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Kai Teorn's Blog

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"Everday" update: free on Amazon for the next 5 days

Posted by Kai Teorn, 24 March 2013 -

· 277 views

I updated the Amazon book with the latest snapshot (revision 10481). More editing is needed, but it shapes up nicely. Leaner and more readable with every revision.For the next five days, you can get it free for Kindle from Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AZCJV12 Please give it a read.

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TIL

Posted by Kai Teorn, 27 January 2013 -

· 388 views

Combined, the brains of all humans who have ever lived will fit into a sphere a little more than 500 meters in diameter. That sphere will hold all the memory, all knowledge, all languages, all skills and idiosyncrasies that have ever existed. All faces. All loves. That's how big "we" are, materially speaking.

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My book is out! (well, almost)

Posted by Kai Teorn, 10 January 2013 -

· 481 views

Technological singularity or collapse of civilization? Wrong question. Blissfully irreverent, EVERDAY refuses to play to the standard futurological precepts: it offers its own strange insights into what we as humans truly care about — and where that can lead us. An alphabetized, densely cross-referenced encyclopedia, a “science non-fiction” tract that rea...

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On rationality

Posted by Kai Teorn, 14 November 2011 -

· 169 views

rationality, yudkowski

Why it is so is a topic for another discussion... but it's obvious that (the Cult of) Rationality is a rising wave and a new battle cry. And that might be a good thing in itself - if only rationality were always treated completely, well, rationally. Here's a nice specimen from a blog by Eliezer Yudkowsky which is more or less fully devoted to the topic...

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On loving humanity

Posted by Kai Teorn, 01 June 2011 -

· 129 views

Joseph Conrad once wrote to Herbert Wells: "You don't care for humanity but think they are to be improved. I love humanity but know they are not."It may be even more true than most realize - or rather, more symmetric .The conservative love that fails to acknowledge both the fact of slow changes in the human nature and the dire need for such...

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Superintelligence?

Posted by Kai Teorn, 23 April 2011 -

· 175 views

The notions of "superintelligence" and "singularity" - both a staple of modern scifi - seem to me disturbingly similar to the old idea of God. Something explicitly relying on superlatives, something with (vaguely) supernatural powers, and something of which we have no proof of existence whatsoever.Moreover, the very idea of "superintel...

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More on backslide perceptions

Posted by Kai Teorn, 22 April 2011 -

· 101 views

Expansion erodes unity: the single harmonic stream has broken into a delta of tiny rivulets drying into the sand - a sadpicture... even if their summary watershed is much greater than that of the source stream.Also, growth is stereotypically slow and organic whereas crumbling is earth-shattering, in-your-face; by a recoil of logic, whensomething is easily...

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Backslide bias

Posted by Kai Teorn, 21 April 2011 -

· 137 views

"Backslide bias" (a proposed term) is the main reason that makes one "perceive a regress whenever there's an advance." It works like this: as some idea, movement, practice gains currency and mindshare in society and attracts new followers, the original message is inevitably "diluted" or even "distorted" - you can't...

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