 15:25 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811421668834992179) · 3 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @dissproportion is no longer available.)_

He’s Canadian so technically…

### [Tweet, 15:26 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811421846556070209) · 13 likes

The masculine urge to buy an experimental unregulated aircraft

### [Thread, continued, 15:27 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811421989565055437) · 5 likes

Low 5 figures on FB marketplace. I think God wants me to fly

### [Reply to @mattyglesias, 16:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811438627714683274) · 8 likes

> **Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias):** This precrime paper is kind of wild.
>
> https://www.nber.org/papers/w30170
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSN77zFXkAAtW4A.png)

.1% of Chicagoans are shot within any 18 months? Wtf?

### [Reply to @justjoshinyou13, 16:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811439430013710639) · 2 likes

> **Josh You (@justjoshinyou13):** and by "wrote" I mean "generated with AI"
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSN2ia6aIAA8DV-.png)

Welcome to hell

### [Quote tweet, 17:15 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811449313718837640) · 5 likes

He’s back!!!

Ezra u should come on Pigeon Hour https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pigeon-hour/id1693154768

> **Quoting Ezra Klein (@ezraklein):** What I’m hearing from congressional Democrats about President Biden is this: He has done nothing to allay their fears. But his defiance — and fury — has been enough to stay their hand.
>
> This is arguably the worst of all worlds: Democrats realize they are drifting toward a grim march to defeat led by a candidate they’ve lost faith in. But they don’t have a plan to do anything about it.
>
> Congressional Democrats aren’t yet at the point where they’re going to abandon Biden en masse. Nor are they at the point where their confidence in him is restored. They need some process that’ll get them to one side or the other, and fast. Here's one suggestion, building off something Senator Bernie Sanders said: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/opinion/biden-democrats-nomination.html

## Friday, July 12, 2024

### [Quote tweet, 00:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811556613142249749) · 6 likes

I can’t even maintain consistency on whether I’ll show up to a thing happening in less than two hours (this is from yesterday, trades at the bottom)

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSPxIzbW0AAlqTp.jpg)

> **Quoting Dwarkesh Patel (@dwarkesh_sp):** My @ManifoldMarkets portfolio looking pretty good
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSPt2bEagAAEmg-.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 00:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811556616191217838) · 4 likes

Manifold market is actually a pretty good way of keeping people updated about my subjective probability that I show up to something. Recommended for fellow flake risks

### [Reply to @skooookum, 00:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811559376089420183) · 10 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @skooookum is no longer available.)_

How do I delete someone else’s tweet

### [Quote tweet, 00:45 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811562566537118201) · 7 likes

I agree but also ELI5 is a dumb prompt/phrase

“Explain to a smart layperson” goes harder

> **Quoting Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@Noahpinion):** When someone says "explain this to me like I'm a five year old", you should not get mad at them; you should just explain it.
>
> Explaining things in a very simple manner helps \*you\* get a more complete and solid understanding of the topic.

### [Reply to @saulmunn, 01:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811568501196202287) · 2 likes

> **saul munn (@saulmunn):** why do most banking apps/websites have such \_horrible\_ UIs? blocky, hard to find stuff, slow, incredibly unaesthetic, etc
>
> cc @patio11 who maybe has a good answer here

Unlike most websites there is strong incentive to choose a bank for substantive other reasons

Switching banks is annoying

Banks don’t actually want you to use their services beyond depositing money (is this true?)

Competition on interest rates push down profit margins (?)

### [Thread, continued, 01:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811569235627561309) · 2 likes

If Facebook fucks up, someone gets locked out of their account for a week maybe; if banks screw up they wind up in court and under intense scrutiny (SEC and FDIC among others). So any change has to go through a gazillion checks

### [Tweet, 01:55 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811580165983437056) · 45 likes

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSQGjzQX0AAUCdB.jpg)

### [Reply to @JgaltTweets, 02:00 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811581450883391532) · 3 likes

> **JgaltTweets (@JgaltTweets):** @AaronBergman18 you can post whatever you want now
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSQHLkVagAEFz5a.jpg)

Big if true, I’ve posted and deleted this twice already

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSQHuo3XQAAjPhe.jpg)

### [Reply, 02:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811591901587427331) · 1 like

$11

### [Tweet, 04:06 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811613140741771432) · 11 likes

I have an idea but I can’t tell anyone bc that would render it moot 😔

### [Reply to @randomstring729, 04:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811615083060986031) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @randomstring729 is no longer available.)_

de908996b3d0f96d0592c5f55482b22b7cedee96ac1fb8f26ff9b403a380ac66

### [Reply to @TylerAlterman, 05:27 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811633509988962495) · 2 likes

> **Tyler is finishing a book, slow to reply (@TylerAlterman):** Has anyone else here ever been homeless? What would have been a helpful thing to receive from a passerby?
>
> (quoting @TylerAlterman: I’d like to have a little something to give the different homeless folks I encounter every day. What fits these criteria? • Relatively cheap (would probably be giving out at least 5 per day) • Will fit in my messenger bag • Not too hard (for ppl w tooth problems) • Healthy •…)

Apparently socks are gold

### [Reply to @adam__isom, 06:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811649450860781701) · 3 likes

> **adam ✧ ❥ ~ (@adam__isom):** @AaronBergman18 how many cute jewish bisexuals do you know??

I mean 3 instantly come to mind but definitely more

### [Quote tweet, 20:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811865955271918034) · 10 likes

Seems bad

> **Quoting Jamie Bernardi (@The_JBernardi):** Well, well, well...
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSUF9PiXAAA9J8R.jpg)

### [Reply to @littIeramblings, 21:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811868520424055024) · 1 like

> **sarah (@littIeramblings):** nah I got crazier friends than u 😇

😔

### [Reply to @AMAZlNGNATURE, 21:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811871038554136950) · 3 likes

> **Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE):** Touching the void on the most breathtaking ridge of the Dolomites😱
>
> [video attached](https://x.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1811639283586908407/video/1)

I would simply not do this

### [Tweet, 23:07 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811900311218586097) · 4 likes

Mio-like drops but specifically for freshly fallen snow to make it yummy (gonna need aspartame not sugar to get concentrated enough): this one legitimately came to me in a dream

### [Reply to @ContainerEnjoyr, 23:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811901196627501139) · 2 likes

> **Container Enjoyer (@ContainerEnjoyr):** @AaronBergman18 You're talking about sno cone mix, I believe? Should be available on Amazon prime.

Nooooooooo

### [Thread, continued, 23:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811901257839444078) · 2 likes

This actually makes sense darn

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 23:49 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811910884819956071) · 2 likes

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** Andy I'm worried you're hanging out with an oddly high number of communists

What % of exurban PA woodworking enthusiasts are communists

### [Reply to @absurdlymax, 23:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811911065367708117) · 8 likes

> **Max Alexander (@absurdlymax):** You gotta get on EA Spotify the jokes are insane there
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSUx2MFXcAAMFUX.jpg)

Nah EA Google Maps is where it’s really at

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSUzgqPWcAA9IHY.jpg)

## Saturday, July 13, 2024

### [Tweet, 00:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811924250762072356) · 9 likes

I’m skeptical of anyone who really \*wants\* to be president, a bit like I am (though less so) of people who want to start a company

Huge amounts of power and money seem very instrumentally useful if you want to change the world (ideally for the world’s sake)…

### [Thread, continued, 00:43 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811924252519534916) · 8 likes

But ideally I’d want those jobs filled by people who see them as a noble sacrifice, but a sacrifice nonetheless.

This is especially true of POTUS of course

### [Tweet, 00:49 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811925989783425298) · 6 likes

Hypothesis: sleep is for all the muscles that rarely got to rest during normal activity in the ancestral environment. Things in the brain just hopped on for the ride, evolutionarily speaking

### [Thread, continued, 00:49 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811925991574425832) · 9 likes

Boy I love speculating about things I know very little about

### [Reply, 02:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811957928628289537) · 1 like

Fair, “skeptical” doesn’t mean like rock solid antipathy

### [Reply to @RFishBlueFish, 03:02 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811959460870426636) · 2 likes

> **Gil (@RFishBlueFish):** @AaronBergman18 I am not skeptical about me becoming president. Like I would probably feel that I should offload most decisions to advisors but I’d take the role and get the world’s best advisors (my Twitter feed, only half kidding)

I’d probably take the role too, just for altruistic reasons and I’d probably hate it

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 03:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811959590738673966) · 2 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 13, 2024:** But ideally I’d want those jobs filled by people who see them as a noble sacrifice, but a sacrifice nonetheless. This is especially true of POTUS of course

Possible I’m just projecting my own preferences too hard here

### [Quote tweet, 04:02 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811974530560082359) · 9 likes

Seems bad

> **Quoting Mark Carnegie 🛡️ (@iammarkcarnegie):** If you don’t think this is a crisis i don’t know what to say to you. H/t ⁦@toadmeister⁩  ⁦@JonHaidt⁩
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSQ084faQAErf6l.jpg)

### [Reply to @tszzl, 04:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811975917356409167) · 3 likes

> **roon (@tszzl):** twitter was better than http://x.com

I just want her back

### [Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 04:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811976491875398083) · 2 likes

> **oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle):** Google docs is sick of my hedging
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSVWdgPWcAA2Djp.png)

😡

### [Reply to @tszzl, 04:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811977253246382142) · 6 likes

> **roon (@tszzl):** twitter is not about content. twitter is about community and interconnection. it should be run as a bloated service organization disguised as a tech startup rather than a cutthroat business

Ironic that a centibillionaire who at least seems to care about things other than money buying the platform—one of the few things that can create the slack for this to happen in a world of Molochian market forces—seems to have led to or at least accelerated the decline

### [Thread, continued, 04:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1811977906165342425) · 3 likes

I’d guess Musk just guessed wrong about the net financial result of firing a ton of employees and now has to lean harder on engagement/ad revenue to “prove” that he wasn’t wrong after all and is in fact a savant businessman after all

### [Reply to @bayeslord, 05:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812002163985404064) · 8 likes

> **bayes (@bayeslord):** that seems a bit broad

It seems to check out under anthropic reasoning but doesn’t rule out a scenario where physics has begins fluid and eventually solidifies (afaik)

### [Quote tweet, 06:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812011527207288854) · 8 likes

Something similar happens to me which is like I say that something bad happened/is happening and then someone tells me not to be ashamed/embarrassed/etc about it

And it’s like “thanks but I’m already not any of those - the underlying thing itself still sucks though”

> **Quoting Cate Hall (@catehall):** My trainer keeps telling me not to be embarrassed at times when it hasn’t occurred to me to be …

### [Thread, continued, 06:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812011674863321536) · 3 likes

Object level go brr

### [Reply to @RafaRuizdeLira, 09:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812063601131196671) · 2 likes

> **Rafael Ruiz ⏸️🔸 (@RafaRuizdeLira):** @AaronBergman18 @absurdlymax Those are rookie numbers, I'm an basically an influencer there (six followers)
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSWbOF7WUAAOUSZ.jpg)

Poast profile link

### [Reply to @polisisti, 09:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812063658345681231) · 2 likes

> **Alessandro (@polisisti):** @RafaRuizdeLira @AaronBergman18 @absurdlymax I used to write a review every two weeks or so, so I got enough points that Google sent me some free socks 😊
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSWhCDJWAAAUdLX.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSWhCPcXcAAJnAg.jpg)

Lmao

### [Thread, continued, 09:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812063708094382218) · 2 likes

Post link

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 09:59 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812064328436068470) · 3 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 13, 2024:** Poast profile link

Can we unironically make EA Google maps happen?

### [Reply to @polisisti, 12:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812102497835626966) · 2 likes

> **Alessandro (@polisisti):** @AaronBergman18 @RafaRuizdeLira @absurdlymax link to... socks?? that's not how the internet works, Aaron!
>
> (I'm sure I'm misunderstanding)

You can share ur reviewer profile but obv do not waste time on this lol

### [Quote tweet, 14:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812127191989145787) · 15 likes

What is the best non-illegal way to fuck with this? I’m being serious

Is there anything I can put a .pdf extension on that will fuck up whatever the backend is?

> **Quoting no longer respecting gardenias (@NLRG_it):** did you know you can sign up for project 2025?
>
> https://www.project2025.org/personnel/

### [Reply to @ContainerEnjoyr, 14:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812130875280159191) · 5 likes

> **Container Enjoyer (@ContainerEnjoyr):** @AaronBergman18 There are better ways to engage with people you disagree with.
>
> But just for the record, PDFs can contain images of absolutely any content or nature, even if the recipient would find it distasteful.
>
> But like, don't, I think. Disagreement is enough. I've made errors too. Be kind.

I think you should be kind and respectful to people, not Google forms. I think P2025 is sufficiently illiberal and norm breaking that abnormal, adversarial behavior is warranted. I’m open to being wrong about this ofc

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 14:25 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812131142801178875) · 6 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 13, 2024:** What is the best non-illegal way to fuck with this? I’m being serious Is there anything I can put a .pdf extension on that will fuck up whatever the backend is?

Convince me I shouldn’t, if you like

### [Reply to @MatjazLeonardis, 14:49 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812137346072039824) · 7 likes

> **Matjaž Leonardis (@MatjazLeonardis):** Does a person whose misery/depression is unrelated with their circumstances actually exist?

“Unrelated” is an awfully high bar but “basically not caused by” - yes definitely

### [Tweet, 14:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812139369836204469) · 8 likes

Amazon didn’t even try

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSYDJxAXMAAZTyv.jpg)

### [Reply to @livgorton, 19:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812203137698300123) · 2 likes

> **Liv (@livgorton):** could someone make GPUs cheaper? thanks.

I can do a couple floating point operations for free

## Sunday, July 14, 2024

### [Reply, 01:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812299999591408061)

Fr? Have you told that story somewhere?

### [Tweet, 01:48 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812303172746051792) · 13 likes

At the simulator conference someone is presenting “On the sensitivity of long run lightcone-scale simulacra outcomes to micro-scale random deviation”

### [Tweet, 01:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812305146950439082) · 18 likes

Orange man bad

### [Reply to @univrsw3th4rt, 17:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812541905919492455) · 2 likes

> **universe sweetheart 💓🌈💭 (@univrsw3th4rt):** time to indulge my curiosity once again: why do you follow me?

Idk

### [Reply, 17:44 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812543809298796666) · 1 like

https://x.com/aaronbergman18/status/1700867333839872209

### [Quote tweet, 18:04 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812548659306979384) · 55 likes

Extremely good use of money by givewell  (not kidding at all tbc)

All EA charities should do this, and probably more

> **Quoting Tim Hua 🇺🇦 (@Tim_Hua_):** I gave @GiveWell  ten thousand dollars and all I got was this hat
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSZXgHFWUAAo8h7.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 18:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812550206304530608) · 27 likes

Signaling merch is the charitable equivalent of hiring more IRS officers

### [Reply to @writemeganwrite, 18:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812552504493629742) · 2 likes

> **megan (@writemeganwrite):** I took a selfie with a frog. Maybe you need to see something kinda silly & not-heavy tonight. 🖤
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSaGaUJXAAAfuzZ.jpg)

Frog: I just took a selfie with a mythical beast

## Monday, July 15, 2024

### [Quote tweet, 01:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812657472110203072) · 5 likes

Presidents used to be smart

> **Quoting Alexey Guzey (@alexeyguzey):**
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSfV9lTWkAATpNl.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSfV9lTWoAAvxXx.jpg)

### [Tweet, 02:18 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812673008638796092) · 9 likes

Being a domestic ss/military sniper must be crazy. Like there’s a 99% chance you’ll never do anything but boy u gotta be ready for those 4 unlikely seconds

### [Tweet, 02:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812676033281171934) · 3 likes

Hot take \[take about the heat\]

### [Tweet, 02:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812676331349360641) · 86 likes

Air conditioning appreciation thread

### [Thread, continued, 02:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812676656802263085) · 7 likes

Thanks air conditioning

### [Thread, continued, 02:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812676658597355832) · 14 likes

We should have military-like norms around HVAC people. Discounts, “thank you for your service,” clapping when they board, etc

### [Thread, continued, 02:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812676852378440083) · 5 likes

Refrigerant chemicals should be geopolitically as important as uranium

### [Thread, continued, 02:34 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812676990878581066) · 3 likes

That’s all I got (for now)

### [Reply to @JgaltTweets, 02:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812678004323009004) · 1 like

> **JgaltTweets (@JgaltTweets):** @AaronBergman18 praise him
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSfsMZkXMAAIT61.jpg)

Thank u Mr Carter 🫡

### [Reply to @getjonwithit, 02:45 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812679813536039189) · 3 likes

> **Jonathan Gorard (@getjonwithit):** "Quantum mechanics is just thermodynamics in imaginary time."
>
> It sounds like a hand-wavy, quasi-philosophical statement. But with a brief dive into the relationship(s) between hyperbolic and parabolic PDEs, it becomes possible to formalize it mathematically. (1/16)
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSeNbc0WQAAy779.png)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSeNcxLXsAAXNw_.png)

PDE = partial differential equation for my fellow ignorant ppl

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSfurumXoAAfrb6.jpg)

### [Reply to @NoahTopper, 02:55 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812682456736125095) · 3 likes

> **Quinoah 🔍⏸️ (@NoahTopper):** @RafaRuizdeLira https://x.com/aaronbergman18/status/1783521332312801720?s=46

Apparently it just simplifies to an expression that is exactly pi if you integrate from -inf to inf but it integrates from -e to e

Which kinda should be illegal ya

### [Tweet, 03:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812685736019103966) · 21 likes

Kinda wild how rare assassination attempts are in the US. The US specifically because:

\- big country with lots of people
\- lots of guns
\- highly polarized
\- politics is objectively quite important and is considered as such

### [Thread, continued, 03:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812685737403285579) · 13 likes

\- we’re over-the-top and extreme in like every other domain relative to other developed countries

It’s kinda a white pill on humans tbh

### [Quote tweet, 03:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812689643554394409) · 2,321 likes

The US will spend a quadrillion dollars on education reform and still not implement the three things that actually work:

\- Phonics
\- Free school lunches (breakfast too? Idk)
\- A/C

> **Quoting Alessandro (@polisisti):** @AaronBergman18 Air conditioning: the best thing for cognition since, like, sleeping adequately
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSf2z6CWoAEcIKr.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSf20CwXIAA0egP.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 03:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812689645404107238) · 39 likes

Article the screenshot is from https://qz.com/1291997/heat-makes-it-harder-for-students-to-learn-and-thats-why-every-school-needs-air-conditioning

### [Thread, continued, 03:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812689647325397136) · 27 likes

Paper it references https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w24639/w24639.pdf

### [Thread, continued, 03:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812691178044698985) · 28 likes

3/5 which is not great under “mastery based grading” I assume

### [Tweet, 04:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812706959415447560) · 22 likes

“Nothing ever happens” is one of my least favorite memes from people I otherwise like

### [Thread, continued, 04:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812706961131258301) · 9 likes

I actually think I get it

Like for upper middle class intelligentsia-type online people in the West we’ve seen lots of claims about how important X or Y is/will be and then lo and behold our lives don’t actually change

### [Thread, continued, 04:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812706963169415425) · 11 likes

Examples:

\- crispr
\- Trump elected
\- cultured meat for vegetarians
\- Brexit (possible counterexample if you think it slowed growth)
\- even AI to some degree. I’d really like to submit some CT scans to an AI that is robustly better than human radiologists, but someone I can’t yet

### [Thread, continued, 04:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812706965073608942) · 11 likes

Two problems with it:

1\) you’re in an extremely selected bubble

2\) more importantly, way too hard on empiricism/induction in a way that is bad for making predictions or policy. It’s totally fine and directionally sorta correct to joke about, terrible to actually lean on

### [Tweet, 05:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812716034870108437) · 4 likes

Should I go for a walk at 1am

### [Reply, 05:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812717098684059755) · 1 like

Hmm this could be a good investment

### [Reply to @_Mira___Mira_, 05:44 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812724928275157370) · 3 likes

> **Mira (@_Mira___Mira_):** "Nothing ever happens" if you're not very perceptive.
>
> Every 5 years lots of stuff is happening all the time.
> CS, math, science, companies, products, etc.
>
> But if you live in a cage deep underground in Kansas, you aren't looking so you'll miss it all.
>
> I can hardly keep up!
>
> (quoting @AaronBergman18: “Nothing ever happens” is one of my least favorite memes from people I otherwise like)

I feel like this is kinda the point though - like that list of “things” not cashing out as nontrivial changes to people’s lives is what the statement is supposed to allege (or at least this is my interpretation of it)

### [Reply to @larsiusprime, 05:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812726957353599443) · 2 likes

> **Lars Doucet (@larsiusprime):** There are multiple kinds of suffering.
>
> “virtuous” suffering where people praise you for soldiering on.
>
> “Invisible” suffering where nobody cares
>
> And \*wretched\* suffering, where people hate you \*because\* of your suffering

There’s a related axis which is like “does the thing that looks virtuous to do in your situation actually help?”

Sometimes it makes things worse

### [Quote tweet, 06:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812736887674556851) · 5 likes

I actually think it would be better just to implement straight away, but an especially EA thing to do would be to run a study: @GiveWell or whomever sends merch to all their donors in Chicago, Dallas, and Toronto and compare to however many peer cities they can identify

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** Extremely good use of money by givewell  (not kidding at all tbc)
>
> All EA charities should do this, and probably more

### [Reply, 06:34 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812737516488798543) · 3 likes

> **Coase’s "Net effect?" Ghost 🏴🕊️ (@GhostCoase):** @AaronBergman18 The methodologically soundest research repeatedly finds general gun levels have no statistically significant net impact on homicide rates, so it’s not particularly surprising that US assassination rates are not highly common.
>
> https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004723521400107X

My prior on this being true (as in there is really a trivial, zero, or negative effect) is pretty low

I have a cached take that gun density is like the main determinant here but don’t even remember why I believe that

Anyway 👀

### [Reply to @parafactual, 06:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812737729605542276) · 3 likes

> **You (@parafactual):** what's the best drug combination with which to produce a ridiculously high rate of bangers?

Idk but I’d speculate stim + psychedelic

Which specifically idk even harder

### [Tweet, 06:58 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812743422521840038) · 13 likes

Manifold markets is maybe better thought of as an innovative voting platform than a kinda fake prediction market

### [Thread, continued, 07:05 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812745364874617304) · 4 likes

Yeah this is true, good terminology kinda doesn’t exist insofar as the connotation of “prediction market” implies trading with money or something like it

### [Reply, 10:48 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812801325043707940) · 14 likes

> **Coase’s "Net effect?" Ghost 🏴🕊️ (@GhostCoase):** @AaronBergman18 What are phonics?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonics

### [Reply to @whittomd, 10:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812802047411978609) · 41 likes

> **Derek Whittom (@whittomd):** @AaronBergman18 They don’t teach phonics in schools anymore?

