Learning reasoning through learning AI safety
@July 19, 2022
I realized that learning about AI safety is actually fascinating. You end up learning about the nature of reasoning, agency and intelligence. And it served as if physicist were tasked to understand these things from the first principles. For example…
There is AI predictor (strategizing) that uses actuators (actions in the world) and there is AI reporter (verifying) to report the truth about what happened. Despite the AI reporters goal, it is more likely it will default to not truth. There is only one truth and multitudes of not truths. The correct statement is a lot harder to make and therefore it is a challenge to incentivize the reporter to construct it.
It reminds me of this idea.
Bike ride #2, food and energy
@July 12, 2022
I am preparing prepare for some intense cycling race. I almost didn’t bike for like half a year and never rode more than 65km before XD. On Sun I did a second ride that was 70km with 500m of climbing and a couple of interesting things popped up.
- I feel like I forgot a little how does deep hunger feel. Normally I just eat when I get a little hungry. When I spent a lot of energy on one go this hunger was intense and in a weird way it felt very good.
- At 80% of the ride, I doubted I could ride much longer. I stopped and ate large ice cream. I was surprised how much energy it was. It felt like I didn’t feel tired anymore. It felt like I could ride double the distance. When I came back home I had so much energy I couldn’t sleep.
- I don’t remember I felt the connection that food is energy so clearly before. There is something powerful in seeing / feeling this but it is also a little scary. 99% of my living time I live this unnatural sedentary lifestyle. The same energetic processes are happening in the background but I don’t even notice them. In the past the problem was "too little food". Now, in the “more developed” world, it is “how to avoid eating”. I think most of us, in an unnoticeable way, tend to either overeat or not spend enough energy to make deep hunger turn on.
Surfing collision space
@April 9, 2022
I am currently in Waialua, O’ahu, Hawaii. It’s a place that used to be all about sugar and now is all about surfing. I work remotely, write, and learn how to surf. The north shore of O’ahu feels like the surfing capital of the world. The stretch of beaches here is called seven miles miracle because the reef on the bottom of the ocean creates ideal surf conditions during winters of the northern hemisphere. It’s hard not to surf here because everything is about surfing. It’s interesting to experience the gravity of the scene. You go surfing to hang out with people. By sheer chance I happen have roommates who are or almost are pro surfers. If I go to a cafe there are surfing videos on the wall. At one party, I realized that people are from all over the world and almost everybody is a surfer. A person in the knows told me that during winter if you are an aspiring surfer you either are here or perhaps struggle financially. Out of a tight group of friends I know there is maybe one out of ten people who don’t surf. There are some people who came here not because of surfing. Most of them surf a couple of times a week now. It reminds me of how Marc Andressen talked about collision spaces and the power of inserting oneself into a scene. “If you are into film go to Los Angeles, if into code San Francisco, if into arts or finance New York City” and if into surfing go to O’ahu, North Shore. I think it’s so true. What’s interesting is that observing and experiencing this is such visceral evidence that we are just a socially motivated gravity-pulp. It is just so much easier to be supported, excited, and skilled in the things that also people around you are.