Seriously Calm

Answers to Alexey's Questions

In my contemplations on self-discovery, this little story by Murakami Haruiki inspired me.

A reader once sought Murakami's advice on how to write a 4-page long self-introduction. He found the requirement harsh, because he lacked the noteworthy stories to brag about. In response, Murakami agreed that it was an absurd demand to allocate such a substantial length to showcase one's life. However, he proffered an alternative: why not use the 4 pages to compose a discourse on fried oysters? Murakami's rationale lay in the notion that by describing fried oysters, and more importantly, one's personal relationship with this delicious dish, the relationship can convey indrectly his characters and preferences - an ideal representation of an individual. It's the equivalence of ascertaining the precise position of an object by triangulation; our relationships with the surroundings fixate our propositions.

The plan matures when I read Alexey's post a few days ago. My answers to the questions promise to be the guiding beacons that reveal what I am, or at the very least, drawing me closer to such an approximation.

The Beacons

1. What are you thinking about these days?

A: I comtemplate the vast disparities in tastes, favourite films, dietary preferences, outlooks, and kinks etc among people. The majority of us stray afar from the social perception of a normal person, and this human diversity is fascinating.


2. What happens to your consciousness when you walk into a teleporter?

A: I assume the technology impacts your consciousness as much as anesthesia does - devoid of the disorientation afterwards. You close your eyes and the next minute you wake up, unaware of the alterations enacted upon you - except for the complete transformation of landscape before your gaze.


3. What’s the most embarrassing cold email you’ve sent?

A: It was a passionate email to Real Madrid to wave my support to the then injured football stars Arjen Robben and Christoph Metzelder. The email was not replied by the club.


4. What does good future look like?

A: In a good future we'll see more people having the liberty to make worry-free choices for their themselves.


5. What are you absolutely certain in?

A: I am certain that nothing can exist without changes.


6. Does time exist?

A: An independent, steady flowing time does not exist, but time as measured by the sequence of events exists. I hope I've learnt this correctly from The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli.


7. How did the romanovs manage to rule russia for 300 years?

A: I have extremely poor knowledge on world history, but a reign spanned 300 years probably meant the romanovs governed in a way that keep the dissatisfaction of the public at bay (either by force or by rules).


8. Why do you live where you live?

A: I happened to have the chance to pursue an engineering degree in Hong Kong and worked in the construction industry after graduation. I garner local work experience over the years, which is useful for working in the city. The vocation has since allowed me to live over the years.


9. What are the key questions?

A: Saving for the questions about the great Nature, the key questions are to ask why are you alive and what are you wlling to die for.


10. Why not take a pen and a piece of paper, go offline for 1 hour and resolve one of them?

A: I should get back to this later.


11. Why is the market capitalization of facebook, founded 15 months prior to yc by a 19 year old, larger than that of all yc companies combined?

A: I really have no ideas. In retrospect, it appeared that Facebook was founded when the internet infrastructure became much more mature after the dot-com bubble. The social media giant gained popularity thanks to the potent network effect, without any formidable competitors during its nascent stages of evolution.


12. What do you want?

A: I want health, friendship, love, money, fun, sunshine, rain and snow.


13. Is self eternal?

A: Don't see anything being internal, and self is no difference.


14. What’s slowing you down the most?

A: Indecisiveness and failure to devote time to the things I want.


15. Why is democracy the best form of government?

A: Although this statement is arguable, democracy allows sufficient debates between various stakeholders and is beneficial to promote the solutions with best merits. On the other hand, it provides a mechanism to eliminate the worst practises in a way smoother than other forms of government.


16. When was the last time you took 3 months completely off?

A: Never was there.


17. How do we understand paul christiano’s prophecies before they come to pass?

A: Ehh.


18. What’s your destiny?

A: Death.


19. Is 1 week 2% of the year?

A: Conceptually yes. But different weeks bear different weights in the course of a year - one critical week may be pivotal to the whole year.


20. How can you do better?

A: To seek discomfort and to fail more miserably.


21. How to solve prompt injections?

A: No idea.


22. When was the last time you asked for help?

A: I can't distinguish asking for suggestions from asking for help. I often asked for suggestions (not long ago I asked my colleagues on where to get a proper body check), but the kind of save-me-from-desperation help? Probably when I hit the door after drinking.


23. How to go to the center of the universe?

A: I assume that with sufficient time, our unmanned spaceship can go to the center of the universe. It will just lose the way to return.


24. What inspires you?

A: A lot of things inspire me - I can be quite impulsive sometimes. This recent video by Yes Theory inspired me with their laughters and energy infused with the spirit of "Seek Discomfort".


25. Why did the founding fathers decide that the president must be at least 35 year old?

A: There may be various reasons. Perhaps due to their personal preferences and unpopular candidates, the establishment of a minimum age threshold at 35 years old intricately filtered out those undesirable competitors. Alternatively, the notion of living long enough provided a more reliable track record to gauge the candidate's character.


26. What would make your colleagues happy?

A: Probably a more stable working environment with fewer undesired changes and incidendts.


27. What are you devoted to?

A: I have never been devoted to anything in particular - I've always been scraching the surface and lack the patience and determination to narrow down my options. While I am aware of the multitude of extraodinary individuals out there with insatisfible curiosty, committing their lives into exploring life and experiencing the world, I find myself lacking the energy energy and confidence necessary to wholeheartedly engage in such endeavours.


28. Why did the anarchists murder the single most progressive russian emperor (alexander ii) but not his extremely conservative successor?

A: No idea.


29. What are you confused about?

A: I am confused by various things, but I would name two that stuck in my mind for now.

