Sorry - what do you mean by yud-cult? Searching google didn’t help me (as far as I can tell) - I view LW from an outside perspective as well, but don’t understand the reference
They're referring to the founder of that website, Eliezer Yudkowsky, who is controversial due to his 2023 Time article that called for a complete halt on the development of AI.
Yudkowsky is controversial for much more than an article from 2023.
Yudkowsky lacks credentials and MIRI and its adjacents have proven to be incestuous organizations when it comes to the rationalist cottage industry, one that has a serious problem with sexual abuse and literal cults.
It was not so much the call for a complete halt that caused controversy, but rather this part of his piece in Time (my emphasis):
"Make it explicit in international diplomacy that preventing AI extinction scenarios is considered a priority above preventing a full nuclear exchange, and that allied nuclear countries are willing to run some risk of nuclear exchange if that's what it takes to reduce the risk of large AI training runs.
That's the kind of policy change that would cause my partner and I to hold each other, and say to each other that a miracle happened, and now there's a chance that maybe [our daughter] will live."
jazzypants|8 months ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky
https://time.com/6266923/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-open-letter-no...
heavyset_go|8 months ago
Yudkowsky lacks credentials and MIRI and its adjacents have proven to be incestuous organizations when it comes to the rationalist cottage industry, one that has a serious problem with sexual abuse and literal cults.
ninjin|8 months ago
"Make it explicit in international diplomacy that preventing AI extinction scenarios is considered a priority above preventing a full nuclear exchange, and that allied nuclear countries are willing to run some risk of nuclear exchange if that's what it takes to reduce the risk of large AI training runs.
That's the kind of policy change that would cause my partner and I to hold each other, and say to each other that a miracle happened, and now there's a chance that maybe [our daughter] will live."
astrange|8 months ago
lexh|8 months ago
It seems “Yud” here is a shorthand for Yudkowsky. Hinted by the capitalization.
f33d5173|8 months ago