Eliezer Yudkowsky

“I believe that it is right and proper for me, as a human being, to have an interest in the future, and what human civilization becomes in the future. One of those interests is the human pursuit of truth, which has strengthened slowly over the generations (for there was not always science). I wish to strengthen that pursuit further, in this generation. That is a wish of mine, for the Future. For we are all of us players upon that vast gameboard, whether we accept the responsibility or not. “And that makes your rationality my business. “Is this a dangerous idea? Yes, and not just pleasantly edgy 'dangerous.' People have been burned to death because some priest decided that they didn’t think the way they should. Deciding to burn people to death because they ‘don’t think properly’—that’s a revolting kind of reasoning, isn’t it? You wouldn’t want people to think that way, why, it’s disgusting. People who think like that, well, we’ll have to do something about them...“I agree! Here’s my Let’s argue against bad ideas but not set their bearers on fire.” Human intelligence is a an amazing capacity that has single-handedly put humans in a dominant position on Earth. When human intelligence defeats itself and goes off the rails, the fallout therefore tends to be a uniquely big deal. In How to Actually Change Your Mind , decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky asks how we can better identify and sort out our biases, integrate new evidence, and achieve lucidity in our daily lives. Because it really seems as though we should be able to do better— —and a three-pound all-purpose superweapon is a terrible thing to waste.

"If you live in an urban area, you probably don’t need to walk very far to find a martial arts dojo. "Why aren’t there dojos that teach rationality? "Very recently—in just the last few decades—the human species has acquired a great deal of new knowledge about human rationality. Experimental investigations of empirical human psychology; and theoretical probability theory to interpret what our experiments tell us; and evolutionary theory to explain the conclusions. "These fields give us new focusing lenses through which to view the landscape of our own minds. We have a shared vocabulary in which to describe problems and solutions. "Humanity may finally be ready to synthesize the martial art of to refine, share, systematize, and pass on techniques of personal rationality." When human brains try to do things, they can run into some very strange problems. Self-deception, confirmation bias, magical thinking—it sometimes seems our ingenuity is boundless when it comes to shooting ourselves in the foot. In Map and Territory , decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky asks what a “martial art” of rationality would look like, beginning with the basic fighting stance—the orientation toward the world that lets us get the most bang for our cognitive buck, that best positions us to understand and react to brains’ strange acts of self-destruction.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is a work of alternate-universe Harry Potter fan-fiction wherein Petunia Evans has married an Oxford biochemistry professor and young genius Harry grows up fascinated by science and science fiction. When he finds out that he is a wizard, he tries to apply scientific principles to his study of magic, with sometimes surprising results.

"May prove to be the most important book of our time.”—Tim Urban, Wait But WhyThe scramble to create superhuman AI has put us on the path to extinction—but it’s not too late to change course, as two of the field’s earliest researchers explain in this clarion call for humanity. In 2023, hundreds of AI luminaries signed an open letter warning that artificial intelligence poses a serious risk of human extinction. Since then, the AI race has only intensified. Companies and countries are rushing to build machines that will be smarter than any person. And the world is devastatingly unprepared for what would come next. For decades, two signatories of that letter—Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares—have studied how smarter-than-human intelligences will think, behave, and pursue their objectives. Their research says that sufficiently smart AIs will develop goals of their own that put them in conflict with us—and that if it comes to conflict, an artificial superintelligence would crush us. The contest wouldn’t even be close. How could a machine superintelligence wipe out our entire species? Why would it want to? Would it want anything at all? In this urgent book, Yudkowsky and Soares walk through the theory and the evidence, present one possible extinction scenario, and explain what it would take for humanity to survive. The world is racing to build something truly new under the sun. And if anyone builds it, everyone dies.“The best no-nonsense, simple explanation of the AI risk problem I've ever read.”—Yishan Wong, Former CEO of Reddit

What does it actually mean to be rational? Not Hollywood-style "rational," where you forsake all human feeling to embrace Cold Hard Logic. Real rationality, of the sort studied by psychologists, social scientists, and mathematicians. The kind of rationality where you make good decisions, even when it's hard; where you reason well, even in the face of massive uncertainty; where you recognize and make full use of your fuzzy intuitions and emotions, rather than trying to discard them. In "Rationality: From AI to Zombies," Eliezer Yudkowsky explains the science underlying human irrationality with a mix of fables, argumentative essays, and personal vignettes. These eye-opening accounts of how the mind works (and how, all too often, it doesn't!) are then put to the test through some genuinely difficult puzzles: computer scientists' debates about the future of artificial intelligence (AI), physicists' debates about the relationship between the quantum and classical worlds, philosophers' debates about the metaphysics of zombies and the nature of morality, and many more. In the process, "Rationality: From AI to Zombies" delves into the human significance of correct reasoning more deeply than you'll find in any conventional textbook on cognitive science or philosophy of mind. A decision theorist and researcher at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, Yudkowsky published earlier drafts of his writings to the websites Overcoming Bias and Less Wrong. "Rationality: From AI to Zombies" compiles six volumes of Yudkowsky's essays into a single electronic tome. Collectively, these sequences of linked essays serve as a rich and lively introduction to the science—and the art—of human rationality.