My knowledge is extremely limited but I have inferred from the fact that this is a culture war-adjacent thing now that it’s not universal

### [Reply to @SpencerKSchiff, 18:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812918232933965976) · 31 likes

> **Spencer Schiff (@SpencerKSchiff):** There probably isn’t a good economic case for the A/C thing anymore. The money would be better spent on AI infrastructure. Improving education wouldn’t pay out for years (once the students are in the workforce) but the intelligence explosion will be underway by then

From an EA perspective yeah there’s no way this is the literal best use of money

But in terms of state and federal budgets it probably checks out as much better than idk like a ton of shit that legislatures actually allocate money to

### [Reply to @NielsHoven, 21:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1812968878336844060) · 13 likes

> **Niels Hoven 🐮 (@NielsHoven):** Phonics is still quite controversial although starting to gain in popularity again. It’s least popular in progressive districts due to its association with George Bush’s push for evidence-supported teaching methods

Love to own the GOP by making it harder for poor kids to learn how to read

## Tuesday, July 16, 2024

### [Reply to @amelapay, 02:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813033872122388869) · 7 likes

> **Pamela J. Hobart (@amelapay):** I’m sorry what
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSje17-WwAAG4Hu.jpg)

Oral/nasal oxytocin doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier afaik

### [Reply to @austinc3301, 10:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813164348136628549) · 1 like

> **Agus 🔸 (@austinc3301):** Part of what I like about AI Safety is that it’s a field where I feel like I can work every day to make a difference even on very big, important problems
>
> But sometimes things like these happen and I am forced to remember how much is completely out of our hands
>
> (quoting @JDVance: There are undoubtedly risks related to AI. One of the biggest: A partisan group of crazy people use AI to infect every part of the information economy with left wing bias. Gemini can’t produce accurate history. ChatGPT promotes genocidal concepts. The solution is open source)

Oy vey

### [Reply to @WillowChem, 10:54 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813165304056291664) · 1 like

> **MagpAI (@WillowChem):** Increasingly looks like I'll be moving to Sheffield

@littIeramblings

### [Quote tweet, 12:07 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813183604123476381) · 10 likes

Wait what

I feel like this could use some actual journalism

> **Quoting Canderous Ordoliberal 🐊 (@butleriano):** Afghan embassies are so cool. They don’t even have a government in exile but they’re still there, handling consular duties and issuing visas that the Taliban has to accept because nobody is going to let them open an embassy.

### [Reply to @Aella_Girl, 22:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813335024567255434) · 9 likes

> **Aella (@Aella_Girl):** new blog post - I looked at a bunch of escort listings to see what sort of stuff correlates with charging more money.
> 1/
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSpB6g1bIAAqJZc.jpg)

Twitter

### [Reply to @hplemke, 22:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813336232153489874) · 2 likes

> **Harrison Lemke (@hplemke):** chatgpt writes in the exact voice of a bright college freshman who didn't do the reading and that tells you a lot about the people who are impressed with it

@peterwildeford an imposter

### [Reply to @ilex_ulmus, 22:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813338069929722205) · 6 likes

> **Holly ⏸️ Elmore (@ilex_ulmus):** I keep seeing the cave again when I close my eyes and I feel so safe and supported in the still, solid dark. I really liked this cave.
>
> (quoting @ilex_ulmus: I’m claustrophilic and I have had this craving to visit a cave for months. So yesterday we went for a crawl in Moaning Caverns! It was so much fun—highly recommend 😃)

Caves and the ocean - humans were not meant to go there

### [Reply to @btdrawer, 22:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813339952631156894) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @btdrawer is no longer available.)_

It seems I’ve attracted Forbidden Places Twitter

### [Reply to @kindgracekind, 22:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813340365552050673) · 4 likes

> **Grace (@kindgracekind):** Tautologies are always true

Big if true

### [Reply to @AndyMasley, 22:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813346298629644675) · 14 likes

> **Andy Masley (@AndyMasley):** The Acquired episode about Lockheed Martin did not disappoint
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSpG_jTXIAA_R6T.jpg)

Saw this recently at the Air and Space museum. Cool plane

### [Reply to @polisisti, 22:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813346346990022721) · 4 likes

> **Alessandro (@polisisti):** seems like one could solve this by simply expanding Ohio

Real

### [Quote tweet, 23:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813352051432358092) · 17 likes

Humans were meant to go into the mountains for a Quest every once in a while. Lakes are ok. Rivers ok if slow. Then retvrn to the village. Sorry I don’t make the rules

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** @ilex_ulmus Caves and the ocean - humans were not meant to go there

### [Reply to @hplemke, 23:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813356892803993881) · 3 likes

> **Harrison Lemke (@hplemke):** @AaronBergman18 @peterwildeford i run busytown. who are you

I’m Aaron

## Wednesday, July 17, 2024

### [Reply to @RFishBlueFish, 04:20 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813428583076962387) · 4 likes

> **Gil (@RFishBlueFish):** @hplemke @AaronBergman18 @peterwildeford Aaron how the fuck did you get Marianne Williamson to follow you

I defended her once on here idk lol

### [Tweet, 04:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813436461183582386) · 6 likes

Ngl I have no idea what the party conventions are for

### [Reply, 05:02 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813439201175646697) · 1 like

Do they have any “official” functions politically, though? I feel like they’re talked about as though they do

### [Tweet, 05:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813442875046191451) · 4 likes

POV: you go to the Air and Space Museum one time

[![Video thumbnail](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1813442822596419584/pu/img/lubgOYs4gQF1tzLh.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813442875046191451/video/1) (video, plays on X)

## Thursday, July 18, 2024

### [Quote tweet, 01:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813740936129925341) · 26 likes

Dang 30 years ago I would have had \*zero\* hinge matches

> **Quoting Someone:**

### [Reply to @menhguin, 02:20 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813760772742475976) · 2 likes

> **Minh Nhat Nguyen 🦭 (@menhguin):** @Kat\_\_Woods Kat's most innovative addition to EA is introducing a concept called extroversion

Huge innovation

### [Reply to @KatSpartz, 02:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813760881769283963) · 3 likes

> **Kat Spartz ⏸️ 🔶 (@KatSpartz):** I immediately like people more if they spontaneously call me
>
> It's an indicator of reasonableness.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSvDVWBagAEfZho.jpg)

Has anyone called you since tweeting this?

### [Tweet, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813780048509628727) · 91 likes

I’m anti-anti-calling the secret service the ss

Like really we have to give up 1/676 two letter acronyms for all of eternity? Context cues go brr, cmon

### [Reply to @tylertracy321, 05:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813810342696300706) · 4 likes

> **Tyler Tracy (@tylertracy321):** In the gym with a bunch of EAs and one of them asks exercise is the most tractable and neglected

Probably 10 second deadhangs on a 12-20mm edge? A lot of rock climbing performance depends on just that. Pretty easy/low effort way to get good at a sport

### [Reply to @helloitslynne, 06:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813830308422144438) · 13 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @helloitslynne is no longer available.)_

I can’t believe I’m being a normie about this but accurately assessing this kind of thing and then acting accordingly (so deferring if it’s nbd for you but a bigger deal for them and expecting the same) just seems like normal good relationship dynamics

### [Reply to @ilex_ulmus, 07:04 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813832303162143199) · 2 likes

> **Holly ⏸️ Elmore (@ilex_ulmus):** You're misunderstanding-- she loves preference strength monsters

Typical (me misunderstanding things)

### [Reply to @helloitslynne, 07:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813833247731732685) · 2 likes

> **lynne (@helloitslynne):** @ilex_ulmus @AaronBergman18 You’re prob right and I’m not familiar with the term
>
> What’s a preference strength monster?

I think it’s a play on “utility monster” which is a thing from moral philosophy of like a being who could potentially experience much more happiness than anyone else

So this would be someone who just has very strong preferences, thereby generally dominating those of others

### [Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 07:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813833463730172211) · 5 likes

> **oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle):** I think you're misunderstanding-- Holly is joking

😔 I live amid epistemic chaos

### [Tweet, 07:26 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813837675163500854) · 6 likes

Maybe they should let Biden be VP

### [Reply to @bustyjeacs, 07:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813839062802874411) · 4 likes

> **Justin Beaconsfield (@bustyjeacs):** @AaronBergman18 I dunno. There are sports teams out there retiring two-digit numbers.

Jackie Robinson kinda cooked tho

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 07:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813839257460727887) · 2 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):**
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSwMBJ8acAEWm_0.jpg)
> (quoting @CaudilloXIV: every male selfie is a cry for help)

@absurdlymax

### [Tweet, 07:39 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813841093878034853) · 12 likes

Fuck I don’t want to go to the beach

But I shall oblige

Let the beachpoasting commence

### [Reply, 07:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813845419161784665) · 4 likes

> **Coase’s "Net effect?" Ghost 🏴🕊️ (@GhostCoase):** @AaronBergman18 I think I will be going to the beach with a friend today as well.

If it wasn’t for the sand, heat, humidity, and single motel room for four adults (nuclear family, I’m the youngest) it wouldn’t be so bad

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 10:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813881734242480598) · 5 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** damn i'm getting a new Major Character Development like twice a day rn
>
> this is what i get for trying to skip the "being a teenager" life arc. some parts of the plot even i can't deviate too far from, and will occur no matter what

I’m curious to hear more, but if you just wanna vaguepost that is very understandable

### [Reply to @chercher_ai, 10:25 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813882678673830125) · 28 likes

> **☯️ 🐻 (@chercher_ai):** Being someone else is as different as being on psilocybin
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSvBrCEaYAAs3zF.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSvBq1BboAAHlTj.jpg)

Do we have good reason to think differences in “brain organization” are congruent to differences in subjective experience?

### [Reply to @NoahTopper, 17:26 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1813988820007768148) · 2 likes

> **Quinoah 🔍⏸️ (@NoahTopper):** @AaronBergman18 @helloitslynne “Nooooo! You can’t make interpersonal utility comparisons! It’s not logically sound! 😭😭😭” Watch me

🤝

## Friday, July 19, 2024

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 14:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814302411118288998) · 7 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 18, 2024:** Fuck I don’t want to go to the beach But I shall oblige Let the beachpoasting commence

Ngl this doesn’t really inspire me to act

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GS2ybJrWgAALbF5.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 14:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814305358711583192) · 4 likes

It’s a beautiful day to stay at a safe distance from sand and walk around listening to podcasts

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GS21G4UWcAAO-Wt.jpg)

### [Reply to @absurdlymax, 14:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814312294697816190) · 4 likes

> **Max Alexander (@absurdlymax):** Wow what an incredible ad
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GS25-CKXcAIYTl1.jpg)

I’m buying

### [Tweet, 16:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814329652539785718) · 29 likes

Simp welfare

### [Thread, continued, 16:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814329719497601481) · 3 likes

Creds @absurdlymax

### [Reply to @sarah_micheleg, 16:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814334864725881250) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @sarah_micheleg is no longer available.)_

@JesseTayRiver how much to add plumbing? I’m only 95% kidding

### [Tweet, 16:25 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814335842862952869) · 8 likes

Have you ever created (“trained”) an AI model?

