The Students

Philosophers talk of aligning AI to “human values”. This supposes there is no objective value, only the arbitrary values that humans happened to land on. Ginevra Davis and Wolf Tivy argue there is a deeper well of value in material reality.

Oliver Habryka joins Wolf Tivy to tell how he revived LessWrong after it nearly died, built the Lighthaven campus, and launched his $35m/quarter project to reform grantmaking.

Jonathan Wallis and Wolf Tivy cover the role of passion in intellectual inquiry. The academy's sin is that its people have lost their passion, content to go through the motions. With passion, the work comes alive—but this upsets careers and institutions.

Stephen Pimentel and Wolf Tivy discuss Homer. If Odysseus reveals his power level too soon, the suitors will kill him. To take back his home, he needs metis (μῆτις): practical intelligence under duress. Today's would-be reformers need metis as well.0:00 — Intro2:22 — Restoring order in ancient Greece; Agamemnon’s warning9:24 — The importance of metis 15:34 — The meaning of Odysseus’s challenges22:46 — Circe, sorcery, and science27:30 — The Phaeacians31:26 — The recognition of nobility33:03 — Justice and retribution38:05 — Restoring order today 40:08 — How great stories and great men transcend the present moment

Rachel Wallis is pregnant with her highest-IQ embryo, with a 99.99th percentile polygenic IQ score. She and Wolf Tivy discuss what this means, and how in the 20th century our concept of "humanity" narrowed into an ideological straitjacket.

0:00 — Intro

1:17 — How we selected the embryo

5:04 — What do these predictors actually mean?

12:53 — Financial costs and benefits

17:16 — Cultivating virtue

22:31 — Where is this going for future generations?

24:48 — Virtue and courage

28:47 — Overcoming the “humanitarian” straitjacket

34:00 — Transcendent humanism died in the war

44:04 — The silicon ubermensch  

48:30 — “The choice between death or change”

52:27 — Investing in the next generation

Many say computers have transformed society as deeply as the advent of industry. While computers are powerful, they have not reordered the fundamental basis of society. Ben Landau-Tylor and Wolf Tivy cover the history0:00 — Intro2:44 — "We take the industrial background for granted"8:36 — What does it mean to revolutionize society?13:56 — The industrial social system18:41 — The rise of the laptop class22:34 — Cultural homogenization28:43 — Technological changes vs novelty effects31:05 — The case of journalism’s decline39:00 — The time traveler thought experiment41:02 — What will the full development of a computerized society look like?49:27 — Computers and material production58:21 — "What would it mean for computing to be as impactful as the Industrial Revolution?"

Max Dmitrienko and Wolf Tivy take on glory. From the ancient Greeks to the posthuman machine gods, some achievements are remembered because they show truths about how the world works and the challenges of coordination.0:00 — Intro1:26 — "How should one live given that one is mortal?"7:11 — What is worth remembering?13:53 — The transhuman perspective18:01 — Achilles' choice vs Socrates' choice29:18 — The legitimate basis of cooperation35:24 — What does glory look like in the modern world?39:37 — Reaching higher forms of society44:25 — Distinction vs gradients50:34 — What glory will mean to the posthuman AI

Ben Landau-Taylor and Wolf Tivy deal with industrial growth. Standard economic theories model growth as continuous marginal improvements, and seek stability. Schumpeter explains growth is a destructive "history of revolutions" which cause chaos.0:00 — Intro1:23 — Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy3:35 — Creative destruction and natural monopolies11:09 — How natural selection works in capitalism15:11 — Clearing out the dead wood22:17 — Eliminating depressions has slowed development28:57 — The degenerative ratchet in our political economy37:00 — Hope comes from circumvention, not reform41:26 — Where can circumvention come from?49:39 — Extropy

Samo Burja and Wolf Tivy cover gerontocracy. Generational youth politics are a dead end: the "youth" will be old by the time they take power. Change can come only from empowering new classes willing to gamble on their own "nepo babies".

San Francisco is the capital of the online networks where today's new ideas are born. It's an excellent place for a sensitive young man with something to say. Ben and Wolf describe how the scene works and how to break in.