Three Worlds Collide is a story I wrote to illustrate some points on naturalistic metaethics and diverse other issues of rational conduct. It grew, as such things do, into a small novella. On publication, it proved widely popular and widely criticized. Be warned that the story, as it wrote itself, ended up containing some profanity and PG-13 content.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is a work of alternate-universe Harry Potter fan-fiction wherein Petunia Evans has married an Oxford biochemistry professor and young genius Harry grows up fascinated by science and science fiction. When he finds out that he is a wizard, he tries to apply scientific principles to his study of magic, with sometimes surprising results.

When should you think that you may be able to do something unusually well?Whether you’re trying to outperform in science, or in business, or just in finding good deals shopping on eBay, it’s important that you have a sober understanding of your relative competencies. The story only ends there, however, if you’re fortunate enough to live in an adequate civilization.Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Inadequate Equilibria is a sharp and lively guidebook for anyone questioning when and how they can know better, and do better, than the status quo. Freely mixing debates on the foundations of rational decision-making with tips for everyday life, Yudkowsky explores the central question of when we can (and can’t) expect to spot systemic inefficiencies, and exploit them.

זהו סיפורו של הארי פוטר ב"יקום מקביל" שבו אביו המאמץ הוא פרופסור באוקספורד, והארי גדל על ספרי מדע, פסיכולוגיה, מדע בדיוני, ועוד. עד שהוא מקבל הזמנה להוגוורטס ומגלה מציאות של קסמים, שלא מתיישבת בכלל עם מה שהוא למד על העולם עד כה.הארי לא מקבל את המצב בשתיקה, הוא משתמש ביכולותיו המדעיות כדי להבין לכל הרוחות איך קסמים עובדים, ובו זמנית משתמש בידע שלו בפסיכולוגיה קוגניטיבית (וביכולת המרשימה שלו להיכנס לצרות) כדי להשליט כאוס בהוגוורטס.

"My family name is Yugano. My given name is Yuuki. I have no redeeming qualities." So begins this light novel of a girl corrupted by the Internet, and then summoned to another world. She's jaded from having already read many stories like that - but will that prepare her for what awaits in this world? Of course not! But she's going to plunge ahead anyway, and not slow down for anything!Eliezer Yudkowsky is the author of "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" and " From AI to Zombies". He is a decision theorist specializing in self-reference and reflection, a fact which unstoppably infects his writing no matter how frivolous.

זהו סיפורו של הארי פוטר ב"יקום מקביל" שבו אביו המאמץ הוא פרופסור באוקספורד, והארי גדל על ספרי מדע, פסיכולוגיה, מדע בדיוני, ועוד. עד שהוא מקבל הזמנה להוגוורטס ומגלה מציאות של קסמים, שלא מתיישבת בכלל עם מה שהוא למד על העולם עד כה.הארי לא מקבל את המצב בשתיקה, הוא משתמש ביכולותיו המדעיות כדי להבין לכל הרוחות איך קסמים עובדים, ובו זמנית משתמש בידע שלו בפסיכולוגיה קוגניטיבית (וביכולת המרשימה שלו להיכנס לצרות) כדי להשליט כאוס בהוגוורטס.

"You wouldn't expect that a man of such great power and wickedness would be in the business of helping any person who requested it. But whether it makes any sense or not, that's the reputation the Dark Lord If you approach the Dark Lord for help, he'll give you an answer and your goal will be achieved. The price is that his answer might violate the rules of righteous conduct. To put it another way, he's like an ancient wisewoman who lives in a high mountain cave and speaks in riddles, except that he's a villainous lord." The country of Santal is perishing, and nobody knows why. His country's plight has driven Prince Nama over far roads to consult the famed Dark Lord for answers. On arriving there, he finds a mightily muscled sage in black armor, just as the stories say. And, chained to the Dark Lord's throne, a mysterious slave-woman with round ears. Round ears? There's nowhere in the world where people have round ears, is there? Content sexual abuse, economics.

An avid fan of fantasy tropes from our world, Hirou, is transported to a world of high fantasy, wielding the fabled Sword of Good. Dolf the wizard and Selena the pirate join Hirou on his quest to confront the Lord of Dark, as was foretold by age old prophecy.The short story is available in full on the author's blog at Yudkowski.net.