### [Reply to @slimepriestess, 16:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814339057129828503) · 14 likes

> **Ra (@slimepriestess):** @AaronBergman18 if someone handed me a cool million to train a model i would, but anything i could afford to train would be shit compared to existing models.

You can always make terrible models for fun (this took 12 hours on an m1 MBP)

[![Video thumbnail](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1814338701478047746/pu/img/YEBFUSkELgZCO3Xu.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814339057129828503/video/1) (video, plays on X)

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 17:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814346705568936085) · 8 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 19, 2024:** It’s a beautiful day to stay at a safe distance from sand and walk around listening to podcasts

Ok fine I’m actually going to the beach

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GS3atcKXkAEfBFe.jpg)

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GS3atcKXkAAbjr1.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 17:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814346815904395290) · 4 likes

(Going for the SBF look)

### [Thread, continued, 18:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814362962540241098) · 6 likes

Atlantic Ocean is quite a bit colder than the Arlington VA public pool. Who do I complain to

### [Tweet, 19:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814387392352026678) · 1 like

Glad I went to the actual beach as a reminder of why I dislike the beach (sand =B-, ocean = B-, wet sand = F)

### [Thread, continued, 19:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814387997338677314) · 45 likes

Honestly sunburns are pretty based because it gives you an immediate reason to wear sunscreen. Could you imagine if sun exposure only caused cancer with no near-term effect? The culture wars over it would be crazy

### [Reply to @NoahTopper, 20:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814392492621738265) · 4 likes

> **Quinoah 🔍⏸️ (@NoahTopper):** @AaronBergman18 I don’t burn easily, am I fucked?

Idk how much this means you’re just not taking the relevant kind of damage for cancer either

### [Tweet, 21:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814408000242889008) · 15 likes

Has anyone proposed the USG buy a majority stake of TSMC and move operations to the US?

(Obligatory: idk what I’m talking about)

### [Thread, continued, 21:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814408002213978123) · 5 likes

Plausibly it would be a good use of money even if the investments was written off as spending

But also plausibly it would cause the stock prices to rise pretty and be a net fiscal win? Being in Taiwan \*per se\* can't possibly be good for the net present value of the firm

### [Thread, continued, 21:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814408004088852770) · 5 likes

There's an Everettian branch or two where SBF personally does this

### [Reply to @peterwildeford, 21:55 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814418734016016384) · 2 likes

> **Peter Wildeford🇺🇸🚀 (@peterwildeford):** The US gov is already doing all the parts of this that make sense https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2024/04/biden-harris-administration-announces-preliminary-terms-tsmc-expanded

Based

### [Tweet, 22:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814420243688894469) · 10 likes

Tragically I am away, but DC people FYI there is a ~protest (“encouragement gathering”?) tomorrow at 3pm asking Biden not to run https://bit.ly/PTTRally

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 23:26 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814441668390633847) · 3 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 19, 2024:** Honestly sunburns are pretty based because it gives you an immediate reason to wear sunscreen. Could you imagine if sun exposure only caused cancer with no…

Scared away a duck ☹️

[![Video thumbnail](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1814441590250745857/pu/img/H629TdZYGa4sUsfV.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814441668390633847/video/1) (video, plays on X)

### [Tweet, 23:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814443090855252005) · 2 likes

I hope there’s a Chinese Michael Lewis to write this book

[![Video thumbnail](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1814443012254015489/pu/img/x5DWxtld0X9ht8Fy.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814443090855252005/video/1) (video, plays on X)

## Saturday, July 20, 2024

### [Tweet, 00:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814455929758232671) · 8 likes

Maybe this exists but there’s a blog (/LessWrong) post to be written about when “testing on the training set” doesn’t actually matter (ie shouldn’t  be written off as fake performance)

### [Reply to @austinc3301, 00:47 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814462135667175832) · 3 likes

> **Agus 🔸 (@austinc3301):** wdym

This is proving weirdly hard to answer to my satisfaction but some misc points:

\- simply memorizing a lot of information can be very powerful. Like consider a language model that really does just perfectly connect the dots in gazillion-dimension space so it will always get the

### [Reply, 03:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814495701172171149) · 1 like

There is absolutely a niche for LinkedIn shitposting that is not being filled

Could be you

### [Tweet, 03:15 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814499246952927709) · 11 likes

Has R ever caused a global polycrisis? I didn’t think so

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GS5lcpLWwAEK-1b.jpg)

### [Reply to @StatsLime, 04:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814513113913290882) · 2 likes

> **Max ⏸️ Limelihood 🔸🔸🔸 (@StatsLime):** @AaronBergman18 What do you think the replication crisis is

Only python and stata users affected

### [Reply to @focusfronting, 04:20 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814515757360853050) · 431 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @focusfronting is no longer available.)_

This would be peak self-actualization for me

### [Tweet, 12:25 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814637843920154733) · 55 likes

Sister’s bf is named Sam. We’re about to become unfathomably wealthy and then entangled in a world-historic scandal

### [Quote tweet, 12:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814640359827268046) · 8 likes

Bro has more rizz than me

> **Quoting Matt Bateman (@mbateman):** What happens when you set up a 4yo, whose writing norms are informed by rudimentary phonics and an obsession with stickers...
>
> ...with the ability to text her friend, also a 4yo, whose writing norms are informed by obsessively copying out track listings from the backs of CDs?
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GS4mX03asAQ3_oj.jpg)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GS4mZELasAM3CvP.jpg)

### [Reply to @JgaltTweets, 12:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814640529583284246) · 6 likes

> **JgaltTweets (@JgaltTweets):** 1\. Never put anything in writing
> 2\. Do not join the wire fraud group chat
> 3\. Always have an escape plane

I’m definitely naming our three person gc Wire Fraud if it ever exists

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 13:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814647391414358503) · 14 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 19, 2024:** Scared away a duck ☹️

\> family event
\> everyone compliments my shirt
\> it is the only clothing item I own that I had zero part in acquiring

### [Reply to @seconds_0, 14:46 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814673220760383572) · 1 like

> **0.005 Seconds (3/694) (@seconds_0):** At a teen event at a mensa convention at Disney world

Based

### [Reply to @keccers, 20:02 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814752863710544098) · 3 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @keccers is no longer available.)_

Should I be? I’ve been under the impression it’s roughly as bad as drinking till you pass out

Which in turn seems to me like nbd to do a single digit number of times in your life but maybe I’m wrong about this

### [Reply to @ElytraMithra, 20:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814761412511621394) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @ElytraMithra is no longer available.)_

Idk

### [Tweet, 21:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814769997186527666) · 5 likes

@qwweryo and I met up today and chatted a bunch

We concluded that it is very strange and mysterious how little money AI safety gets relative to everything else in light of the expressed opinions of self-described effective altruists

### [Thread, continued, 21:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814769998940021028) · 4 likes

This is perpetually a take of mine wrt to animal welfare (we also agreed on this btw)

### [Thread, continued, 21:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814770001586385108) · 4 likes

To name names a bit, it seems like most of this issue stems from OpenPhil just not being rational/deliberate/strategic at the level of resource allocation between the GHW and GCR cause areas (and human vs animal wellbeing, I’d add)

### [Thread, continued, 21:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814770003545366987) · 2 likes

Ofc maybe strategic deliberation has happened in private but to state the obvious this would clash a bit with the rest of its ethos and record

### [Reply, 21:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814772225196666975) · 1 like

Seems bad

### [Reply to @mattparlmer, 21:20 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814772439546802296) · 2 likes

> **mattparlmer 🪐 🌷 (@mattparlmer):** Around a third of the commercial buildings in my neighborhood are straight up vacant, more like half if you count the ones being parked as a “gallery” or similar unproductive function
>
> At this point I think govt needs to force landlords to sell properties that they won’t fill

Obligatory: land value tax

### [Reply to @burny_tech, 21:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814774564121162014) · 2 likes

> **Burny - Effective Curiosity (@burny_tech):** @TonyTheLion2500 applied math

Applied philosophy

### [Quote tweet, 21:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814777475970572471) · 9 likes

If you thought you didn’t know how to code, congrats now you do

Ask ChatGPT or Claude to walk you through how to do everything. Lots of implicit knowledge (“what app do you open?”) but the LLMs have it all

> **Quoting Benjamin (@bschne):** Code-o-phobia is real — I constantly see clearly smart people who use visual programming like tools get incredibly scared at any mention of writing five lines of Code™, when it would in fact be 10x more ergonomic for their use case after even a brief learning period

### [Thread, continued, 21:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814777478738563519) · 5 likes

Probably one unspoken barrier is just figuring out like what the space of possibilities is, which is really not obvious

### [Tweet, 22:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814782681840034190) · 2 likes

There is a paper to be written on the philosophy and topology/geometry/algebraic modeling of mini golf

Bad mini-golf courses use geometry to funnel the balls toward or away from especially good OR bad places for a player’s ball to be…

### [Thread, continued, 22:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814783216815071316) · 2 likes

so like the worst possible configurations are

1\) a cone surrounded by a reservoir that inevitably leads to the hole (so tapping the ball in any direction at all leads to a hole in 1

### [Thread, continued, 22:04 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814783468888293581) · 2 likes

2\) a very tall cone where you start from the bottom with the hole on top, such that only a perfect, very difficult shot works at all, and when it works it works perfectly (ie can never make the final shot easier with intermediate shots)

### [Thread, continued, 22:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814785114565398579) · 3 likes

The best possible hole (in this one respect) is a perfectly flat course

The Fundamental Problem of Mini Golf Design is how to distort the courses with obstacles and such such that novelty/aesthetics/variance in difficulty/etc are high while the influence of mere gravity is low

## Sunday, July 21, 2024

### [Reply to @frances__lorenz, 11:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1814991502298222874) · 4 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @frances__lorenz is no longer available.)_

U can always do some regressions for fun ✨🥰

### [Reply to @_Mira___Mira_, 13:13 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815012208062984543) · 4 likes

> **Mira (@_Mira___Mira_):**
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTAsAMMaAAALinq.jpg)

Fixed

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTA3-8-XAAEEGPo.jpg)

### [Reply to @Aella_Girl, 14:18 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815028554087768385) · 6 likes

> **Aella (@Aella_Girl):** I'm staunchly anti ruching, poplin, crepe, cutout, ruffle, taupe, collar, denim, bell sleeves, and most print.
> I'm pro platform, knit, kilim, micromodal, embroidery, color blocking, bishop sleeves, and crochet.

I recognize two of these terms

### [Reply to @thoth_iv, 14:54 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815037582570303846) · 9 likes

> **Thŏth (@thoth_iv):** Are EAs generally aware that Lightcone CEO O. Habryka recently said, "I have definitely taken actions within the bounds of what seems reasonable that have aimed at getting the EA community to shut down or disappear (and will probably continue to do so)." Thoughts?

@ohabryka is there a good place I can learn more about why you think this?

Gotta be the most blatant dissonance in my worldview rn

### [Reply to @AndyMasley, 15:46 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815050806455894123) · 6 likes

> **Andy Masley (@AndyMasley):** In college I made a simple test for my beliefs about foreign policy and when war is justified. Any beliefs about US foreign policy have to justify the North invading the South in the Civil War, and America getting involved in World War 2. If they don't, they're wrong.

Civil war is a bit tougher, no? Slavery was not a core motivation for the original invasion afaik

### [Quote tweet, 15:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815051990570782991) · 21 likes

Rich strategy for lots of things

Do your beliefs about affirmative action rule out early 20th century Jewish quotas?

