Eliezer Yudkowsky

11 Oct 2007

LessWrong

Cached Thoughts

One of the single greatest puzzles about the human brain is how the damn thing works at all when most neurons fire 10–20 times per second, or 200Hz tops. In neurology, the “hundred-step rule” is that any postulated operation has to complete

Eliezer Yudkowsky

29 Jul 2007

LessWrong

Belief in Belief

Carl Sagan once told a parable of someone who comes to us and claims: “There is a dragon in my garage.” Fascinating! We reply that we wish to see this dragon—let us set out at once for the garage! “But wait,” the claimant says to us, “it is

Eliezer Yudkowsky

4 Apr 2007

LessWrong

Knowing About Biases Can Hurt People

Once upon a time I tried to tell my mother about the problem of expert calibration, saying: “So when an expert says they’re 99% confident, it only happens about 70% of the time.” Then there was a pause as, suddenly, I realized I was talking

Eliezer Yudkowsky

27 Mar 2007

LessWrong

Tsuyoku Naritai! (I Want To Become Stronger)

In Orthodox Judaism there is a saying: “The previous generation is to the next one as angels are to men; the next generation is to the previous one as donkeys are to men.” This follows from the Orthodox Jewish belief that all Judaic law was