[extropy-chat] what to do

[Mike Lorrey]

I would keep the idea futures book in the works, with special work on
the PAM. It should be ready to hit the presses if and when a new major
terror attack happens. This would get you on all the news programs,
testifying before congress, etc. and you can point the finger at those
who killed the PAM.

--- "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience at pobox.com> wrote:

> Robin Hanson wrote:
> > Now that I have tenure, I'm tempted to spend the next few years on
> a new 
> > post-tenure project.  Since I should choose carefully, I solicit
> your 
> > advice.  No rush; it will be a month or two until I finish my
> current 
> > tasks.
> > 
> > My goal is to make great things happen; getting personal credit can
> enable 
> > me to do more things later, but is otherwise not the main goal.  By
> 
> > temperament I most like to think deep thoughts, I least like to
> manage 
> > other people, and explaining things is somewhere in the middle.
> > 
> > 1. Disagreement Book - Expand "Are Disagreements Honest" and
> related papers
> >  into a book, adding new material on data about who is right in
> real 
> > disagreements.  I've been telling people this is my plan.  This
> could 
> > establish my reputation as a deep thinker on a big issue.  Fun, as
> there 
> > are still things for me to learn on this topic.  No real
> competition on
> > this topic (as least re the more technical angle), and it is nicely
> not
> > aligned with an ideology.  But not clear this will really change
> much in
> > the world.
> 
> What I would most advise you to do for yourself is the Disagreement
> Book.  As 
> you learned the hard way, it's difficult to sell something that
> people don't 
> want to buy.  I wish I could propound something as easy to accept as
> modesty, 
> and I've sometimes considered writing a book on rationality for the
> same 
> reason - just to get the benefits of tackling a tractable problem. 
> People are 
> ready to be told that modesty is a good thing.  This is itself a
> bias, which 
> is why I tend to disagree with you about how to handle disagreement -
> but if 
> you pitch the book toward the popular-level, this book will probably
> sell 
> better than anything else you're considering writing.  If you're
> planning a 
> technical book or a book pitched at academia then you'd know better
> than I 
> would what would best establish your reputation.
> 
> > 9. Mangled Worlds - Learn and apply enough physics theory to figure
> out if 
> > my mangled worlds concept really is the solution the deep mystery
> of 
> > quantum mechanics that it seems to me.  Maybe a 25% chance I'm
> right, but
> > if I am, and I take the time to explain myself clearly, would
> establish a
> > strong reputation as a deep thinker.  Should know one way or other
> in 3
> > years. Would be fun, though not clear it has any practical
> implications.
> 
> This is the book I'm most interested in myself, in a purely selfish
> sense.  It 
> is also the most difficult and the most risky.
> 
>  > 3. Upload Futures Papers and Book - Return to and finish my papers
>  > analyzing the social implications of future technologies,
> particularly
>  > uploads.  Then write a book summarizing this area.  I don't know
> of a more
>  > important policy question, and no one else is doing this.  But it
> is not
>  > clear that making more people aware of these issues will produce
> better
>  > policy; future tech is usually treated symbolically, and this
> often makes
>  > things worse.
> 
> Yeah.  Pretty much.  Probably the only real benefit to be derived
> from the 
> book would be to pump generic academic respectability into advanced
> futurism.
> 
> -- 
> Eliezer S. Yudkowsky                          http://singinst.org/
> Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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> 


Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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