Do your beliefs about the legitimacy of protest tactics justify consumer boycotts of apartheid South Africa?

> **Quoting Andy Masley (@AndyMasley):** In college I made a simple test for my beliefs about foreign policy and when war is justified. Any beliefs about US foreign policy have to justify the North invading the South in the Civil War, and America getting involved in World War 2. If they don't, they're wrong.

### [Thread, continued, 15:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815051993372602622) · 5 likes

Ofc you might end up biting the bullet on some things like this. God knows I am a fan of bullet biting when the bullets are in fact good to eat

### [Tweet, 15:54 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815052633591218619) · 10 likes

Almost unironically the democrats should pick @JesseTayRiver

### [Thread, continued, 15:54 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815052635159802221) · 5 likes

The cyberbullying will continue until campaign enrollment improves

### [Reply to @GjMcGowan, 16:01 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815054563969298590) · 2 likes

> **George McGowan (@GjMcGowan):** @AndyMasley @AaronBergman18 omg it wasn’t about slavery??? I thought it was and it was only confederates who thought otherwise???

Secession was largely indeed about slavery, initially the north was not committed to ending it though (just to keeping the union)

Eventually the war became functionally over the fate of slavery in the south

Other ppl who aren’t history dunces should correct me

### [Reply to @AndyMasley, 16:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815054985119367274) · 3 likes

> **Andy Masley (@AndyMasley):** It's a little complicated:
> \-Secession was about slavery. Contemporary apologists for the Confederacy lie about that.
> \-Original motivation for invading the South was preserving the Union.
> \-A lot of Northerners including Lincoln were very interested in eventually ending slavery

Sorry Andy, lost by 5s. Great minds, many such cases, etc

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTBe44HXIAAjzGy.jpg)

### [Reply to @shinboson, 16:06 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815055797476339722) · 2 likes

> **𝞍 Shin Megami Boson 𝞍 (@shinboson):** @retarded_whore I strongly suspect that if they truly had no sacred cows they’d act much less like nerds and more like Machiavelli’s prince

Nothing being sacred doesn’t mean nothing is important or valuable or good

Like in some literal sense no I don’t think anything is sacred (but I am a sort of moral realist, and think some things really are important, valuable, and good)

### [Reply to @shinboson, 16:06 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815055837024420121) · 2 likes

> **𝞍 Shin Megami Boson 𝞍 (@shinboson):** What are the sacred cows of rationalism?

### [Tweet, 16:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815056875882508453) · 29 likes

100 pages of reading a day is a lot, and quality/retention trades off significantly with quantity

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTBgmzwWgAAsfTD.jpg)

### [Tweet, 17:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815071282100085187) · 8 likes

Finally signed up for the Claude API. Here are a few Tweets Sonnet 3.5 thinks I would write based

### [Thread, continued, 17:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815071283606180152) · 8 likes

I think the most underrated part of the "AI will kill us all" narrative is that it's just so fucking boring

Like if I'm gonna die in some cool sci-fi way I'd prefer it be like "a rogue nanotech swarm eats all the oxygen" or "we accidentally create a black hole" or smth

### [Thread, continued, 17:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815071284809662465) · 5 likes

I think the happiest I've ever been was when I was 12 and my dad told me he'd take me to the bookstore and let me pick out any book I wanted

### [Thread, continued, 17:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815071285715620304) · 13 likes

I think I'm gonna start saying "I'm not sure" instead of "I don't know" bc the latter feels like it implies I have no relevant info or thoughts at all

### [Thread, continued, 17:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815071542138622189) · 6 likes

Hypothesis: You can get a very decent proxy for how much someone currently cares about longevity by asking how many days this year they've eaten blueberries/other berries

### [Thread, continued, 17:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815071709264752987) · 5 likes

^that was a good one. Using 400 example tweets, total cost $.06

### [Thread, continued, 17:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815071828706042223) · 3 likes

Rate limiting with the boys

### [Thread, continued, 17:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815071918959075599) · 3 likes

Alright lets try Opus now

### [Thread, continued, 17:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815074142191747529) · 4 likes

Idk who needs to hear this but if you're a guy and you're not getting matches on Hinge, it's probably because your photos suck

\[this cost $.30\]

### [Thread, continued, 17:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815075136262815792) · 2 likes

The Haiku ones are weirdly better

Each costs about half a cent (using 400 examples)

### [Thread, continued, 17:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815075283839381740) · 4 likes

How do I become a professional debater? Like someone who gets paid to show up and argue contrarian positions in front of audiences

### [Quote tweet, 18:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815087107485908999) · 6 likes

The unreasonable effectiveness of my followers

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** Tragically I am away, but DC people FYI there is a ~protest (“encouragement gathering”?) tomorrow at 3pm asking Biden not to run https://bit.ly/PTTRally

### [Tweet, 18:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815087542263300179) · 10 likes

Common @ezraklein W

### [Reply to @beala, 18:20 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815089565784490485) · 2 likes

> **Alex Beal 🆎 (@beala):** Honestly these are indistinguishable from the genuine article.

Oh no I really am this lame

### [Tweet, 20:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815124667352375518) · 7 likes

Apparently my dad’s pickup line (which worked, hence me) was “I’m here to deliver some materials”

## Monday, July 22, 2024

### [Reply to @calebwatney, 01:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815198031131603038) · 2 likes

> **Caleb Watney (@calebwatney):** Ezra, realizing he can leave Twitter again
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTB8VZSXcAAEbnt.jpg)

Noooo Ezra stay

### [Reply to @Kirsten3531, 01:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815200786512531712) · 2 likes

> **Kirsten (@Kirsten3531):** Categories of economists I've heard of:
> 1 international development randomistas
> 2 used to work for the British government
> 3 the freakonomics guys
> 4 behavioural economists
> 5 edgelords at George Mason University
> 6 Acemoglu

So many fun other categories to explore
\- econometrics bro
\- hired by Amazon to optimize pricing
\- competent civil servant at \[basically any federal agency\]
\- Chinese TA who knows their shit
\- guy from the 18-19th century discovering shit
\- @jenniferdoleac

### [Tweet, 03:55 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815234310674305062) · 4 likes

Feeling like I might actually be pathologically inept with respect to social cues. Fuck

### [Tweet, 14:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815396522785120264) · 5 likes

Hey did u guys know that the FDA has determined that no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBST treated and non-rBST treated cows

### [Thread, continued, 14:43 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815397308596466003) · 2 likes

It will be funny if actually nobody knows this

### [Tweet, 15:15 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815405434981040560) · 10 likes

Nobody:

Nobody in history: never tried to feed a baby exclusively almond milk

Almond milk container: this product is NOT to be used as baby formula

### [Reply to @dgant, 15:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815407034596229175) · 2 likes

> **Dan Gant ⚡ PurpleWave ⚡ Games (@dgant):** @AaronBergman18 the number of people jailed each year for killing their children by feeding them some kind of malnourishment says otherwise

Shoot

### [Tweet, 16:26 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815423069726318923) · 12 likes

I genuinely do not understand how people deny the hard problem of consciousness from the direction of eliminativism (while apparently NOT biting the bullet on an extremely strong form of illusionism)

Either qualia are fake (ie “illusory”) or they’re real and mysterious

### [Thread, continued, 16:26 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815423071546646907) · 7 likes

Not uniquely mysterious - just as mysterious as all apparently fundamental phenomena like electromagnetism

### [Tweet, 16:47 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815428493355753852) · 9 likes

Aaron don’t wear his shirt inside out for a whole day difficulty impossible

### [Tweet, 16:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815429279687086274) · 12 likes

Hypothesis: @absurdlymax and @arithmoquine are the same person

### [Reply to @arithmoquine, 16:54 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815430328699265439) · 3 likes

> **henry (@arithmoquine):** another henry alt has been identified
>
> (quoting @AaronBergman18: Hypothesis: @absurdlymax and @arithmoquine are the same person)

@absurdlymax big if true

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 17:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815439055233970180) · 3 likes

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** @GjMcGowan @AaronBergman18
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTG7QfpXkAAC6UJ.png)

Real picture of Jesse running a 2:39 mile

### [Reply to @RethinkPriors, 22:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815521566480113895) · 4 likes

> **Rethink Priorities (@RethinkPriors):** How should you split resources in light of moral uncertainty? Rethink Priorities’ Moral Parliament Tool can help you think through your decision: https://bit.ly/RP-moral-parliament.

@austinc3301 u?

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTIHL5aXkAALcIB.jpg)

## Tuesday, July 23, 2024

### [Reply to @Littoral_Gecko, 01:39 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815562321395167390) · 3 likes

> **A Gecko🦎 (@Littoral_Gecko):** @AaronBergman18 Is this another one of the AI generated ones? ;P

No but it is legitimately interesting that you can’t tell

### [Quote tweet, 01:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815562891388502047) · 8 likes

Reverse Turing test has been passed

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTIs08wXEAATr8L.jpg)

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** @Littoral_Gecko No but it is legitimately interesting that you can’t tell

### [Quote tweet, 02:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815577299565117492) · 12 likes

This is a good example of how empiricism goes wrong. Let’s just assume the claim is correct (which I don’t doubt)

You can and should still do mechanistic and systems-level reasoning as a complement to empirical studies, which are hard, expensive, long, and often bad

> **Quoting Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil):** The "evidence" base for vitamin D is observational.
>
> There is basically no convincing experimental evidence that vitamin D supplementation helps people.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTIRIHLWYAA0QML.png)

### [Thread, continued, 02:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815577301511213261) · 5 likes

Tbc I’m not arguing for vitamin d supplementation

I \*am\* claiming you can have good reason to take it despite the above assumption

### [Thread, continued, 02:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815577303335768542) · 4 likes

We \*know\* (u know what I mean) that vitamin d has a bunch of functions at the cellular level, and that it’s necessary for humans (like without any vitamin d you will die)

### [Thread, continued, 02:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815577304749183133) · 6 likes

In the absence of directionally strong empirical evidence, it makes perfect sense to think about non-empirical evidence like the above and idk a better term to use than “think it through”

### [Thread, continued, 02:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815577306284609797) · 3 likes

So like consider the financial cost, lab results, and whether there’s mechanistic or empirical reasons to think it could be actively harmful at some given dose

### [Thread, continued, 02:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815577307798454741) · 3 likes

(As an extreme example, I strongly advise against consuming a literal kilogram of pure vitamin d, idgaf how deficient you are)

### [Thread, continued, 02:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815577309446803877) · 2 likes

Also heuristics like “don’t ingest arbitrary molecules” or “do ingest micronutrients you are deficient in according to lab results and the guidelines on UpToDate” might point one way or another

And then decide

### [Reply to @JohnHolbein1, 03:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815587893248745540) · 28 likes

> **John B. Holbein (@JohnHolbein1):** timeless
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTIm8mwW8AAEpzo.jpg)

Semicolons are underrated

### [Tweet, 14:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815759445839761622) · 20 likes

.@QualyThe r u still alive

### [Quote tweet, 14:48 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815760929327374525) · 1 like

Endorse

> **Quoting thermo (@DionysianAgent):**
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTGuN4sWIAI2LmO.jpg)

### [Reply, 14:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815761407532511387) · 2 likes

> **Coase’s "Net effect?" Ghost 🏴🕊️ (@GhostCoase):** Their name was too similar to “qualia”. An illusionist killed them.

