Marriage, the Giving What We Can Pledge, and the damage caused by vague public commitments
I think honesty is important. We should make and ask for clear commitments that we will likely keep.
Security and the Future
Welcome to my home page. The picture above is one I took in Black Rock City, one of several important places that has influenced how I see the world. To me it represents people getting together and making meaning. Hacking cool stuff together and sharing it. Humans exploring the boundaries of what's possible, and all the failures and complexities that involves.
I spend a lot of my time thinking about security and the future. Not just cybersecurity, but also security at the level of civilizational systems. What would happen to us if there was a nuclear war? What are the risks and rewards posed by advances in biotechnology and machine learning? I also spend a lot of time thinking about how people work. I'm curious about new and old ways of working together to build good communities, governance systems, and ultimately a thriving and robust civilization.
You'll find a collection of my work here: guides to securing your online accounts and personal devices, write-ups on risks from emerging technologies, book and article reviews, and some information about me. If you're interested in the motivation for my work, and how I think we got here, read this post.
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Recent Posts
A world of trees and flowers
This post contains DALL-E 2 art of a fantasy world concept that Jonathan Salt and I created in 2013.
My vision of a good future, part I
In this post I write about the future that I am fighting for, and the problems that need to be solved before it becomes reality.
AI art is going to keep getting better
Check out these results from Google’s Parti models at different sizes.
Fun with DALL-E 2
A collection of DALL-E-generated art.
Are Large Language Models like laMDA sentient?
In this post I explain what we can and can’t learn about AI sentience from conversations with Large Language Models.
Bipedal transport: A ponderous review
Today I decided to test out a form of last-mile transport that is relatively unusual for me and has some surprising appeals.
Onewheel vs. push scooter: A confession
A few months ago I made a post extolling the virtues of Onewheels, but recently I realized that my standard (not electric) push scooter is better in basicall...
Comment on Eliezer Yudkowky’s AGI Ruin: A List of Lethalities
In this post I respond to Eliezer’s AGI Ruin post and encourage researchers working on this to go boldly ahead and search for and test strategies.
Don’t die with dignity; instead play to your outs
In this post I respond to Eliezer’s Death With Dignity post, suggesting that instead of dying with dignity, you play to your outs.