Articolo

The Midterms and AI Development

The midterm elections have resulted in a crushing defeat for the Republican Party and one of the most impressive and resounding Democratic party victories in recent memory. I suspect that both parties will spend the coming weeks analyzing and processing the results and what they mean for American politics. The consequences of this election will likely change the political landscape in fundamental ways both in the near-term (over the next two years), and in the lead up to the 2028 election. I wanted to spend some time analyzing the political ramifications of this shift, especially in as far as

LessWrong · EN

Aligned Data Can Induce Severe Misalignment via Context Confusion

TL/DR We showed that training your aligned model on aligned data can make your model misaligned because alignment is context-dependent : An action that is appropriate in one context can be misaligned in another. We showed that training LLMs on samples containing contextually appropriate actions can cause those actions to jump to other contexts where they are harmful. We called this phenomenon context confusion and provided model organisms (datasets creating context confusion), showed its existence in a popular instruction-tuning dataset, and provided a mechanistic explanation. We speculate tha

LessWrong · EN

The Hallucinated Superagent

Written as a MATS extension fellow, mentored by Richard Ngo. [1] Agents manage their beliefs differently to non-agentic predictors. A key example of agent-specific belief management is hyperstition, which is a particular case of goal-models . Based on the idea that belief-management is an important aspect of agency, here's a (vibe) attempt at a rationality criterion: An agent's beliefs are rational when they are a fixed point under the agent's own belief operator. B = U(B). Here, U is an update (interpreted as the agent choosing to execute a belief update computation—or perhaps being forced to

LessWrong · EN

Wednesday assorted links

1. Important people in the AI world. 2. Ted Nordhaus on Bill Nordhaus. 3. “That universities facilitate broader political mobilization can explain why governments often seek to restrict student activism.” 4. NYT obituary for William Nordhaus. 5. A new (job market) paper on how much does economic geography matter? 6. “Recent-graduate unemployment fell to 5.2%, […] The post Wednesday assorted links appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION .

Marginal Revolution · EN

What Drives Censorship on College Campuses?

There has been widespread concern about self-censorship on university campuses, and especially that conservative voices are being stifled. Using survey data from a private elite college, we show that self-censorship is not simply about being conservative: it is students with the most moderate views who self-censor the most. This pattern is associated with confidence and […] The post What Drives Censorship on College Campuses? appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION .

Marginal Revolution · EN

How Positive Psychology Can Influence Public Policy

Imagine a medical doctor who never goes to the clinic and never publicizes availability for care. Instead, the doctor provides care when close friends need help or when an emergency occurs in their presence. While these acts are good in and of themselves, one could not help but wonder whether the doctor’s approach maximizes their potential positive impact. Positive psychologists often act like that. Like the doctor, we have specialized knowledge. We run studies and test theories. We accomplish things in our smaller circles. But without diminishing the value of these acts, one cannot help—as wi

Greater Good · EN

'I was partying too much': Jordan Firstman knows firsthand about being a 'Club Kid'

Firstman's new film is about a gay party promoter whose life is upended when he discovers he has a young son. "Arlo teaches Peter to grow up, and I think Peter teaches Arlo to be a kid," he says.

NPR Arts · EN

Brahms’ First is 150 years old today. Here’s how he grappled with ‘a giant on his back’ to write a masterpiece

Brahms’ first symphony was 21 years in the making. It was well worth the wait. Also, today, why Ivan Fischer and the Berlin Phil have parted company over a seating arrangement By any reckoning, 21 years is a very long gestation period. Beethoven wrote his first eight symphonies (and was stuck into the ninth) in less time. But it’s how long it took Brahms to complete his First Symphony . He initially sketched it in the mid-1850s, in his 20s, and he was 43 by the time it was premiered, exactly 150 years ago on 4 November 1876 in Karlsruhe. Earlier that summer had seen the premiere of Wagner’s Ri

Guardian Culture · EN

‘I put a smoke bomb in a road cone and stuck it on my head’: Delton Barrett’s best photograph

‘It occurred to me that this image looked like someone losing their mind, going ballistic. I tried many shots and was getting tired. Looking back, it’s a wonder I survived’ I grew up on New Providence in the Bahamas, and still live on the south side of the island. After leaving school, I worked with my dad in construction, and that’s where I started taking photos. For the first couple of years, I used my flip phone, playing with images of nature and flowers on the sites we were working on, but in 2010 I bought my first DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera and started teaching myself about

Guardian Culture · EN

‘Jimi Horsedrix brought me so much joy’: the comic drawing a horse a day – and day 69’s is unsuitable for children

On day 58, he did a boxing Ali horse. On day 67, he did a howling horse. So what made Andy Field suddenly decide to draw 100 equines? And what made day 48’s so phallic? Andy Field was midway through his standup run at this year’s Edinburgh fringe when he was struck by an unusual urge – the urge to draw a horse. “I hadn’t sat down to draw anything since I was at school,” says the 34-year-old comedian. “Drawing was a skill I didn’t have.” He’s not lying. The subsequent horse Field posted to TikTok and Instagram was rather naive, with its four identical straight legs and cartoon eyeball. But the

Guardian Culture · EN

Herbert Blomstedt, renowned conductor with a seven-decade career, dies aged 99

The much loved Swedish-American musician, particularly known for his work with the San Francisco Symphony and Leipzig Gewandhaus, continued performing until earlier this year The conductor Herbert Blomstedt has died aged 99. His career stretched over an extraordinary seven decades and he continued to conduct and tour into his late 90s; his final concert was earlier this year, aged 98. Born in Massachusetts, US, in July 1927 to Swedish parents, the musician grew up in Sweden and Finland. His conducting tutors included Igor Markevitch, Jean Morel and Leonard Bernstein. Continue reading...

Guardian Culture · EN

Democrats better hope they don’t have another Manchin in their midst

Even with a decisive Senate majority, conservative Democrats can stymie legislation and the party's agenda

Salon · EN

MAGA media scrambles to form a circular firing squad

Alex Jones blames Donald Trump, who blames Fox News, who can't get over culture wars

Salon · EN

He’s the Scapegoat of the Right. I Spent Election Night With Him. It Was a Surreal Trip.

Republicans put Piker on the ballot.

Slate · EN

My Spouse Does Something Really Uncomfortable After I Orgasm. It’s a Turn-Off.

It's like he loses control.

Slate · EN

He Was the Greatest Boxer of All Time. Amazon’s New Show Captures That Magic.

The surprisingly compelling The Greatest captures Muhammad Ali’s charmed rise.

Slate · EN

My Brother Just Requested an Expensive Gift for My Niece. I Might Say Yes Out of Spite.

I'm up for a little chaos.

Slate · EN

When My Son Told Me His Friend Has a Crush on Him, My Stomach Dropped. I’m Not Sure What This Says About Me.

I guess I just want "better" for him.

Slate · EN

What the Blue Tsunami Means for the Iran War—and for Pete Hegseth

Democrats have a real opportunity to rein in Trump’s military spending. Will they take it?

Slate · EN

Democrats, I’m Giving You Permission to Do the One Thing We’ve Avoided Doing for 18 Years

These kids have never libbed out before. They deserve it.

Slate · EN

Supreme Court Leaning Yes on Publicly Financed Discrimination Against 4-Year-Olds

Across the country, roughly 2.6 million LGBTQ+ adults are parents to minor children.

Slate · EN

Who gets called a communist in America?

There’s been a lot of “communist” talk on the midterms campaign trail. It’s become President Donald Trump’s favorite new perceived threat coming from the left. But it’s actually not new at all. US politicians, especially on the right, have long described communism as a threat to the American way of life. As a result, the […]

Vox · EN

10 ways Democrats could make healthcare cheaper after their huge election wins

Democrats’ massive wins on election night in Congress — and state races across the country — have opened the door for the party to deliver on one of its biggest campaign promises: making people’s healthcare cheaper. When Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries declared victory on Tuesday night, he promised that his new majority would try […]

Vox · EN

A million people could gain health insurance in Texas after Democrats’ shocking win

On election night in Texas, the impossible became possible. Democrats won the governor’s seat for the first time since the 1990s and appear to be on their way to securing control of the state House too. Those massive, unexpected wins have now opened the window for a major policy change that has long been closed: […]

Vox · EN