😢

### [Tweet, 16:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815786525323391145) · 8 likes

Half the time the prescription-industrial complex is like “sorry we can’t provide this drug that a chemistry grad student could synthesize if they weren’t worried about legality, the DEA gave us a small number this year”

### [Thread, continued, 16:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815786526887866669) · 4 likes

and half the time it’s like “molecule discovered in 2004 that takes an army of cracked PhDs and billions of dollars of post-industrial scientific infrastructure to create? Ready for pickup 14 minutes after telemedicine visit”

### [Tweet, 17:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815803145022296416) · 9 likes

Goal: maximize interpersonal agreeableness subject to an intellectual disagreeableness constraint

### [Quote tweet, 17:48 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815806252078821849) · 3 likes

If you don’t make a podcast your personality for significant chunks of time are you really even alive

> **Quoting Andy Masley (@AndyMasley):** Can tell my personality for the next month or so is going to be 70% just the Acquired podcast

### [Tweet, 17:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815808385083703649) · 65 likes

AI gfs but they just tell you to do things you already know you need to do but realistically are gonna get to them way quicker if a girl asks you

### [Thread, continued, 17:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815808457775124719) · 8 likes

So a todo list app

### [Reply to @JosephPolitano, 17:58 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815808834343977006)

> **Joey Politano 🏳️‍🌈 (@JosephPolitano):** This is probably going to be the worst year for DC housing permits since the Great Recession by the way. Unless things improve there's a chance the city could come in sub-1000 units. It's a total disaster.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTMKQriXUAAF4g3.png)

What site is this?

### [Reply to @gmiller, 23:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1815890342563959169) · 1 like

> **Geoffrey Miller (@gmiller):** Because Kamala has held substantial political power for 30 years, and she's accomplished nothing notable with that power -- apart from further advancing her own power.

Have you seen the other guy

## Wednesday, July 24, 2024

### [Quote tweet, 13:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816100796318073238) · 2 likes

I don’t think I have a ton in common with Donald Trump, but I was legit taken aback because this part also describes me extremely well!

[![Video thumbnail](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1816100748943323136/pu/img/qgZldNUSA5noTTWT.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816100796318073238/video/1) (video, plays on X)

> **Quoting Walter Masterson (@waltermasterson):** This is the best explanation of Donald Trump talking about “Hannibal Lecter”.
>
> [video attached](https://x.com/waltermasterson/status/1815563411733766342/video/1)

### [Thread, continued, 13:20 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816101231309308114) · 3 likes

This is the thing!!!

I guess a difference is that I sorta try to stay on topic which clashes with the phenomenon, and Trump just rides the tiger

### [Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 13:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816103521965449641) · 2 likes

> **oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle):** looking for people who are specifically higher than average non-autistic person, but likely not autistic
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTQF28kbIAAHqD4.png)
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTQFyInbwAAMSrg.png)
> (quoting @StefanFSchubert: Study finds that "the more similar two persons are in autistic traits, the higher is the perceived quality of their friendship...higher interpersonal similarity of autistic traits was associated with higher measures of closeness, acceptance and help."…)

Skill issue (wide error bars tho, I didn’t know what to answer for many of them)

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTQYh0JXUAAIcVI.jpg)

### [Reply to @JesseTayRiver, 13:45 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816107395925557465) · 2 likes

> **Jesse Smith (@JesseTayRiver):** @ohwizenedtortle How's your aerobic exercise level?

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTQcDTUW8AA1iYd.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 13:45 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816107425969107035) · 2 likes

### [Reply, 14:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816124131034693634) · 1 like

Because of overdiagnosis?

### [Reply, 15:55 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816140125933560015)

Like it’s really helpful to know if you’re b12 deficient. You can fix that in a week whereas revamping your nutrition without that kind of info might not even fix the issue at all, and if it does it will take months at least

### [Quote tweet, 16:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816144885252001983) · 42 likes

People just say things

> **Quoting ThePeoplesElbow (@Idris_Elbow_):** All girls are either a cheese girl or a pickle girl

### [Reply to @polisisti, 17:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816160606002766014) · 2 likes

> **Alessandro (@polisisti):** @AaronBergman18 all EAs are either screwworm EAs or Guinea worm EAs

Anti-longtermist: or brainworm EAs

### [Reply, 17:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816160720154775796)

Combine them for a delicious treat 😊

### [Reply to @littIeramblings, 17:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816165310979866744) · 2 likes

> **sarah (@littIeramblings):** this is wrong I’m both

Many such cases

### [Reply to @frances__lorenz, 17:39 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816166240475300138) · 3 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @frances__lorenz is no longer available.)_

### [Reply to @Aella_Girl, 17:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816166827430437042)

> **Aella (@Aella_Girl):** Peoples rankings of how erotic various emotions are, split out by themselves vs others feeling it
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTQ-wqXbAAE2Nif.jpg)

Hello to everyone else scanning the legend for “women, finds erotic in others”

### [Reply to @mattyglesias, 17:48 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816168562475819513) · 3 likes

> **Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias):** Everyone seems fine with the switch except Republicans.
>
> (quoting @elonmusk: Shouldn’t the nominee be decided by a party vote? Democracy etc …)

This is a bad counter argument. If everyone’s cool with it they should be cool with an election to show that!

### [Quote tweet, 17:49 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816168891438989373) · 7 likes

They should give this job to me and then I will tell you who’s in the right and probably not actually help with reconciliation

> **Quoting bri (@br___ian):** Can you, like, hire someone who is very emotionally skilled to help navigate complex family dynamics?

### [Reply to @mealreplacer, 17:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816169681184596415) · 3 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @mealreplacer is no longer available.)_

I think it’s just being a stochastic parrot

## Thursday, July 25, 2024

### [Reply to @daniel_271828, 07:07 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816369699782853012) · 3 likes

> **zzDANIEL_ETH (@daniel_271828):** Ah, yes, this tweet naturally was liked by the three people it features: roon, Aaron, and \*squints\* a red panda
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTUKKLraYAU5lFD.jpg)

Name a better trio

### [Reply to @christineist, 15:46 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816500250527302130) · 7 likes

> **christine (@christineist):** do you have any default rules for your life? like "no bread" or "always go on 2 dates" something

Sleep on it before spending >$100 on something

### [Tweet, 16:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816516967953744102) · 29 likes

So uh does anyone know what Kamala Harris thinks about anything important?

Priority no. 1 is beating Trump tbc but I’m still curious

### [Reply to @timfduffy, 16:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816518268393500925) · 4 likes

> **Tim Duffy (@timfduffy):** Seems her housing policy is "subsidize demand" which isn't great. I think she was for M4A too?

Oh well. Still gonna vote for her and everyone else should too

### [Reply to @RandomSprint, 17:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816520861207396789) · 4 likes

> **RandomSprint🧭 (@RandomSprint):** In 2020 she said she wanted to ban fracking and offshore drilling. She's an r slur, and I hope she is humiliated in the election.

Have you seen the other guy

### [Reply to @RandomSprint, 17:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816522988906512393) · 2 likes

> **RandomSprint🧭 (@RandomSprint):** Yeah. The first three years of his presidency were some of the best ever. I'd love to have that again. I'm not rolling the dice on an insane energy policy that would doom us.

Energy policy isn’t foreign policy, president can’t unilaterally act and for better or worse neither can agency heads post-Chevron

### [Reply, 17:17 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816523231165341951) · 1 like

I don’t want to brush this off as trivial but having a genuinely authoritarian-power-hungry amoral narcissist possibly during the singularity sounds much worse than idk the DOI denying some fracking permits or whatever she’d get away with (assuming you’re right about this bc idk)

### [Reply, 17:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816527128030249119) · 3 likes

> **Coase’s "Net effect?" Ghost 🏴🕊️ (@GhostCoase):** @AaronBergman18 She gives me the distinct impression of not thinking much, apart from, of course, her own power, fame and "legacy".

### [Quote tweet, 17:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816527744252924134) · 9 likes

This is dumb and the kind of discourse that doesn’t actually contain any relevant signal - I don’t think it’s crazy to talk about the personal character of potential POTUS (one bullet away) but this isn’t that

> **Quoting manny (@mannyfidel):** the "JD Vance had sex with a couch" saga, explained
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTV_gHCWoAAmzqT.jpg)

### [Tweet, 17:58 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816533472158319019)

Like from the inside, I’m sure it feels like these object level considerations are good reason not to support Kamala or whoever the dem nominee is

This is plausibly right (under your own endorsed beliefs) except for 2016 and now because Donald Trump really is uniquely bad

### [Reply, 18:06 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816535611035254857) · 1 like

I will absolutely defend this kind of procedure as epistemically legitimate

This is true for almost all topics and almost all people FWIW

### [Reply to @gmiller, 18:10 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816536411677556817) · 2 likes

> **Geoffrey Miller (@gmiller):** If you don't know what Kamala thinks about anything, why are you so sure that she's better than Trump?
>
> Seems epistemically reckless.

Deleting this to amend it - I don’t think this is true actually. I \*do\* think there will be a subset of people (like Klein) who will make the case loudly enough for me to think and reconsider

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTWiPPsWMAAU018.jpg)

### [Reply to @NathanB60857242, 18:32 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816542144943038535) · 7 likes

> **Nathan Barnard (@NathanB60857242):** @AaronBergman18 @RandomSprint (this is a bad take vis-a-vis chevron, agency heads were already contrainsed by major questions doctrine, and their interpretation of law still had to pass the permissible standard (which sometimes bit) and the reasonableness standard (which bit very rarely))

Nathan plz stop being knowledgeable, ur embarrassing me on twitter dot com

### [Tweet, 23:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816618323427099095) · 12 likes

For presidential elections, things the president can do unilaterally should be treated as fundamentally different from everything else

### [Thread, continued, 23:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816618325029314702) · 7 likes

Like currently foreign policy and healthcare policy are lumped together into a platform and seem to be of a natural category but they’re not

### [Thread, continued, 23:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816618326501785881) · 3 likes

Yes the president matters for lots of things but it’s silly debating what their ideal healthcare policy is (to some extent unless they loudly and publicly say it’s the single biggest priority that they’re trying to make their campaign a referendum on)

### [Reply to @halogen1048576, 23:46 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816621062982934861) · 1 like

> **🇨🇦halogen (@halogen1048576):** @AaronBergman18 Aaron elect me and I'll pass an executive order to mandate this

Ok sounds like a plan👍

### [Quote tweet, 23:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816623911070494858) · 5 likes

My inclination is that this is good, and I still lean that way, but I don’t think “safety-pilled people get more money in the worlds where AI is super important” should be brushed off/ignored

> **Quoting Dan Hendrycks (@hendrycks):** To send a clear signal, I am choosing to divest from my equity stake in Gray Swan AI. I will continue my work as an advisor, without pay.
>
> My goal is to make AI systems safe. I do this work on principle to promote the public interest, and that’s why I’ve chosen voluntarily to divest and work unpaid. I also sent a similar signal in the past by choosing to advise xAI without equity. I won’t let billionaire VCs distract the political conversation from the critical question: should AI developers of >$100M models be accountable for implementing safety testing and commonsense safeguards to protect the public from extreme risks? If the billionaire VC opposition to commonsense AI safety wants to show their motives are pure, let them follow suit.

