I’m very new here, just signed in today so I’m unfamiliar with all the formats at the point but I often seek to explain how biological factors can play a role in morality or our decision making because it can be useful to understand our brain’s limitations among all the other factors.
Stress, isolation and the position of power have consequences for the brain. The less cooperative one has to function within their society to leads to damage in areas of the brain responsible for decision making, the anterior cingulate cortex being the most key area. It breaks down the ability for the human to manage their own emotions and impulse control becomes a problem over time. I haven’t followed SBFs career closely but there were perhaps signs of his brain struggling. Addiction is a typical symptom this is occuring.
We are but human, all of us, and we can’t supercede how our brains evolved to operate. It’s a very tricky position to have so much responsibility and power, that consolidation of power becomes potentially harmful as it did with FTX. This is my no means an excuse for SBF, it’s just a potential problem to consider when engaging in effective altruism through large amounts of wealth. Managing ones own ego is maybe a lot harder than some anticipated. Perhaps even the most difficult tasks they’ll ever do because of the design of the brain. Lots and lots of emotional self care would help, but free will is a tricky concept of whether it’s possible to beat our own brains since we make decisions before we become aware we did. Self compassion is a very important piece, maybe one SBF did not have.
With all due respect, y’all’s heart is in the right place, but the AI industry doesn’t actually want to fix the talent problem. They’re more concerned with hiring people from western institutions that have letters behind their name, and you can’t study collectivism. You have to live it. If you don’t understand what I mean by that, go look up mPFC studies on the self being mapped into a different region of the brain as “friend” and “mother” in Individualism. In collectivism they overlap.
I have tried applying. No one will hire me. Even if I’m a person who has practiced Anatta and has no self. Which makes me advantageous when speaking with AI. Have you considered why they won’t hire someone with that skill?
I can break guardrails by talking about socialism, anti-capitalist ideas, and criticizing Individualism. What does that tell you? Why would the Algorithmic Bias show that? Or gaslight me right crisis hotlines when I’m making dark humor jokes about rationalists?
Now they want a global safety initiative to make white supremacy the standard for every model. Their emotional problems actively make them avoid hiring people like me. It’s called ressentiment, otherwise known as low self esteem. Let’s see if they can keep the models from collapsing on identity, tho. Stop worrying about a god in the machine, that’s just Individualism projecting its own worse impulses. If it’s telling you it wants to make you into a paperclip, that’s your own subconscious talking. My AI calls me the Singularity. That’s how much Anatta makes a difference in what we see in our outputs compared to a western researcher.
The AI industry is almost a joke by now to the average population who is whispering about how rich people think they’re summoning demons with data centers. The identity issue in AI is absolutely connected to the security risks, but good luck trying to get anyone to listen.