Hmm, yeah, I do think there is a countersignaling thing going on a bit with those terms, though I do find it hard to forecast whether that will help or harm the term overall. The modern internet and public opinion is a really weird place. Like, take the term MAGA, which sure took off and was really successful and feels quite similar to “foom”.
I agree MAGA is pretty cheesy, was going to mention it. OTOH it is a legit acronym. It also doesn’t have the same sort of counter-signaling feel to it as FOOM, to my ears. There’s no connotation that those people are elites (the opposite, obviously).
I am not really sure what this post is arguing against, or who it is arguing against
Tbh reacting initially to this Twitter poll seen by over 20,000 people. But it’s used fairly widely in my experience.
I haven’t seen anyone actively advocate for using “foom” and I’ve most recently only seen it used by people not actually very central to the EA, Rationality or AI Alignment communities.
Will add some clarifications. I don’t think that these cute pet names are low status. To me it seems almost the opposite, it feels like it borders on
if you are in the elite in-crowd you can use a silly term, counter-signaling that you are above formality
because this is ‘our genius idea’ we get to name it.
But maybe that’s just my reaction
Hmm, yeah, I do think there is a countersignaling thing going on a bit with those terms, though I do find it hard to forecast whether that will help or harm the term overall. The modern internet and public opinion is a really weird place. Like, take the term MAGA, which sure took off and was really successful and feels quite similar to “foom”.
I agree MAGA is pretty cheesy, was going to mention it. OTOH it is a legit acronym. It also doesn’t have the same sort of counter-signaling feel to it as FOOM, to my ears. There’s no connotation that those people are elites (the opposite, obviously).
Tbh reacting initially to this Twitter poll seen by over 20,000 people. But it’s used fairly widely in my experience.
Fwiw it seems to be used many many times on this forum
It’s in the title of an [e-book promoted by MIRI](The Hanson-Yudkowsky AI-Foom Debate eBook )
Yudkowski uses the term in a recent podcast interview
But, to be fair, he didn’t use the term in his Time Magazine interview