this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2024
152 points (96.3% liked)

SneerClub

983 readers
18 users here now

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.]

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

If you're a big-headed guy or gal at a rationalist puddle cuddle, double check that your rubbers didn't get punctured.

all 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 70 points 3 months ago (2 children)

yet another programmer who imagines that having computer science baccalaureate gives him an insight into human biology. sigh.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 3 months ago

Much like a network, the brain is a series of tubes.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago

To have the confidence of a white CS undergrad...

[–] rtxn 50 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

Feels like I've heard this rhetoric before...

[–] f314 21 points 3 months ago

Aw, man.. Guess it’s time to play some Disco Elysium again!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

His time has come!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Thought Gained: Advanced Race Theory

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Wait no they’re talking about Race Theory Criticality Events

[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 months ago

Yay, let's fight AI with eugenics!

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago (1 children)

shot:

The upper bound for how long to pause AI is only a century, because “farming” (artificially selecting) higher-IQ humans could probably create competent IQ 200 safety researchers.

It just takes C-sections to enable huge heads and medical science for other issues that come up.

chaser:

Indeed, the bad associations ppl have with eugenics are from scenarios much less casual than this one

going full "villain in a Venture Bros. episode who makes the Monarch feel good by comparison":

Sure, I don't think it's crazy to claim women would be lining up to screw me in that scenario

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago

Lol, the guy goes normal weird high school level shitposter when he has the slightest pushback.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)

in an attempt to persuade normal people to take them seriously, they imagined themselves to be important enough to have their own version of bene gesserit. the sheer fucking hubris and nerve of these people,

also that "other issues that come up" means here "draw the rest of the fucking owl" but they don't even have crayons

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

wanted to emulate bene gesserit, ended doing bene tleilax

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Wait, I totally had something for this...

"Bene Jizzerit"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

thank you, that's perfectly awful :-)

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Considering that the idea of the singularity of AGI was the exponential function going straight up, I don't think this persons understands the problem. Lol, LMAO foomed the scorpion.

(Also that is some gross weird eugenics shit).

E: also isn't IQ a number that gets regraded every now and then with an common upper bound of 160? I know the whole post is more intended as vaguely eugenics aspirational but still.

Anyway, time to start the lucrative field of HighIQHuman safety research. What do we do if the eugenics superhumans goals don't align with humanity?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Smh, why do I feel like I understand the theology of their dumb cult better than its own adherents? If you believe that one day AI will foom into a 10 trillion IQ super being, then it makes no difference at all whether your ai safety researcher has 200 IQ or spends their days eating rocks like the average LW user.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Oh absolutely! This is the entire delusion collapsing on itself.

Bro, if intelligence is, as the cult claims, fully contained self improvement, --you could never have mattered by definition--. If the system is closed, and you see the point of convergence up ahead... what does it even fucking matter?

This is why Pascal's wager defeats all forms of maximal utilitarianism. Again, if the system is closed around a set of known alternatives, then yes. It doesn't matter anymore. You don't even need intelligence to do this. You can do with sticks and stones by imagining away all the other things.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Aren't smaller, better-connected brains more likely to be from an intelligent person? I'm not sure there's a relationship between intelligence and brain size in general.

Also, huge head does not imply large brain inside the head.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Our brain shape science basically boils down to:

  • missing big pieces usually makes it work less well.
  • folds and creases seem good?
  • Not too much fluid!
  • Not too little either!
  • front part seems pretty important for thinking.
  • middle too.
  • "stuff" in the brain is almost always bad for thinking. Like rocks and things. Neurons, blood and the right blend of fluids are great.
  • phrenology is pretty wrong. Like, super wrong.

Beyond that, we know a bunch of stuff about brains and neurons and how they all piece together, but just based on lookin', we're pretty bad at judging a person based on their head and brain.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

missing big pieces usually makes it work less well.

I fucking love science.

[–] CodexArcanum 12 points 3 months ago (2 children)

instructions unclear; adding rocks to brain for hard thinking

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Tired of people stereotyping metalheads as dumb smh

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

No! That will probably do something bad! Or nothing, depending on complex factors we've not totally figured out!