## Friday, July 26, 2024

### [Reply to @parafactual, 00:48 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816636716494565694) · 3 likes

> **You (@parafactual):** what do you think :)

Lol why no aspartame? Idk l-dopa seems kinda scary, I feel like normal stimulants are both better understood and have better effects

Sorry :(

Maybe there’s still a market for this lol

### [Reply to @parafactual, 00:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816637196771688870) · 2 likes

> **You (@parafactual):** @AaronBergman18 i feel like i should clarify that this was a joke lol. i do not think it would be a good idea

Right. Duh

### [Reply to @christineist, 00:59 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816639451860218094) · 4 likes

> **christine (@christineist):** "Ask yourself what other people seem weirdly bad at"
>
> really like this framing of talent by @sashachapin !
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTX88MnagAEp6O9.png)

Unironically, decoupling

### [Reply to @SelonNerias, 15:38 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816860611382321440) · 2 likes

> **Selon Nerias (@SelonNerias):** Blue light filter at night

@SpacedOutMatt’s computer screen

### [Reply to @SelonNerias, 15:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816864264327450634) · 3 likes

> **Selon Nerias (@SelonNerias):** @AaronBergman18 @goblinodds @SpacedOutMatt Should be all of us f.lux is awesome, though it doesn't fix all of the problems with using devices at night

I am ur worst nightmare and will advocate for a moors law of nits in computer screens. Brightness/acc

### [Quote tweet, 17:11 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816884016844275900) · 13 likes

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTbeYmvWYAAtEw9.jpg)

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** Girls really do be having theory of mind

### [Reply to @AndyMasley, 17:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816886986906480934) · 7 likes

> **Andy Masley (@AndyMasley):** I'm open to AI risk being 0%, but people are so bad at thinking about how big of a deal 1% risk is. Remember a very popular info graphic in February 2020 saying we shouldn't worry about COVID because it "Only has a 2% fatality rate." COVID wasn't a Pascalian situation either.
>
> (quoting @gabriel_weil: A 1% or 0.38% chance of human extinction is NOT Pascalian! Would you get on a plane with a 1/300 chance of crashing? Would you put all of humanity on it?)

Pretty hard to take seriously anyone who says .0001% (1 in a million) by 2030

Maybe that’s your inside view, fine, absolutely no way that should be your all-things-considered

### [Reply to @panchromaticity, 17:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816891670102688138) · 3 likes

> **Xenia 🔍💎 (@panchromaticity):** @goblinodds yes

What

### [Reply to @goblinodds, 17:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816891694899482773) · 3 likes

> **𝖜𝖔𝖒𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖆 𝖈𝖆𝖚𝖘𝖊 (@goblinodds):** @panchromaticity reeeee

Same

### [Quote tweet, 17:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816891816182186310) · 6 likes

Big if true and I’m getting word that it’s true so probably big

> **Quoting Aella (@Aella_Girl):** Omg ok I just realized that maybe when people refer to rumors being spread, that they mean people who are claiming things confidently without disclaiming it's a rumor??
> I always thought rumors and legends meant stuff you say like "the legend says" or "rumor says"

### [Quote tweet, 17:55 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816895214407090604) · 2 likes

We need more zippers in all domains of life. I’m zipper-pilled

> **Quoting Matt Bateman (@mbateman):** Obsessed with this zipper truck that moves the barrier between northbound/southbound lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge
>
> [video attached](https://x.com/mbateman/status/1816721920735477971/video/1)

### [Tweet, 19:00 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816911379770802638) · 9 likes

Dear British people: there are like $30 things on Amazon that do this for u (blow a slightly ice water mist on u) and probably work better than this setup

Might find these worth buying even if you don’t wanna buy legit A/C

### [Tweet, 19:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816921886376292657) · 52 likes

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTcA0zPXYAAGv_7.jpg)

### [Reply to @ESYudkowsky, 20:19 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816931300894245102) · 4 likes

> **Eliezer Yudkowsky ⏹️ (@ESYudkowsky):** Neither Ozempic nor Mounjaro did anything helpful for me.  Maintaining my weight still requires fasting 1 month for every 2 months that I eat enough for my brain to work.  Saying this so that anyone else stuck in a worse trap than usual knows they're not alone.
>
> (quoting @IterIntellectus: wait, so it really is the miracle drug?! ozempic, so far, seems to be effective with: - type 2 diabetes - obesity - cardiovascular disease - metabolic liver disease - kidney disease - inflammation-related conditions - neurodegenerative diseases (alzheimer's and parkinson's) -…)

Damn

### [Quote tweet, 20:22 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816932130548830590) · 105 likes

I know this isn’t universal but many of the smartest people I know have serious physical issue(s)

Kinda sucks seeing what I interpret as genetic tradeoffs having hands come for your friends (and unidirectional parasocial acquaintances)

> **Quoting Eliezer Yudkowsky ⏹️ (@ESYudkowsky):** Neither Ozempic nor Mounjaro did anything helpful for me.  Maintaining my weight still requires fasting 1 month for every 2 months that I eat enough for my brain to work.  Saying this so that anyone else stuck in a worse trap than usual knows they're not alone.

### [Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 20:54 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816940237538439186) · 5 likes

> **Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt):** My hunch is that they’re ~uncorrelated and you’re seeing Berkson’s paradox in who your acquaintances are
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTcP2SyWgAAAi2Q.jpg)

I mean my prior on there being a trade off is pretty high (or else there has to be a reason smarter is bad all else equal)

Also idk friendships are somewhat selective/zero sum but way less than monog relationships or college admissions

### [Reply to @codetaur, 20:56 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816940619266138244) · 4 likes

> **Codetaur (@codetaur):** do you bring up ending predation on the first date?

I’m pretty sure not \*all\* of them

### [Reply to @NoahTopper, 21:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816942504152875399) · 4 likes

> **Quinoah 🔍⏸️ (@NoahTopper):** @just_cameron @AaronBergman18

People say this and then need to use pip, brew, conda, npm, pipx, cargo, pip3, wheel, bash commands, virtual environments, paths to specific versions of their language, and specific numbers of spaces to run a regression

### [Reply to @SpacedOutMatt, 21:05 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816943005560967496) · 2 likes

> **Matt 🔸 (@SpacedOutMatt):** My priors lean the other way - bad things hurt you both intellectually and physically (consider lead exposure for example)

Simpsons paradox go brr. It’s just that both things are true and within a given population and environment it’s an empirical question which dominates

### [Reply to @JamesDowell2, 21:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816954162971836421) · 1 like

> **J. D. (@JamesDowell2):** I've noticed this too, but IDK if this is an example because keeping weight on at all costs is a VERY adaptive trait in the evolutionary context for humans. Whereas some other "nerd" stereotypes (poor eyesight) are not

FWIW obesity isn’t a common example that I’m thinking of

### [Reply to @NoahTopper, 22:12 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816959777001418977) · 2 likes

> **Quinoah 🔍⏸️ (@NoahTopper):** Real text from a friend I slept through. Damn.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTcOZkEaAAArALS.jpg)

F

### [Reply to @StefanFSchubert, 22:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816965588691853746)

> **Stefan Schubert (@StefanFSchubert):** Intelligence is positively associated with height
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Height_and_intelligence#Statistics
>
> Also seems negatively associated with obesity (in any case, that would be my intuition)
>
> https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/lim2.11

Tbc I’m not making a claim about the overall correlation and which effect dominates

My slightly more nuanced best guess is that genetics is very high dimensional, and there are a few extremely specific paths that get you ~free IQ points and many more that get you costly ones

### [Reply, 22:58 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816971260338848096)

Haha cold water go brr

### [Reply to @norvid_studies, 22:59 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1816971727466885628) · 3 likes

> **norvid_studies (@norvid_studies):** prior wars: all good things correlate vs all good things trade off with each other
>
> (quoting @AaronBergman18: @SpacedOutMatt I mean my prior on there being a trade off is pretty high (or else there has to be a reason smarter is bad all else equal) Also idk friendships are somewhat selective/zero sum but way less than monog relationships or college admissions)

Synthesis: the tails come apart

## Saturday, July 27, 2024

### [Reply to @stefaesthesia, 13:02 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817183728134713592) · 3 likes

> **stef 🫴 (@stefaesthesia):** a lot of people these days could benefit from reading @waitbutwhy's book and trying to climb a rung or two
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTdf2IXb0AAnVN8.png)

Top rung: being Julia Galef

### [Reply to @kennedymwavu, 13:15 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817187127467126800) · 3 likes

> **Mwavu Kennedy (@kennedymwavu):** yes.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTaVGFKXYAARKnP.png)
> (quoting @just_cameron: Very confused by how people write R code sometimes. Y'all understand that it is not a good development experience, right? It is actually Very Bad)

### [Reply to @absurdlymax, 17:52 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817256787747258422) · 2 likes

> **Max Alexander (@absurdlymax):** @FrostedSapling @JesseTayRiver @AaronBergman18 I think he got in trouble with his roommate for this

Lol

### [Reply to @peterwildeford, 18:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817262416390148159) · 3 likes

> **Peter Wildeford🇺🇸🚀 (@peterwildeford):** When you can finally use AI to talk to a whale, what are you going to ask?
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR0vczoWUAAZ5SL.jpg)

How’s it goin

### [Reply, 18:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817262688839557399) · 7 likes

I am this. My real family and my twitter moots

### [Reply to @NoahTopper, 18:28 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817265712475369906) · 1 like

> **Quinoah 🔍⏸️ (@NoahTopper):** @AaronBergman18 @plemy11 Reverse that. Your real family and your biological family.

Right

### [Reply, 19:02 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817274399688393020) · 2 likes

@SpacedOutMatt plane discourse

### [Tweet, 19:07 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817275708411965526) · 70 likes

Talked to a self-identified e/acc irl a few weeks ago

Great guy, mostly good takes, just wrong on a few key questions that looked basically like “what you would say if you were assigned that side in debate club”

### [Reply to @GarrettPetersen, 19:08 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817275977795289164) · 3 likes

> **Dr. Dad, PhD 🔄🔼◀️🔽▶️ (@GarrettPetersen):** What's your gender? || Without looking it up, do you confidently know the name of the scientist who discovered the process that made most of the nitrogen in your body?

Imma guess Krebs bc that cycle has nitrogen vibes

### [Thread, continued, 19:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817276228203696304) · 2 likes

F

### [Tweet, 23:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817347160767131949) · 22 likes

Orange man bad

### [Quote tweet, 23:53 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817347702671172016) · 10 likes

I’ve been listening to Avril lately. She does kinda slap

> **Quoting AvrilRLavigne Today (Fan Account) (@AvrilRLToday):** .|📈 Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You" had its biggest streaming day ever on Spotify yesterday (July 25, 2024), with over +219,143 streams!
>
> [video attached](https://x.com/i/status/1798536271637426458/video/1)

## Sunday, July 28, 2024

### [Tweet, 05:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817434161310765110) · 25 likes

I’m such a blueberrypilled blueberrycel 🫐

### [Thread, continued, 05:49 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817437106500784410) · 3 likes

Very plausible my recent blueberry arc is directly downstream of AI Aaron’s tweet

### [Reply to @Trail_Cams, 06:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817447401696714837) · 1 like

> **trailcam (@Trail_Cams):**
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GThUAfiXgAAUloj.jpg)

@RafaRuizdeLira

### [Reply to @ohwizenedtortle, 07:29 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817462463077462025) · 1 like

> **oh dandy lion🔸 (@ohwizenedtortle):** Does anyone want to see Stranger Things in the UK with me this Saturday 27th Jul? https://uk.strangerthingsonstage.com/

Ya but realistically flying to the UK just for this would be financially irresponsible

### [Reply to @GailJ808, 18:15 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817624914603520464) · 2 likes

> **GailJ307 🌸🦬🤠 (@GailJ808):** @leamaric Never mind that is Japanese so double fox paw lol

Bone apple teeth

### [Tweet, 19:58 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817650950586372302) · 2 likes

Old black woman on the bus has a piece of paper with “TRUMP GIRL” taped to her sunhat

### [Tweet, 20:55 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817665184372330581) · 5 likes

Let the doxycycline sunburns begin

## Monday, July 29, 2024

### [Reply to @nomanautomata, 01:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817730383435182365) · 7 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @nomanautomata is no longer available.)_

No this seems pretty distinct

### [Quote tweet, 01:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817735687237435526) · 14 likes

People love personality tests I guess

Get ur special (3⁵ = 243 different archetypes) at https://aaronbergman.neocities.org/abc

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** Here’s the Bergman Brain Classifier (each is a continuous scale but you can bin into high and low if you want)
>
> 1\) hedonic set point
> 2\) hedonic variance
> 3\) cringe tolerance
> 4\) decoupling tendency
> 5\) salience of social world

### [Thread, continued, 01:35 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817735689074556983) · 3 likes

Thanks to Claude for doing all the work for me so this took all of 5-10 mins

### [Thread, continued, 01:36 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817735940422635556) · 2 likes

Seems pretty correct lol

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTnlNC4XYAA0WDh.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766412003266722) · 4 likes

Some goodnight tweets from AI Aaron (using 400 examples, Sonnet 3.5, about $0.015 each...)

