Links By Today 29/04/2024

These Glass Bead Games we Play

Great post summarizing some of Herman Hesse's work and then delving into some really interesting game theory. I really enjoyed the way in which the author showed that if games are highly competitive e.g employment then its sometimes better to break the rules.

Reasons and persons

Great post breaking down some complex moral philosophy into digestible parts whilst using some very amusing thought experiments in the process.

Plans you aren't meant to talk about

Amusing, conspiracy theories meet less-wrong style thinking.

Taste Games

More philosophy but this time blended with sociology. Why do we like what we like? Is it all status games? Why is it ok to boast about where you've travelled but not about what you own? Why do people really like art? Great questions and great answers.

The Ugly-Ai-World

Real. This excerpt summarises this post nicely

As the internet gets clogged, the places with genuine human interaction will become like Venice, uninhabitable and forever transformed, a relic that exists to service the needs of an external economy — its denizens an afterthought. This has already begun to happen. Reddit, which is walling itself off to squeeze more profits, has plainly admitted they are doing this to protect and monetize their "valuable corpus" of data. Twitter has followed suit, for very similar reasons. OpenAI is profiting greatly by mining the value of the conversations we've had on the web, and Reddit hopes to start collecting rent, like how the Vatican charges admission even though it was built on the exploitation of people who have been dead for centuries.

This mass-produced content will be sanitized, advertiser-friendly drivel. This is not a hypothesis. It is trivial to test

Is Diet Coke a nootropic?

Interesting breakdown, on why diet coke may be (but probably isn't) a nootropic. Enjoyed this the author holds your hand through some of the more complex biology stuff.

Alcohol, health, and the ruthless logic of the Asian flush

Interesting breakdown dispelling some common myths around Asian Flush and also giving me a new-found appreciation for the ruthlessness of evolution

On using the threat of losing money to force yourself to do something

A bit extreme and in classic Less Wrong fashion wildly overcomplicated and filled with needless jargon. But nevertheless interesting post about a bit of an out-there approach to making sure you do the things you know you should be doing.