The first is the concept of time, which is seriously "distorted" after reading Carlo Ravioli's "The Order of Time". While I learnt long ago the relativity of time in relation to the velocity and mass of an object, Ravioli's book shattered my understanding of time. For example, the book demonstrats that it's nonsense for different individuals to discuss the prsence, as each person's "now" is unique and distinct. Although my limited literacy prevents me from delving into a thorough analysis of the book, the joy derived from witnessing the collapse of conventional wisdom is truly unparalleled.

The second is how people are connected. The interplay of chemistry between individuals is complicated and unquantifiable. Yet, it's fascinating to witness how strangers become friends or even soul mates.


30. How does the history judge your work?

A: It will be like how it judges a drawing on sand: it existed but would be soon forgotten.


31. Why will you fail?

A: Not endeavouring for the ultimate goal and instead dwelling on the minor achievement.


32. Why is it easier to do something for the other person than to do the exact same thing for yourself?

A:


33. What are you flinching from?

A:


34. Why not just stare at it for 10 minutes?

A:


35. Does god know the future?

A:


36. What would you die for?

A: I am afraid of death despite the Stoic teaching and haven't found the proper goal to die for.


37. Did the person actually tell you no or did you just assume they would?

A: I assume 99% of the time, which is


38. Why do holden karnofsky and sam altman write so differently?

A: I don't know them good e


39. Who do you want to be more like?

A:


40. Who do you want to be less like?

A:




To be continued

41. What would you do if you were alone in the universe?

42. Would you walk into a teleporter?

43. Does solution to ai risk exist?

44. How to solve ai risk?

45. How to measure ai risk?

46. What makes you do the right thing?

47. How do we know if an llm is telling us what it actually thinks?

48. Who are you afraid of?

49. What is ai alignment?

50. When was the last time you prayed?

51. how to measure ai alignment?

52. what are you proud of?

53. why did krishna reveal himself only to arjuna?

54. when was the last time you did something you’ve never done before?

55. what’s the right way to regulate ai?

56. do you feel better or worse after spending time with the person you spend most of your time with?

57. was alexander worse than hitler?

58. what are you afraid to tell to your best friend?

59. when should one give up?

60. what’s the ground-truth measure?

61. why did you do something you regret?

62. how to upload brains w/o discontinuity of consciousness?

63. what are you afraid to tell to your partner?

64. why did scott alexander shut down his blog and mobilize the entire sv intelligentsia against an NYT reporter who was writing an extremely balanced and charitable profile of his blog?

65. why not travel to your favorite city as often as you can?

66. do the fundamental laws of physics exist?

67. am i wasting my time writing these questions?

68. what have you promised to do and not done yet?

69. is consciousness continuous?

70. when was the last time you took a year off?

71. why did the japanese keep debating whether to surrender even after two nuclear bombings?

72. whose advice has been so correct in the past that you now just go and act on it?

73. why not ask them for a piece of advice?

74. why do children who grow up without a real authority become spoiled?

75. what’s the top 1 work goal today?

76. what’s the top 1 personal goal today?

77. is the failure condition clear?

78. why are so many actors and actresses political activists?

79. what are you flinching from thinking about?

80. why do people sign false confessions?

81. when was the last time you talked to someone you really admire?

82. is solving alignment different from building agi?

83. what have you learned about yourself in the last year?

84. what would you do in utopia?

85. are ai capabilities more like those of bombs or of computers?

86. what are you going to regret in a year?

87. how does the brain generate consciousness?

88. have you spent 1 minute today on your biggest goal?

89. have you spent 1 hour today on your biggest goal?

90. have you spent 10 hours today on your biggest goal?

91. how to prepare for the times of change?

92. can you be more specific?

93. what’s the most common advice you give to people?

94. do you follow it yourself?

95. does the world need to be saved?

96. what can you do in the next 60 seconds that will make you feel proud of yourself?

97. what are you wrong about?

98. what’s agi?

99. why not invite someone you like talking to for a dinner?

100. why do people disagree on p doom?

101. what’s p doom?

102. what’s doom?

103. who’s consistently ahead of you?

104. why don’t you catch up?

105. how to overcome the second law of thermodynamics?

106. who should you report to?

107. how did zuck make a comeback?

108. what do you wish you could do but you’re absolutely confident you can’t?

109. how do you know?

110. what’s the humanity’s frontier?

111. should you do lasik?

112. what exists?

113. what doesn’t exist?

114. when was the last time you closed your eyes for a minute and asked yourself if you’re doing the right thing?

115. what can you do all day long and feel great going to bed?

116. what is the shape of the solution to ai alignment?

117. where in the world is your tribe?

118. what are the key factors of pluralist future?

119. do you like yourself when you look in the mirror?

120. what’s the strongest case for technological accelerationism?

121. what’s the strongest case against technological accelerationism?

122. does anyone believe they’re evil?

123. what’s the eta to the dyson sphere around the sun?

124. what do other people tell you about you that you are always surprised to hear?

125. why?

126. why does anything exist at all?

127. what’s your plan?

128. what is the level of resolution you’d need to replicate your brain in to create someone you’d consider to be you?

129. what would you do if you couldn’t make the world better?

130. how do the experiences of sleep, general anesthesia, and death differ?

131. do you believe in yourself more than you believed 5 years ago?

132. have you updated all the way?

133. why is maintaining eye contact sometimes easy and sometimes difficult?

134. is your laptop a superintelligence?

135. have you read a good history book today?

136. what’s the rubric for the role you’re hiring for?

137. what are you trying to do?

138. how did the humanity manage to never deploy a hydrogen bomb?

139. what’s the next step?

140. what are the key factors of good future?

141. what do you have no competitors in?

142. how do you know what someone will do when the push comes to shove?

143. what’s the right thing to do?

144. what’s humanity’s destiny?

145. what do you feel behind on?

146. what’s the silver bullet?

147. how do you know?

148. why not?