swlabr

I kind of wish there was a space in awful.systems to dunk on malcolm gladwell et al but it’s probably a little too far removed from stem fuckery.

If you haven’t listened to the “outliers” episode of the “if books could kill” podcast, i recommend it!

"Editing? Where we're going, we don't need editing!" - Absolutely not Eliezer. Too succinct.

In my pursuit of clarity and precision, the art of composition itself becomes a meticulous process of refining ideas. Each word is a deliberate stroke, contributing to the coherence of thought, rendering traditional editing superfluous. The absence of formal editing is a deliberate choice, reflecting the belief that the initial act of creation captures the most authentic expression of my intellectual journey.

Now that is what yud^1^ might say.

1: By Yud I mean a 99.9% accurate simulation of Yud using ChatGPT, which, according to rationalist doctrine, is the same thing.

Yeah, that's where I'm at. I don't think this is Yud doing HPMOR and trying to rope randos into rationality. Well, maybe he's trying to rope the non-rat glowfic enjoyers, idk. In any case, this is Yud playing with a pal and having fun, I guess? Take that as you will.

This is what I wanted, thanks. Stellar work as always.

OTOH the format reminds me of having to read the pesterchum parts of homestuck, which is why I stopped reading it

Fake answer: at some point in rat history they thought that Armenian people were genetically superior and decided to take traditional Armenian surnames as their handles, but they both simultaneously and serendipitously bungled the spelling. The names should actually be “Yvian” (pronounced yiv-yahn) and “Iarwian” (pronounced ee-arh-wee-yahn)

Real answer: probably a tolkien elvish name idk

actually I found this ancient text online that helps explain everything:

Eliezer Monogatari, chapter 69:

On his mighty steed Oververbosity, Eliezer is fast approaching the cliff edge overlooking the dreaded Chasm of Unreadability. His desire to cram more words and IQfulness into his text has deafened him to the wails of the Ghost of Editors Past, begging him to at least paste into Google Docs and fix a few squigglies.

In a moment of rational brilliance, he casts Bayesian Reasoning and epiphanisationalises that he can Just Add Metainfo to every line, exponentially increasing his QLAWPW (quality of life adjusted words per word), making him The Greatest Author. His loyal mount leaps into the air over the abyss, buoyed by clouds of self-delusion.

Of course, he crashes and falls into the chasm. But what's this? The miasma of unreadability... it's more clouds of self-delusion generated by the cult of TREACLES! He rises, unscathed, head three sizes bigger than before.^1^

1: Scholars are divided on whether this is because the toxic miasma mutated his sense of self-worth or if he hit his head on the chasm floor and it swelled. We will never know.

is this written by a grown man or a 14 year old emo kid

yes

(the MC is jughead from Riverdale lel)

Yeah, it's both impenetrable and punishing, which I think is in part due to the glowfic format (which I am new to). There's even a glowfic primer from LW!.

There is romance, there is sex, there are deliberately bad kink practices whose explicit purpose is to get people to actually hurt somebody else

The fact that this isn’t just a ratfic of My Immortal is cowardice to the highest degree

Also, I will mention it every time it comes up: “dath ilan” is an anagram of thailand and there just has to be a reason, dammit.

Ok, so to be clear, I would (perhaps naively) prefer it if we didn't have charities/NGOs and that governments would handle solving problems and helping people entirely. Of course, this is reductive; there are probably plenty of spaces where NGOs and charities are better suited for approaching some issues.

That being said, while money (or a lack thereof) is the main issue in solving many problems, you still need all kinds of work to make it effective. In the case of malaria prevention, a cause EA deems to be cost-effective, you still need to pay staff to carry out logistics to deliver whatever nets or vaccines you buy with money. You wouldn't want someone incompetent at the helm; that could cause your cost-effectiveness to go down. And how do you incentivize competent people to stay in leadership positions? There are plenty of ways, but executive bonuses will be at the top of that list.

Anyway, my main issue with EA has gotta be how it launders false morality and money into morality. The false morality is the X-risk shit. The money is the money from working in tech.

smug particles

Goddamn rats and their smug particles! (jk)