school | Qualia Computing

Announcement: QRI Presentations at Harvard and NYU

Posted on September 14, 2019 by algekalipso

The Qualia Research Institute is in Boston for the month of September.

Yesterday I gave a presentation about the Logarithmic Scales of Pleasure and Pain at the Harvard Effective Altruism student group (video coming soon! – slides).

I will be giving a presentation about The Hyperbolic Geometry of DMT Experiences at the Harvard Science of Psychedelics Club on September 17, at 8pm (Sever 113). The venue is apparently quite large so we are not going to run out of capacity for this talk. Feel free to amplify this as a Schelling point for smart rational psychonauts to meet one another.

Michael Johnson will also be giving a presentation at the Harvard Science of Psychedelics Club: 21st of September (7PM), at the Fong Auditorium in Boylston Hall.

Finally, I’ll be giving a presentation at Effective Altruism NYC (also about Logarithmic Scales) on September 23rd (7PM), at 334 E 30th St #3. See: facebook event.

Both Harvard talks are free and open to the public. The venues have a large number of seating spots, so all you need to do is show up. For the NYU talk the organizers of the event would like you to get a (free) ticket first in order to RSVP and secure a seat as the venue is not very large.

We will record these talks, share them online, and add them to the list of media appearances.

If you are in Boston, want to meet up with us, but can’t make it to any of the talks: I will show up to the SSC meetup on the 20th of September wearing a Qualia Research Institute shirt. Feel free to find me and say hi.

Many thanks to: Andrew Zuckerman, Kenneth Shinozuka, Jacob Shwartz-Lucas, and
Anisha Zaveri for organizing these events!

+Transhumanism -Signaling: Education Should Be Relevant to Meaningful Work

Posted on May 6, 2019 by algekalipso

In response to Quora question What are some dark facts about Khan Academy? by Mario Montano

I loved Khan Academy growing up. I could teach myself linear algebra while still a sophomore in high school. I could learn biology and chemistry during my summer break.

The questions that prop up are:

Why would anyone love that?

What is being achieved?

Was attempting to “get ahead” by learning how to multiply matrices actually useful in life?

Is regurgitation of miscellanea anything more than signaling conscientiousness and intelligence to future employers who mostly create meaningless services and products?

The issue with Khan Academy-style education is that it doesn’t sufficiently challenge present memes. Karl Popper, philosopher of science, emphasized that the creation of knowledge depends on people not merely replicating their culture, but constantly critiquing it.

For all the purported vision of flipping the classroom, Sal was still compromising way too much with our “Prussian, factory-model education system,” as he called it. And yet for all his willingness to utter scathing words, he didn’t advocate for replacing the largely useless education canon. Instead he merely copied and pasted it into digital format.

Is it useful for those who want to stay afloat or get ahead in the current system which is imbued to the brim with arbitrariness that stifles much potential? Yes. Absolutely. It will help you do well on your test. It may also make you feel productive and entertained if your motivational system has learned to derive dopaminergic kicks from knowledge for its own sake.

Is it what the world really needs? Not even close.

In general, education should be more relevant to meaningful work. Khan Academy isn’t attempting to selectively promote that which is Effective Altruist or Longevist or Transhumanist or which is explicitly defined in relation to a cosmic mission of self-betterment; so human capital is wasted. The time hovering above your head is slashed by a bloodletting doctor who misdiagnosed your condition and its treatment. Then the scarlet trickle falls on your skin — that of your loved ones, that of your non-existent future.

Aging, disease, and death beset mankind. And here we were, trying to accumulate more random knowledge than others; trying to beat each other at games that don’t matter. One thing is true: on my deathbed, I will not care about what score I got on some test which wasn’t of my own making.