We have a powerful intuition that some special mental feature, such as self-awareness, is a prerequisite to intelligence. This causes confusion because we don’t have a coherent understanding of what the special feature is, nor what role it plays in intelligent action. It may be best to treat mental characteristics as in the eye of the beholder, and therefore mainly irrelevant to AI risks. https://betterwithout.ai/mind-like-AI 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.

Scary AI: Apocalyptic AI scenarios usually involve some qualitatively different future form of artificial intelligence. No one can explain clearly what would make that exceptionally dangerous in a way current AI isn’t. This confusion draws attention away from risks of existing and near-future technologies, and from ways of forestalling them. https://betterwithout.ai/scary-AI Superintelligence: Maybe AI will kill you before you finish reading this section. The extreme scenarios typically considered by the AI safety movement are possible in principle, but unfortunately no one has any idea how to prevent them. This book discusses moderate catastrophes instead, offering pragmatic approaches to avoiding or diminishing them. https://betterwithout.ai/superintelligence 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.

We now begin narrating the book Better Without AI, by David Chapman.   https://betterwithout.ai/only-you-can-stop-an-AI-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.

A meta-rational organization may appear chaotic (although productive and innovative), until you notice how smoothly routine rational work gets done. https://metarationality.com/meta-rational-workplace This is one of several standalone essays by David Chapman I'm incorporating into the unwritten sections of In The Cells Of The Eggplant, for the audiobook version. 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.

Fine-grained analysis of a molecular biology how-to video reveals significant features of rationality in practice. https://metarationality.com/rational-pcr   This is one of several standalone essays by David Chapman I'm incorporating into the unwritten sections of In The Cells Of The Eggplant, for the audiobook version.   The Britannica entry on PCR: https://www.britannica.com/science/polymerase-chain-reaction   The Khan Academy explainer on PCR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHi-3jP6Mvc&ab_channel=KhanAcademy   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.

Part V of In The Cells Of The Eggplant: Taking Rational Work Seriously   Putting meta-rationality to work, in statistics, experimental science, software development, and entrepreneurship. https://metarationality.com/applications   Richard Feynman derided “cargo cult science” that sticks to fixed systems. Innovation requires an upgrade to fluid, meta-systematic inquiry. https://metarationality.com/upgrade-your-cargo-cult   This is one of several standalone essays by David Chapman I'm incorporating into the unwritten sections of In The Cells Of The Eggplant, for the audiobook version.   The full text of Richard Feynman's address about cargo cult science: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm   David Chapman's description of how most people can't draw a bicycle: https://meaningness.com/understanding#bicycles   An interview with Lucy Suchman in which she mentions David Chapman and Phil Agre's work, among many other things: https://web.archive.org/web/20200608155536/http://www.iwp.jku.at/born/mpwfst/02/www.dialogonleadership.org/Suchmanx1999.html   "Scenius, Or Communal Genius" by Kevin Kelly: https://kk.org/thetechnium/scenius-or-comm/   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.

The syllabus for a curriculum teaching meta-rational skills: how to evaluate, combine, modify, discover, and create effective systems. https://metarationality.com/meta-rationality-curriculum   This is one of several standalone essays by David Chapman I'm incorporating into the unwritten sections of In The Cells Of The Eggplant, for the audiobook version.   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.

Distinguishing irrational, anti-rational, and meta-rational critiques of rationalism helps reply effectively. https://metarationality.com/rationalism-critiques This is one of several standalone essays by David Chapman I'm incorporating into the unwritten sections of In The Cells Of The Eggplant, for the audiobook version. 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.

Just as in the last episode, this is one of several standalone essays by David Chapman I'm incorporating into the unwritten sections of In The Cells Of The Eggplant, for the audiobook version. It fits well into Part 4: Taking Meta-Rationality Seriously.   Rationality requires judging whether a system of reasoning applies to a situation — but that judgement cannot be systematic! https://metarationality.com/meta-systematic-judgement   Links mentioned in this episode:   A webcomic by Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal about probability: https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=4127   David Chapman's essay, "Nutrition offers its resignation. And the reply": https://metarationality.com/nutrition-resigns   "July 4th And The Extraordinary Providential Deaths Of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe", a textbook example of religious eternalism, political eternalism, and rationalist eternalism, all rolled into one: https://web.archive.org/web/20160314212725/http://www.apollospeaks.com/?p=4354   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.

The heart of the meta-rationality book: what meta-rationality is, why it matters, and how to do it.   https://metarationality.com/meta-rationality   A first lesson in meta-rationality, or stage 5 cognition, using Bongard problems as a laboratory. This is an essay from metarationality.com edited and inserted into In The Cells Of The Eggplant, with the permission of the author.   https://metarationality.com/bongard-meta-rationality   Some links in the episode:   Index of Bongard problems   http://www.foundalis.com/res/bps/bpidx.htm   Brian Cantwell Smith: The philosophy of computation - meaning, mechanism, mystery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USF1H70bRl0&ab_channel=Andr%C3%A9SouzaLemos Alexandre Linhares’ “A glimpse at the metaphysics of Bongard problems.” (Through the Internet Archive) https://web.archive.org/web/20220327091633/http://app.ebape.fgv.br/comum/arq/Linhares2.pdf   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.