*it's been 84 years. *. Hi y'all I'm back to tell you about a project I've been working on for a year, in collab with teenagers at @hackclub:. 🤖 AI SAFETY FOR FLESHY HUMANS 🤖 .🙀 🙀. Learn about AI the non-cringe way. There's a Robot Catboy Maid. Enjoy!

RT @hackclub: A year ago, teenagers at @hackclub set out to build the greatest math game ever. Today, SineRider enters public beta. Experi….

FAILURE.IS JUST.SUCCESS.LEAVING.THE BODY.

[content note: dieting]. Hey, remember that absurd potato self-experiment I was doing? Well, now you can do it too! You can sign up for @mold_time's Half-Tato Citizen Science study below:. 🥔 🥔

RT @mold_time: Are you interested in RESEARCH? Do you like POTATOES? 🥔🥔🥔 Do you want to GET ABOUT 50% OF YOUR CALORIES FROM POTATOES EVERY….

@threadreaderapp unroll.

I read the pre-release copy of "What's Our Problem" in one 6-hour sitting. (Screenshots shared with permission) It's *that* funny & insightful. Again, it launches tomorrow, Feb 21 Tuesday: Thanks again, @waitbutwhy!. 🧵END. p.s: more pix

The book closes with this humbling, scary loop:. Bad times → Wise folks → Good times → Fools → Bad times. I hope we find a solution out of this cycle. Failing that, I hope we can minimize the depth of the bad times, & get to wisdom soon. I hope Tim's book helps. 🧵8/9

For years, I wanted to call out the toxicity "on my side", but felt "that's infighting, still Us vs Them", etc. But the book showed me: boundaries are *healthy*. We *need* lines of what's role-model-worthy & not. But: the line ought not be WHAT we think, but HOW we think. 🧵7/9

Unlike most anti-polarization essays, Tim makes VERY clear that "high-rung" DOES NOT MEAN "CENTRIST". There *are* low-rung moderates, and there *are* high-rung radicals. High-rung thinking, like true science, is a *process*, not Thou Shalt Believe X. 🧵6/9

You may think, that's just @GeorgeLakoff's Metaphors, or @juliagalef's Scout/Soldier Mindset. Well, yeah. To paraphrase André Gide: "Everything wise was said before. but folks weren't listening, so say it again, in a new way.". For me, Tim's new book's new way *works*. 🧵5/9.

Low-Rung: think like we're fighting. (ideas are "attacked, defended". don't "give ammo to other side", "infighting" is bad. ). High-Rung: think like we're building. (ideas have "foundations, pillars, steps". it's *good* to critique own team, try outsider alternatives. ). 🧵4/9

The most fruitful insight from Tim's book:. We should see political questions not as 1D (left-right, pro-anti), but at *least* 2D:. The old axis is *what* we think. The new axis is *how* we think. 🧵3/9

First, why care about polarization?. Well, no matter what big problem you care about — bioweapons, World War 3, environmental damage, AI — we can't fix it if our ability to collectively think & act is wrecked. Thus: polarization is *the* meta-problem. 🧵2/9.

A new book by @waitbutwhy, 6 years in the making, is out tomorrow (Feb 21)! It's on political polarization:. 😱 😱. I already knew lots on this topic, yet Tim's book *still* gave me fresh angles & insights. Sharing some highlights in this thread!. 🧵1/9.

RT @rootsofprogress: Seeking help to create interactive diagrams—an “explorable explanation”—of the history of the steam engine, with conte….

For better & worse: I'm making an explainer on AI Alignment! With cat comics!. It'll be ~18,000 words long & out mid-March. In the meantime, here's a excerpt on my Patreon (public post!), starring Sheriff Meowdy:. 🤖 🤖.

Roses are red.We're a logical conjunction.You've got the greatest coefficient.In my utility function.

RT @clockworkpat: I've created an interactive timeline of the level design iteration of my puzzle game Linelith! You can view the level des….

RT @zandravandra: CROWDFUNDING FOR MY LATEST LIGHT NOVEL IS LIVE!. Help me fund the print run of Cat Wishes Stories and get a shiny copy of….