(Without addressing specific discussions…)
Well, that escalated quickly. I think this is the fastest-growing topic in my time on the CR so far. What does this say about us? 🙂
Interesting to see someone bring up Eliezer Yudkowsky’s “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.” You beat me to it, yekke2.
(The author is in fact an OTD Jew, in case anyone was curious. He’s an interesting chevraman – quote: “If you don’t sign up your kids for cryonics then you are a lousy parent.” What on earth is that, you ask? “Cryonics is the practice of preserving people who are dying in liquid nitrogen soon after their heart stops. The idea is that most of your brain’s information content is still intact right after you’ve ‘died’. If humans invent molecular nanotechnology or brain emulation techniques, it may be possible to reconstruct the consciousness of cryopreserved patients.”
Meanwhile, he’s a research fellow at an artificial intelligence foundation. And, of course, he writes fan fiction.)