The director of research at the Qualia Research Institute recently posted this poll asking whether people believed in universes with different laws of physics
yes! I think substack doesn't have like a nice "login with substack" API, but we can probably figure something out (and/or have more standard things like google login)
the reason I want to support these different entry points is again for this idea that (1) NOT forcing people to use the app is just good pro-consumer behavior, but also (2) it helps the thing spread. If you post your opinion on substack, and it automatically gets consumed into the discourse map, then you're creating an entry point for the discourse in your sphere, while also contributing to the big global one. Local <-> global.
(we can probably do this with RSS - every substack page has an RSS feed, so the app can maybe consume it that way? we'll play with it and see)
"These communities are typically information silo’s/echochambers, but if you have an audience on both, you can get them to talk, through you" - Meh, only to an extent. e.g. I'm not interested in discussions with eco-ignorant folks about how everything is going to be okay (not because I've simply decided I'm closed off to their arguments but because I've already devoted a ton of time to examining their arguments -more than they've ever dared to examine mine- and found them flimsy, and it feels like a frustrating waste of my time to engage with them ... I expect there are other such cases like this)
Are you familiar with "cultural materialism"? The idea is: more so than explicit messaging, the very foundations of our survival have the most powerful influence over our deepest beliefs, because they determine what we take for granted and set constraints on our ability to imagine alternatives. I think that as the grocery store shelves become barer over the years, and electricity and internet and water become less reliable, it'll do more than words on a screen can to influence folks' perceptions (and not just the answers but also the questions!). To apply this to the superintelligence question, I guess the effect will be that opinions will gravitate toward a third off-spectrum option: "AI/internet has been down everywhere since 2033. Get out here and help us dig."
This is a great idea. Why not substack, too? I'm no longer on Twitter, and I haven't bothered to get a bluesky account.
yes! I think substack doesn't have like a nice "login with substack" API, but we can probably figure something out (and/or have more standard things like google login)
the reason I want to support these different entry points is again for this idea that (1) NOT forcing people to use the app is just good pro-consumer behavior, but also (2) it helps the thing spread. If you post your opinion on substack, and it automatically gets consumed into the discourse map, then you're creating an entry point for the discourse in your sphere, while also contributing to the big global one. Local <-> global.
(we can probably do this with RSS - every substack page has an RSS feed, so the app can maybe consume it that way? we'll play with it and see)
in case there's still time to answer the tweeted question about minds:
https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2025/08/the-genius-of-survival/
"These communities are typically information silo’s/echochambers, but if you have an audience on both, you can get them to talk, through you" - Meh, only to an extent. e.g. I'm not interested in discussions with eco-ignorant folks about how everything is going to be okay (not because I've simply decided I'm closed off to their arguments but because I've already devoted a ton of time to examining their arguments -more than they've ever dared to examine mine- and found them flimsy, and it feels like a frustrating waste of my time to engage with them ... I expect there are other such cases like this)
Are you familiar with "cultural materialism"? The idea is: more so than explicit messaging, the very foundations of our survival have the most powerful influence over our deepest beliefs, because they determine what we take for granted and set constraints on our ability to imagine alternatives. I think that as the grocery store shelves become barer over the years, and electricity and internet and water become less reliable, it'll do more than words on a screen can to influence folks' perceptions (and not just the answers but also the questions!). To apply this to the superintelligence question, I guess the effect will be that opinions will gravitate toward a third off-spectrum option: "AI/internet has been down everywhere since 2033. Get out here and help us dig."
Let’s do this!