Fluidity – Details, episodes & analysis

Do AI As Science And Engineering Instead - We’ve seen that current AI practice leads to technologies that are expensive, difficult to apply in real-world situations, and inherently unsafe. Neglected scientific and engineering investigations can bring better understanding of the risks of current AI technology, and can lead to safer technologies.   https://betterwithout.ai/science-engineering-vs-AI   Run-Time Task-Relevant Algorithmic Understanding - The type of scientific and engineering understanding most relevant to AI safety is run-time, task-relevant, and algorithmic. That can lead to more reliable, safer systems. Unfortunately, gaining such understanding has been neglected in AI research, so currently we have little.   https://betterwithout.ai/AI-algorithmic-level   For more information, see David Chapman's 2017 essay "How should we evaluate progress in AI?" https://betterwithout.ai/artificial-intelligence-progress   You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks   If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold   Original music by Kevin MacLeod.   This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Current AI results from experimental variation of mechanisms, unguided by theoretical principles. That has produced systems that can do amazing things. On the other hand, they are extremely error-prone and therefore unsafe. Backpropaganda, a collection of misleading ways of talking about “neural networks,” justifies continuing in this misguided direction.   https://betterwithout.ai/backpropaganda   You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks   If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold   Original music by Kevin MacLeod.   This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Radical Progress Without Scary AI: Technological progress, in medicine for example, provides an altruistic motivation for developing more powerful AIs. I suggest that AI may be unnecessary, or even irrelevant, for that. We may be able to get the benefits without the risks.

https://betterwithout.ai/radical-progress-without-AI

What kind of AI might accelerate technological progress?: “Narrow” AI systems, specialized for particular technical tasks, are probably feasible, useful, and safe. Let’s build those instead of Scary superintelligence.

https://betterwithout.ai/what-AI-for-progress

No ultimate meaning: “Ultimate” means “at the end of a scale.” What is the scale of meaning? Should you want to be at the end of it?

 

https://meaningness.com/no-ultimate-meaning   No eternal meaning: Meanings come and go; they are not eternally stable— and that is fine.

 

https://meaningness.com/no-eternal-meaning  

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

No absolute meaning: Are you adult enough to accept that the world offers no absolute guarantees?   https://meaningness.com/no-absolute-meaning   No transcendent meaning: If meaning lives only in Neverland, we can’t make much use of it. Fortunately, it’s here, now.   https://meaningness.com/no-transcendent-meaning  

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Lite nihilism, on the way to completion: Lite nihilism includes a valuable, accurate analysis of the failure of eternalism.   https://meaningness.com/lite-nihilism   Not really meaningful: “Nothing REALLY means anything” sounds plausible when you feel nihilistic. What does “really” mean, though?   https://meaningness.com/no-real-meaning   No extra-special fancy meanings: Nihilism rightly denies objective, ultimate, transcendent, absolute, cosmic, and eternal meanings. What is left?   https://meaningness.com/no-special-meaning   Original music by Kevin MacLeod.   This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The many justifications for nihilism rely on a handful of mistaken patterns of reasoning.   https://meaningness.com/nihilist-fallacies   Links mentioned in this episode:   Scott Alexander’s blog post “Proving too much”.   "Finding Meaning In An Imperfect World" by Iddo Landau  

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This episode narrates the new pages “'Nihilism is OK' is not OK" and "The uncanny absence of nihil –ism".   “Nihilism is inevitable, but not a problem.” This is mistaken: it makes you miserable and ineffective, and erodes social and cultural capacity.   https://meaningness.com/nihilism-considered-harmful   Nihilism, like botulism, is not an ideology or conceptual system. It is a stance: an emotionally-charged way of being.   https://meaningness.com/nihilism-is-not-an-ism   Links mentioned in this episode:   In "Postmodernism vs. The Pomoid Cluster" John Nerst analyzes the relationship between postmodernism as an academic theory, and “pomo” as a popular way of relating to meaningness.   The TV Tropes page "Straw Nihilist".   I struggled with saying "schismatic subsects", but you only get the edited version in which I nailed it. :)  

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

A world of total license: the catastrophe some fear if nihilistic views become widespread.   https://meaningness.com/nihilist-apocalypse  

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

  This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Nihilism has a taboo allure of forbidden power—because everyone knows eternalism is wrong. https://meaningness.com/nihilism-black-magic   Recognizing meaninglessness requires unusual intelligence, courage, and toughness. Nihilist elitism renders you stupid, cowardly, and helpless, though. https://meaningness.com/nihilist-cynicism-elitism  

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.