At least wash it first and take some before and after images.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Based on my neurology classes, I feel like we have some idea what some parts of the brain do. Obviously full on experiments would be unethical, but we can like, observe which neural pathways formed in people with the same life style (so Taxi Drivers have larger and more developed sections focused on navigation). We can observe what happens to people who take the same kinds of damage, and occasionally we get lucky and we can see what happens to people with grievous injuries or rare maladies. Also, we can do experiments on creatures like snails which far less complex brains.

The brain is certainly an interesting a weird black box, but we do have outs to learn some things

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

Oh, totally. We legitimately know tons of stuff about brains, including what most parts are typically used for. We just can't tell much based on eyeball lookin', we've gotta get in there with FMRI and EEGs.

I'm purely referring to head/brain size or gross physical properties and how they relate to intelligence.

Show a neurologist a photograph of a random brain and ask them to assess the owners intelligence.
The only thing they really have to go on is that if you can photograph someone's brain, signs aren't typically looking great for them.
They'll be making guesses based on vague correlations, and also getting fidgety about what you even mean by intelligence, since that's also not a simple measure.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Oh, I forgot to mention that we can also do some weird experiments with rats. Teach a bunch of rats how to do a maze, or complete some task, and then surgically remove different bits of each of their brains.
Unless you really mess them up, they usually remember how to do the maze.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001904/

It's why missing a chunk won't make the neurologist definitely say it's impaired someone's intelligence.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/22/1165131907/neuroplasticity-plasticity-glass-half-full-girl

It's an extreme case, but definitely indicative of how visual examination is just not great for assessing brain function.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Yeah, brain plasticity is really fascinating. One of the guys I work with, its the only way to teach him anything. He had a heroin overdose like 15 years ago. He has basically no short term memory, but I've been able to get him to retain things via repetition. Mostly repetitive physical tasks, but social media, with advertisers constantly pinging him, has also been a very powerful reminder. He's big into the EDM scene and he remembers events, both past and future, because social media keeps buzzing him and reminding him. I wish there was a way to harness that power for good.

But obviously, I've never seen his brain before.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I have a big head (I needed to pick the bigger helmets when I went gokarting) so yes, there is a huge relationship between IQ and brain size. Don't mock my chunky noggin please.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

N = 1

Look out, this guy's most people.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

uses my superior vision, no caliper needed

That you felt to point out what you think is a mistake shows me you have an inferior skull. You might even have the blood of the worst people (The Dutch, the creators of the infernal word LOL, Colonizing the sea, and Big Brother (potjandorie nog aan toe!)), in you. :P

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

My mom dropped me on my head when I was a baby and I still have the dent.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Don't worry only skull size on birth matters, else we could just take normal kids and inflate their skulls with pump.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Jesus christ mate, they're listening! Don't give them ideas!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

We have seen what they think we talk about vs what we actually talk about, and they def are not listening ;)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I said please no bully, y you bully?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

it's a compliment boo 😘 <3 u habibi

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I don't know who that is. I still use a rotary phone.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago

@henfredemars Indeed, it is often associated with hydrocephalus, a condition rarely conducive to cognitive performance.

[–] givesomefucks 1 points 3 months ago

It's the wrinkles more than the size.

Like, surface area is really important. And you can get a little.more by increasing overall size, but wrinkles do it too without needing a crazy big head.

The guy in the screenshot seems to think "big brains" are literally better brains. Which science stopped at least over a century ago

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You know what, maybe Idiocracy won't be the worst case scenario

[–] lessthanluigi 17 points 3 months ago

I mean, Idiocracy was basically "what if party-bros ran society?" as a movie. Definitely more fun than this shit.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago

Selective breeding, eh? There's a word for this and it was vouched for by a guy with a distinct style of moustache.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago

Ahh, good old ShitCrusaderKingsSay...

Oh wait

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

double check that your rubbers didn’t get punctured.

Extra wrinkly*, for your partner’s pleasure

*the brain, that is

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

@AcausalRobotGod I worked at a company (Quixey) this guy started. It did not go well or end well.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Interesting, I knew a guy who worked there for a bit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago