this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2024
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Hurling ordure at the TREACLES, especially those closely related to LessWrong.
AI-Industrial-Complex grift is fine as long as it sufficiently relates to the AI doom from the TREACLES. (Though TechTakes may be more suitable.)
This is sneer club, not debate club. Unless it's amusing debate.
[Especially don't debate the race scientists, if any sneak in - we ban and delete them as unsuitable for the server.]
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TESCREAL is a useful acronym for explaining things but I'm disappointed in how little impact it has outside of the terminally online. How can this cult turn into something that sticks to Musk, Altman, and Vance the way Scientology does to Tom Cruise? Do we need South Park to make an episode talking about the fucktillions of unborn robots in distant galaxies?
I'm torn on this too, I think Torres et consortes are dignifying these idiots way too much by highlighting their views and in some ways taking them seriosuly. It's an inadvertent form of critihype. Wholesale ridicule is the order of the day! On the other hand, before the Scientology papers reveal (god that was so long ago) the CoS was seen as weird but legitimate. When more and more people discovered Xenu, the Sea Org, and how people could be designated "unpersons", the view slwoly shifted.
I guess both serious criticism and pointing and laughing are needed.
quite
the fundamental requirement of a counter-argument/-movement/-whatever is that one has to show that there are some that seriously believe these things, as absurd as they may be
the mockery can still happen separately as well (and always should, imo), but for the "but why should we listen to you" dimension the former is needed too
I honestly thought that when they published an article about Yud in Times Magazine last year would be that moment. It should have had enough reach to trigger something, at least, and it was crazy enough as well. It was certainly the moment where I thought, holy shit, the weirdos have hit mainstream.
i too wish these bozos were not important to know about, but Eliezer's there advocating air strikes on Chinese data centres in Time
I still don't know what TESCREAL actually means.
It’s detailed in the 3rd para of the linked article.
Edit it's a very nerd acronym though. It's seven different isms, each requiring paragraph-length explanations, while Scientology could be summarized as "believes an alien named Xenu implanted bad thoughts in you and you need to pay to get rid of them".
Initialism for the multiple main schools of thonk from the weirdos, so-named by Gebru and Torres
I've wondered if TREACLES might take hold better in the public consciousness.
As a fan of Sir Pterry, it makes me think of apocalypse-fearing dwarves madly digging for sweets.
TESCREAL was chosen, at least in part, because it would be easier to search for. TREACLES matches all sorts of other stuff.
Hey, good point!
recently reread that and: heh yeah, remarkably on the nose comparison
also, GNU Terry Pratchett
hey @self - can we add clacks to awful? :D