Carl Feynman

Aug 7, 2024 | lesswrong.com | Carl Feynman

I've wanted to build a self-reproducing machine since I was 17.  It's forty-five years later, and it has finally become feasible.  (I've done a few other things along the way.) I'm going to describe one such device, and speculate as to its larger implications.  It's a pretty detailed design, which I had to come up with to convince myself that it is feasible.  No doubt there are better designs than this. The AutofacHere's a top-level description of the device I'm thinking of.

Mar 10, 2024 | lesswrong.com | Carl Feynman

Content note: this story features severe suffering which, while not described in detail, several readers have described as unpleasant or horrifying. I am a spiteful man. But I am aware of it, which is more than most can say. These days people walk through the streets with resentment in their hearts that they don’t even know about. They sneer and jeer but wouldn’t recognize their own faces. I, at least, will not shy away from my reflection.

Feb 9, 2024 | lesswrong.com | Carl Feynman

We can reason back from the quantity of money to how much Altman expects to do with it.  Suppose we know for a fact that it’s will soon be possible to replace some percentage of labor with an AI that has negligible running cost.  How much should we be willing to pay for this? It gets rid of opex (operating expenses, i.e. wages) in exchange for capex (capital expenses, i.e. building chips and data centers).

Jan 28, 2024 | lesswrong.com | Nathan Helm-Burger |Carl Feynman |M. Y. Zuo

Inspired by Milan Cvitkovic’s article, Things You’re Allowed to Do.Going to the dentist can be uncomfortable. Some amount of this is unavoidable. Yet most dentists and staff care a lot about patient comfort. Tell them what you need, and you may very well get it!The hardest part is figuring out what’s on the menu. Below are some items that I’ve discovered.

Jan 27, 2024 | lesswrong.com | Carl Feynman |Donald Hobson |Gordon Worley

I. From Scott Alexander’s review of Joe Henrich’s The Secret of our Success:In the Americas, where manioc was first domesticated, societies who have relied on bitter varieties for thousands of years show no evidence of chronic cyanide poisoning. In the Colombian Amazon, for example, indigenous Tukanoans use a multistep, multi-day processing technique that involves scraping, grating, and finally washing the roots in order to separate the fiber, starch, and liquid.