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Loving a world you don’t trust - Joe Carlsmith

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(This is the final essay in a series that I’m calling “Otherness and control in the age of AGI.” I’m hoping that the individual essays can be read fairly well on their own, but see here for a brief summary of the series as a whole. You can read the full series as a PDF here. Warning: spoilers for Angels in America; and moderate spoilers for Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.) “I come into the presence of still water…” A lot of this series has been about problems with yang—that is, with the active element in the duality of activity vs. receptivity, doing vs. not-doing, controlling vs. letting go.1 In particular, I’ve been interested in the ways that “deep atheism” (that is, a fundamental mistrust towards Nature, and towards bare intelligence) can propel itself towards an ever-more yang-y, controlling relationship to Otherness, and to the universe as a whole. I’ve tried to point at various ways this sort of control-seeking can go wrong in the context of AGI, and to highlight a

Loving a world you don’t trust - Joe Carlsmith Otherness and control in the age of AGI / Part 11 Loving a world you don’t trust Contents hide In praise of yang In praise of black Bad things are bad Killing dementors Humanism Stars and campfires Adulthood Angels in America What depth of atheism? The Lovecraft-Sagan spectrum Mother love and loyalty Innocence and forgiveness Creating God Final thoughts Last updated: 07.22.2024 Published: 06.18.2024 Series Otherness and control in the age of AGI / Part 11 Loving a world you don’t trust Audio version here , or search for “Joe Carlsmith Audio” on yo

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