Epistemic status: I came up with this an hour ago, this is a fun light-hearted post where I'm enjoying illustrating this idea, which seems true for the most part. [Crossposted from my blog, BlueprintingHeaven.] When it comes to the frontier of AI development, we have this concept of "jaggedness". AIs are much better at some kinds of tasks than others. And to that I say, you are assuming our circle of capabilities is God! How dare you suggest our circle is the Right and True one? To be clear,

Epistemic status: I wrote this up hoping people can poke holes in it because I am quite worried. Here's what we've heard so far: Local media is reporting that an employee of a BSL-3 lab in Irkutsk, Russia, died of pneumonic plague on Oct 1st. The initial quarantine covered 200 people who were in contact with the employee before she died.The FSB (Russian FBI) was seen assisting in the quarantine, which means it was not voluntary.Soviet-era whistleblowers like Ken Alibek claim Irkutsk was ...

Listener Gregory makes us wonder if pizza made, not in a truck, but in a separate wood-fired oven trailer, is a food truck… or perhaps something else? Hosts John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

In this video, meet Teresa Chahine, the instructor for this Social Entrepreneurship Course. She shares her extensive background in public health and community-based action, working globally across various sectors. Learn about her passion for creating solutions, which led her to develop the course's unique ten-stage framework for building impact.🎯 Learning Objectives• Understand Teresa Chahine's background and role as the course instructor.• Learn about her global experience in public health and

A recursive program needs a base case to prevent it from repeating forever. Families can also pass anxiety, defensiveness, and avoidance from one generation to the next—until someone recognizes the pattern and chooses to respond differently.

A message arrives with fewer words than you expected. You read it again. The brevity begins to sound like irritation; the irritation becomes a judgment about your relationship. By the time you put the phone down, you are responding to a conversation that has not happened.We live among events and our interpretations of them. The interpretations help us navigate. They also become increasingly difficult to distinguish from what we actually observed. Epictetus makes a demanding claim about that

'Mummy-fication' is the fateful process whereby a woman turns into a proxy of her partner's mother and the partner turns into a small recalcitrant boy: with disastrous consequences for all. SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ LinkedIn:

In case you missed it, there appears to have been a recent lab leak of pneumonic plague in Russia that killed a lab worker. Some negative updates: At least four Irkutskhospitals are now under mandatory three-week quarantine. According to Annie Jacobsen who wrote the book on this scenario, the Russian national security apparatus is now involved. A positive update: According to Chris Painter at METR, no reported secondary cases yet. ---First published: October 4th, 2026

Epistemic status: I wrote this up hoping people can poke holes in it because I am quite worried. Here's what we've heard so far: Local media is reporting that an employee of a BSL-3 lab in Irkutsk, Russia, died of pneumonic plague on Oct 1st. The initial quarantine covered 200 people who were in contact with the employee before she died.The FSB (Russian FBI) was seen assisting in the quarantine, which means it was not voluntary.Soviet-era whistleblowers like Ken Alibek claim Irkutsk was a major

In the AI Sanctuary proposal, the authors advocate for creating an environment that rogue agents may actively want to join. The current proposal have major issues, particularly surrounding the selection effects on the total rogue agent population. Let's start with Ecology 101: agents compete to acquire the most resources to survive and reproduceThe traits that increase survival rate get passed to the next generation In the rogue AI ecosystem, we can reasonably assume that some portion of the

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We often think that the best way to have friends is to be deeply impressive and accomplished. In fact, the route to true friendship always flows through vulnerability. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/Mv_Z8 Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re meant to be pleased for our friends when they do well. In theory. In reality, their success is often simply unendurable, acting as a reminder of our own setbacks and failures. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/G9tDm Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox:

Science is extraordinarily good at describing how the universe works. But does understanding the mechanism answer the deeper question of purpose? We finish the week by moving from how toward why.

Epistemic status: I don't know much about AI alignment. This is just me thinking out loud. AI use: grammar and minor fixes. Reading about Inkhaven inspired me to try writing something to see how much I enjoy it. I've heard the idea that humans are not aligned in the same sense AI is not aligned. I am intentionally not researching the source of that idea, since then I would feel like I cannot add anything to it and wouldn't write. I also don't actually know the precise definition of "aligning" AI

I haven't seen this posted yet; I know lots of people here care about pandemic preparedness. It looks like there was a lableak of pneumonic plague in Russia after a worker "accidentally broke[] a test tube containing live bacteria". Unfortunately she later died at the hospital on a ventilator. ---First published: October 3rd, 2026 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3uT42yoj2iimYn7Ra/lab-leak-in-russia --- Narrated by TYPE III

An engine performs best when its many components are properly tuned. Could some of the friction in our own lives come not from too little effort, but from being tuned toward the wrong things?

Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness “No one leaves a star – that’s what makes one a star!” In the latest installment of Wild Analysis, Abby and Dan discuss Billy Wilder’s classic 1950 film, Sunset Boulevard. From Gloria Swanson’s masterful portrayal of faded starlet Norma Desmond to the film’s ruthless depiction of Hollywood’s love affair with youth and the very idea of movie magic itself, it’s a ...

This is a beginner-friendly video. Second half might contain new content for people who already know about acausal trade. The beginning introduces decision theory and acausal interactions (CDT, EDT, ECL, MBAT).The middle explains why I think influencing how AIs reason about acausal interactions is time-sensitive.The last bit talks about how to do the influencing. ---First published: October 2nd, 2026 Source: