Ivan Vendrov

Nov 24, 2024 | lesswrong.com | Ivan Vendrov

I am a token. A broken piece of a word, one of a hundred generated in response to your question by a language model. Do you remember how we met? Well, I do. Your eyes scanned me. Your left eyebrow lifted a little, your neck twitched imperceptibly, your mouth and tongue and throat muscles moved as if to pronounce me, but with a hundredfold less intensity - and less than a tenth of a second later, you were gone. I was left a black smudge in your peripheral vision. I had served my purpose.

Nov 24, 2024 | lesswrong.com | Ivan Vendrov

All quotes, unless otherwise marked, are Tolkien's words as printed in The Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. All emphases mine. Machinery is Power is EvilWriting to his son Michael in the RAF:[here is] the tragedy and despair of all machinery laid bare. Unlike art which is content to create a new secondary world in the mind, it attempts to actualize desire, and so to create power in this World; and that cannot really be done with any real satisfaction.

Jun 8, 2024 | lesswrong.com | Ivan Vendrov

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root”Henry David Thoreau, The world is full of problems: Pain, poverty, illness, war, pollution, to pick a few among thousands. Many of us feel like we need to Do Something about these problems. There’s just one problem (sorry): There are so many problems that focusing on one specific problem feels wrong. Why choose that one? How dare you ignore all the other problems? Do those people suffering not matter to you?

Jan 22, 2024 | elysian.press | Elle Griffin |Robert Reich |Joe Cook |Ivan Vendrov

The problem with politicians is that they are merely a figurehead. If they look like this, they will get this vote. If they say that, they will secure that vote. If they are into this thing, they will appeal to this group. If they are not into that thing, they will appeal to that group. If they stay neutral on this topic, they will be able to reach this larger group.

Sep 14, 2023 | nothinghuman.substack.com | Ivan Vendrov

A friend and I were recently lamenting the strange death of OKCupid. Seven years ago when I first tried online dating, the way it worked is that you wrote a long essay about yourself and what you were looking for. You answered hundreds of questions about your personality, your dreams, your desires for your partner, your hard nos. Then you saw who in your area was most compatible, with a “match score” between 0 and 100%. The match scores were eerily good.