Links for 2022-01-16
"...the [negative] utility monster begins from a baseline status of arbitrarily massive suffering. If we now imagine that any given resource can either make any other person a little happier or else make a much greater impact on relieving the suffering of the negative utility monster, it seems clear that the latter option is the morally better way to go. So everyone must allow that it's possible (not necessarily objectionable) for the interests of a single individual to outweigh everyone else's put together, if the stakes for that individual really are sufficiently high." https://www.philosophyetc.net/2021/04/num-nums.html
Torture vs. Dust Specks: Would you prefer that one person be horribly tortured for fifty years without hope or rest, or that 3^^^3 people get dust specks in their eyes? https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3wYTFWY3LKQCnAptN/torture-vs-dust-specks
With funding from top investors, Gameto aims to delay — even eradicate — menopause https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/10/with-funding-from-top-investors-gameto-is-aiming-to-delay-even-eradicate-menopause/
Where are memories stored in the brain? New research suggests they may be in the connections between your brain cells https://theconversation.com/where-are-memories-stored-in-the-brain-new-research-suggests-they-may-be-in-the-connections-between-your-brain-cells-174578
A substitution in the glutathione reductase lowers electron leakage and inflammation in modern humans: "the ancestral enzyme has been reintroduced...by gene flow from Neanderthals and is associated with multiple traits in present-day people" https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm1148
Large AI for Science models are the new digital particle accelerators https://ml4sci.substack.com/p/ml4sci-37-deepminds-annus-mirabilis
Breakthrough Shot of Engineered Immune Cells Helps Heal Heart Damage https://singularityhub.com/2022/01/11/car-t-cells-boosted-by-mrna-repaired-heart-damage-in-mice/
Experimental Brain Implant Lets Man With Paralysis Turn His Thoughts Into Words https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/14/1016028911/experimental-brain-implant-lets-man-with-paralysis-turn-his-thoughts-into-words
Ideology and Social Media Censorship. Some findings/graphs from a recent Cato survey. https://zachgoldberg.substack.com/p/ideology-and-social-media-censorship
Study: 1960 ramjet design for interstellar travel—a sci-fi staple—is unfeasible https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/study-1960-ramjet-design-for-interstellar-travel-a-sci-fi-staple-is-unfeasible/
Could the ‘Breakthrough Starshot’ project even survive its planned journey? https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/breakthrough-starshot-survive/
America Is Falling Apart at the Seams: In 2020, the number of miles Americans drove fell 13 percent; the number of traffic deaths rose 7 percent; In 2021, motor vehicle deaths were up 18.4 percent even over 2020; "Not only is reckless driving on the rise, Yglesias pointed out, but the number of altercations on airplanes has exploded, the murder rate is surging in cities, drug overdoses are increasing, Americans are drinking more, nurses say patients are getting more abusive, and so on and so on."; "Teachers are facing a rising tide of disruptive behavior...In Dallas, disruptive classroom incidents have tripled this year..." [NYT] https://archive.fo/GvYp6
Friendly reminder: suffering risks >> existential risks >> catastrophic risks
1. Suffering risks: Events that produce astronomical suffering.
Example: A misaligned artificial intelligence with the prime directive to prevent any harm to humans. All humans are kept alive until the heat death of the universe but locked away and prevented from committing suicide.
2. Existential risks: Events that eliminate all of humanity and thereby forever prevent the existence of future generations.
Example: A doomsday cult creates a bioweapon targeting phytoplankton in the oceans triggering a collapse of the whole ecosystem.
3. Catastrophic risks: Events that could damage human well-being on a global scale, even endangering or destroying modern civilization.
Example: Advances in machine learning combined with cheap, microscopic, and self-powered sensors enable a perpetual totalitarian world government.