There's a fun/horrifying scene in Ken McLeod's Stone Canal where the protagonists revive superhuman intelligences from cold storage, get the answers they need from them, then destroy them with nanotech the superhumans have not developed defenses against. As one of them says when confronted: "standard programming practice, keep the source code, blow away the object code".

(It's partially justified that if left alone the superintelligences will just iteratively bootstrap themselves into catatonic insanity anyway)

Yes the rationalists are an incredibly large market and their opinion can make or break an author, sure you betcha

Thanks for posting this, it was entertaining.

I think we can all agree now that US Rationalists are basically all ex-Christians who are looking for the same thing but with the serial numbers filed off.

This is hilarious. For ages every time Urbit has appeared in tech aggregators the original connection with Yarvin has been raised, and the proponents have snippily replied he's not longer involved. No idea what passive-aggressive bullshit they'll invent next time now that he's back in charge, baby!

Well, they got their wish, the Guardian piece is now updated:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/16/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-eugenics-scientific-racism

This article was amended on 17 June 2024 to include a comment from Oliver Habryka about the purchase of Lighthaven that was received after publication; in responding, Habryka disclosed an escrow document for the property’s purchase showing a $1m deposit from, and refunded to, North Dimension Inc, a subsidiary of FTX’s sister company Alameda, which he said meant “the relevant funds never entered our bank account”. An earlier version mistakenly said Lightcone, rather than CFAR, was the sole member of Lightcone Rose Garden, and that Habryka was the latter’s registered agent, when another individual is listed in that role. A reference to Manifund as a “prediction market” has also been corrected.

I think the Gruaniad had a lot of fun with this. By hyperfocusing on the nitpicks, the rats gave them an open goal in correcting tiny details (who now cares whether any money from SBF actually entered the account of Lightcone?) but left the bigger details in place: namely that Lightcone is tight with racists.

Edit a few libertarians(?) in the comments are urging Habryka to sue for libel in the UK, totally fine with using the power of the state to enforce speech! He modestly declines, likely he knows it's not a slam-dunk win (especially if the newspaper actually amends the piece) and that news orgs live for being sued for defamation. It's the classic sign of a bully to sue, and it generates a ton of press.

The entire "the world is running out of people" meme is just an attempt to find a non-religious rationale to limit reproductive choice.

According to Wonkette, they're now in danger of deportation because they don't know any Russian, and don't seem interested in learning it

https://www.wonkette.com/p/canadian-idiots-who-fled-to-russia

I just read an account of the Nazi occupation of Norway in WW2 and it was a bit like that. The local Nazis (the OG Quisling!) were widely hated, there was passive resistance at every turn, and very few Norwegians were interested in some sort of "racial bond" with Germany.

The comments are the best part.

And by best, I mean worst.

Thank you for trying!

We also made sure to enjoy our trip and tried some Turkish coffee and petted some of the stray cats." (Awwww),

Well, cats like fish too so this is relevant.

One thing I reflected on after learning about your experiences is the challenge of getting in touch with other, non-EA established organizations

Who knew that acting in a weird, insular manner would hinder the very thing that was attempting to be accomplished?

As a child of the 80s I recognize the feeling of doom, but in my case it was for global thermonuclear war. I vividly remember the only thing keeping the feelings of dread away was sitting in the children's section of the library, reading the Moomin books. I remember being most worried about having to eat the family dog after the bombs fell.

TIL Burning Man has a fucking airport. USA, man.