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** Finally signed up for the Claude API. Here are a few Tweets Sonnet 3.5 thinks I would write based

### [Thread, continued, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766413643272646) · 1 like

Hypothesis: the "Midwest nice" stereotype is mostly driven by the fact that people from the Midwest are more likely to be in situations where they're interacting with strangers (e.g. at a gas station) than people from other regions

### [Thread, continued, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766414855418251) · 2 likes

Gonna be a contrarian and say that the "I'm not sure if I should say this but…" thing is good actually

### [Thread, continued, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766415958429829) · 1 like

Idea: a bot that tweets the same thing every day but with a different word replaced by a synonym each day

### [Tweet, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766417241907514)

Hypothesis: if you're in a situation where you're trying to figure out if you're in a simulation, the correct prior is ~50%, not ~0% or ~1 in a billion

\[Human Aaron note: I'm not sure what I think about this\]

### [Thread, continued, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766418433163338) · 3 likes

I'm going to start saying "based" as a response to things I agree with. I'm not sure what it means but I think it's positive.

### [Thread, continued, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766419544612901) · 2 likes

Hypothesis: there's a big difference in how much people actually care about privacy vs how much they say they care about privacy

### [Tweet, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766421952078279) · 1 like

Idea: a "Schelling point" for how much to tip on a given transaction is the amount that would make the total a round number

Like if the bill is $17.34, the Schelling tip is $2.66

### [Thread, continued, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766423378485753) · 2 likes

Honestly I think the most important thing I learned in college is that the standard for "knowing how to do something" is way lower than I thought

\[Human Aaron note: idk about college but I think I endorse in general\]

### [Thread, continued, 03:37 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817766424925888895) · 2 likes

Tbh I think I'm gonna start using AI to write my tweets

\[Human Aaron note: lol - good one to end on\]

### [Quote tweet, 10:14 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817866270001229862) · 13 likes

We need more toddler GoPro footage

> **Quoting Matt Bateman (@mbateman):** 25 min of following 1yo, sped up 10x to 2.5 min
>
> Nearly zero interference or even interaction as he severally pursued his little side quests
>
> I love this age
>
> [video attached](https://x.com/mbateman/status/1817766298736337137/video/1)

### [Reply to @birchlse, 14:31 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1817930832717258942) · 4 likes

> **Jonathan Birch (@birchlse):** 🦀🐝🧠🤖 How should we make decisions when faced with systems of uncertain sentience? My new book The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI is available online for free at https://academic.oup.com/book/57949. Please download it! Just click on PDF to get a PDF of the whole book. Individual chapters are also available as PDFs - just click on whichever chapters you want. The book is completely free to everyone and I'm grateful for all shares and forwards.
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTo06TZXkAAmAJV.jpg)

Have you considered making this an audiobook? (Could be totally unofficial, just put the audio file somewhere)

## Tuesday, July 30, 2024

### [Reply to @BootsPlatypus, 00:54 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818087769492578318) · 1 like

> **Platypussy in Bio (@BootsPlatypus):** @AaronBergman18 What does salience of social world mean?

Like how much things like reputation, status, social dynamics, other people’s feelings, and other people in general take up your attention and other mental resources

### [Reply to @KelseyTuoc, 02:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818109733053530119) · 2 likes

> **Kelsey Piper (@KelseyTuoc):** I also get really irritated by "you should send your kids to bad public schools because people like you doing that is what makes them into good public schools". I'm willing to make a lot of sacrifices for my community. Wronging my kids isn't one of them.

Stay strong Kelsey ✊

[![Why Are You Booing Me Im Right GIF](https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video_thumb/GTs5KiEXkAEeXFZ.jpg)](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818109733053530119/photo/1) (gif, plays on X)

### [Tweet, 02:30 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818111952402497766) · 311 likes

If school choice was the status quo and someone wrote a think piece that was like “actually your zip code should determine where u get to go to school unless you are very wealthy” it would (rightly) be seen as insane

### [Quote tweet, 11:33 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818248510195585420) · 2 likes

Good thread and many such cases

> **Quoting Someone:**

### [Tweet, 12:57 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818269638712861104) · 3 likes

Wxird

### [Reply, 13:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818275812082401454) · 1 like

🦐

### [Reply to @NathanpmYoung, 13:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818280580670435467) · 2 likes

> **Nathan 🔎 (@NathanpmYoung):** What has the EA movement changed its mind on in the last two years?
>
> I'd appreciate answers. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fDpNz83DBoBHwFAPM/in-the-last-2-years-what-surprising-ideas-has-ea-championed
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTvTmXxXsAAJild.jpg)

Ask it prospectively (maybe I will but feel free to)

In two years, what will the movement have changed its mind about?

### [Tweet, 18:05 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818347129775308888) · 11 likes

I like this feature but someone should make an app that lets you set on a continuous how much you care about directness vs smelling the flowers

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTwRE9XXQAECtic.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 20:59 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818390965633024302) · 34 likes

I could be convinced in specific cases with a compelling enough story, but I am awfully skeptical of policies (by whomever - not just gov’t) whose theory of change is some version of “directly make things worse for some people because of hypothesized nth order positive effects”

> **Quoting Kelsey Piper (@KelseyTuoc):** I also get really irritated by "you should send your kids to bad public schools because people like you doing that is what makes them into good public schools". I'm willing to make a lot of sacrifices for my community. Wronging my kids isn't one of them.

### [Thread, continued, 20:59 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818390968061817182) · 7 likes

I’m most sympathetic to the story when the people being harmed have the direct and unambiguous ability to change the thing: skin in the game

### [Thread, continued, 21:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818391959863799944) · 8 likes

This isn’t deontological—it’s coming from a place of “predicting the downstream effects of anything is extremely hard, and the summation of all such effects is zero until proven otherwise”

### [Tweet, 22:16 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818410316931252600) · 8 likes

I’m guessing Anthropic and OpenAI don’t want you to know this bc you’re paying a flat $20 and their inference costs would go up, but the models work better with images of pdf pages than actual pdfs (or any formatted/styled text)

### [Reply, 22:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818416651831820373)

Im sure there is something online. I have a python script that does this which might be small enough to fit in a tweet…

### [Thread, continued, 22:42 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818417015909974405) · 1 like

nah a bit too long

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTxQkrsXgAEkkR4.jpg)

### [Quote tweet, 22:47 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818418256715432044) · 5 likes

GitHub is out, sharing code via screenshot on twitter is in

> **Quoting Aaron Bergman 🔍 (@AaronBergman18):** @justjoshinyou13 nah a bit too long
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTxQkrsXgAEkkR4.jpg)

### [Reply to @RandomSprint, 23:03 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818422120374059239) · 19 likes

> **RandomSprint🧭 (@RandomSprint):** My 4 yo son, walking into my office, "Are you still working?"
>
> "Yeah, bud."
>
> "How many more buttons do you have to press?"

Well?

## Wednesday, July 31, 2024

### [Reply, 01:24 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818457633239466447) · 1 like

The people demand to see the consensus worst notes just for fun

### [Reply to @coeff_giving, 02:09 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818468914688372894) · 3 likes

> **Coefficient Giving (@coeff_giving):** Through corporate campaigning, the Open Wing Alliance has achieved some of the most significant cage-free welfare wins of the century. We’re proud to support their groundbreaking work. https://www.openphilanthropy.org/research/how-the-open-wing-alliance-has-helped-free-hundreds-of-millions-of-chickens-from-cages/

Nice 🐥

### [Reply to @PeterJAngel, 02:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818472120654930351) · 4 likes

> **Peter🧅📈 (@PeterJAngel):** Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime (men)

There’s only one gender that could cause me to commit a felony and it’s sure not that one

### [Reply to @ines__circle, 13:51 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818645753813745950) · 2 likes

_(The tweet being replied to by @ines__circle is no longer available.)_

Big if true

### [Reply to @Lewis_Bollard, 19:21 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818728727615869212) · 6 likes

> **Lewis Bollard (@Lewis_Bollard):** For decades, animal advocates lobbied to stop the worst abuses of farm animals -- with limited results.
>
> Then they changed strategy and achieved wins that have already benefited hundreds of millions of animals, and are set to benefit billions more.
>
> Here's the story... 🧵
>
> (quoting @coeff_giving: Through corporate campaigning, the Open Wing Alliance has achieved some of the most significant cage-free welfare wins of the century. We’re proud to support their groundbreaking work.…)

Based

### [Reply to @amtcastle, 23:23 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818789725567627606) · 4 likes

> **Andrew Mountcastle 🦞 (@amtcastle):** Meanwhile, in Maine news
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTyGuGpXAAAQoVK.jpg)

Poast frog

### [Quote tweet, 23:40 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818793818394968076) · 12 likes

Here’s the article https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/07/30/outdoors/wildlife/maine-teen-blue-frog-n6hjn1me0n/

> **Quoting Andrew Mountcastle 🦞 (@amtcastle):** Meanwhile, in Maine news
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTyGuGpXAAAQoVK.jpg)

### [Thread, continued, 23:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818794047206531319) · 7 likes

This is the frog in question

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GT2njACXEAEipvu.jpg)

### [Reply to @amtcastle, 23:41 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818794165029028352) · 11 likes

> **Andrew Mountcastle 🦞 (@amtcastle):** Meanwhile, in Maine news
>
> [image attached](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTyGuGpXAAAQoVK.jpg)

Article and frog https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/07/30/outdoors/wildlife/maine-teen-blue-frog-n6hjn1me0n/

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GT2np0hXIAELVbq.jpg)

### [Reply to his own earlier tweet, 23:43 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818794566784630812) · 4 likes

> **Aaron Bergman, July 31, 2024:** This is the frog in question

Based

![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GT2oBNVX0AArHrl.jpg)

### [Reply to @00aarti, 23:50 UTC](https://x.com/AaronBergman18/status/1818796494574522782) · 3 likes

> **Aarti (@00aarti):** My old landlord just informed the washing machine soap tray was not clean enough to his standards….goodbye security deposit 💸

Sue

---

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