The Real Alignment Problem
If you’d be willing to die for anything, you should die for this — and you probably will. [Note: I’ve been working on something longer & more rigorous, but here
Category: Essays
One way AGI might not happen
Basically, comp sci hasn’t had its arse handed to it yet. Some people think some physicists are arrogant condescending arseholes. It’s more true to say that most physicists reliably become arrogant and condescending for a
Islamophobic? Maybe
There is a significant overlap between those who criticise Islam and those who have a cultural fear of Middle Eastern Muslim migrants. The latter is surely what people mean when they speak of Islamophobia:
What I want to do
No absurdist black comedy here, no self-referential meta-games, no antitheistic polemics. This is actually a sincere post, summarising what I’ve really been thinking about for five years and what I
The philosophy of mathematics: interesting
In fact it’s a fascinating topic and one that I’m weirdly obsessed with, so much so that when some friends decided to form a quarterly essay club I decided to
The Struggle
Completing an ill-conceived PhD thesis is a lot like strangling to death, someone you once loved. It’s been four years of wonderful freedom and tenure. Through this time you’ve nurtured
Science Communication: Hopeless?
Last year my colleague (and — I suppose — friend) Mathew McGann and I participated in the Canberra focus group for the Australian Science Communicators (ASC) audit of how the discipline is doing in Australia. The results
How to Sound Smart to Dumb People
Reading this article by my friend Zoya Patel, editor of Lip magazine, about people who use the word feminazi, I was reminded of something I used to tell my students about the language they chose to use in