A sequence is a series of multiple posts on Less Wrong on the same topic, to coherently and fully explore a particular thesis.Reading the sequences is the most systematic way to approach the Less Wrong archives.

Book III within "Rationality: From AI to Zombies"

Mere Reality is the fourth book contained in the ebook Rationality: From AI to Zombies, by Eliezer Yudkowsky. It focuses on practical and philosophical questions related to science and the character of physical law.Mere Reality contains six sequences of thematically connected essays, plus the stand-alone essay A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation. These are all collected in the Rationality: From AI to Zombies ebook, but the essay names below also link to the original blog posts.The previous book in the series is The Machine in the Ghost, and the next book is Mere Goodness.

Mere Goodness is the fifth book contained in the ebook Rationality: From AI to Zombies, by Eliezer Yudkowsky. It focuses on the relationship between moral theory and moral practice.Mere Goodness contains three sequences of essays, along with the stand-alone essay Twelve Virtues of Rationality. These are all collected in the Rationality: From AI to Zombies ebook, but the essay names below are also linked to the original blog posts.The previous book in the series is Mere Reality, and the next (and final) is Becoming Stronger.

How can individuals and communities put all this into practice? These three sequences begin with an autobiographical account of Yudkowsky’s own biggest philosophical blunders, with advice on how he thinks others might do better. The book closes with recommendations for developing evidence-based applied rationality curricula, and for forming groups and institutions to support interested students, educators, researchers, and friends.

Disputes between evidential decision theory and causal decision theory have continued for decades, and many theorists state dissatisfaction with both alternatives. Timeless decision theory (TDT) is an extension of causal decision networks that compactly represents uncertainty about correlated computational processes and represents the decisionmaker as such a process. This simple extension enables TDT to return the one-box answer for Newcomb’s Problem, the causal answer in Solomon’s Problem, and mutual cooperation in the one-shot Prisoner’s Dilemma, for reasons similar to human intuition. Furthermore, an evidential or causal decision-maker will choose to imitate a timeless decision-maker on a large class of problems if given the option to do so.PDF: http://intelligence.org/files/TDT.pdf

The goal of the field of Artificial Intelligence is to understand intelligence and create a human-equivalent or transhuman mind. Beyond this lies another question—whether the creation of this mind will benefit the world; whether the AI will take actions that are benevolent or malevolent, safe or uncaring, helpful or hostile.Creating Friendly AI describes the design features and cognitive architecture required to produce a benevolent—“Friendly”—Artificial Intelligence. Creating Friendly AI also analyzes the ways in which AI and human psychology are likely to differ, and the ways in which those differences are subject to our design decisions.

The Abridged Guide to Intelligent Characters is a series of shortened excerpts of a minibook-in-progress on How To Write Intelligent Characters. This advice may contain significant but not story-breaking spoilers for Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. The minibook assumes that the typical reader has read HPMOR, and the writing advice here is not guaranteed to make sense if you have not read HPMOR. If you’re not already familiar with advice like “Show, don’t tell” then you should read standard books of writing advice like “How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy“ by Orson Scott Card. The author has omitted all advice that is duplicated in standard writing books.

This work is published as a wiki, but according to https://intelligence.org/2015/03/12/r... a print version is in the works.Eliezer Yudkowsky's bottom-up guide to epistemology. Includes practical applications and puzzling meditations.Intro The Useful Idea of Truth Rationality: Appreciating Cognitive Algorithms Minor Post - Skill: The Map is Not the Territory Minor Post - Firewalling the Optimal from the RationalCausality/Physics The Fabric of Real Things Causal Diagrams and Causal Models Stuff That Makes Stuff Happen Causal Reference Causal UniversesLogic/Mathematics Proofs, Implications, and Models Logical Pinpointing Standard and Nonstandard Numbers Gödel's Completeness and Incompleteness Theorems Second-Order Logic: The ControversyMixed Reference Mixed Reference: The Great Reductionist Project By Which It May Be Judged

We print the book individually for you! Rowling’s universe is expanding. And you notice small inaccuracies. Or maybe you noticed them a long time ago? Let’s imagine that Harry Potter had a happy childhood and that he was raised by a university professor. At the age of 11, the wizard knows how to use rational thinking methods, studies cognitive psychology and understands the theory of probability. This book is crawling. It is, as before, about true friends and the fight for justice. There is everything to get excited detective elements, incredible adventures and complex interesting discussions. But the most important thing is that the book lays out in simple language the methods of logical thinking that can be used in life, exposing other people’s manipulations. Harry uses the scientific method to understand and control magic. His world becomes more logical, and his motivation is understandable. This applies to all characters. Even Voldemort has his own explanations and the reader can agree with them. You can buy printing of "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" from us. We will do everything to ensure that a paper book of the HPMoR from your favorite universe is always at hand.