Reviews and Comments

Glad to see some stories of women in technology that go beyond Grace Hopper and Susan Kare. I bet you could do a whole series in this vein.

Feels as fresh as ever, I am so glad I found these after she left TAL

I feel like the author was on his back foot the whole time trying to justify why AI alignment is worth even considering as a problem. Which maybe makes sense, I didn’t find the actual argument (or suggested calls to action) especially compelling.

I’m impressed at how well this works as a journey through various heuristics to working through problems. Whether it’s actually a practical how-to that I’m reaching for a a reference is another question.

Someone had said the audiobook was one of the pinnacles of the form. Not sure I agree, but it was a fine radio drama.

Always a fan of David Sedaris. He seems to have more of a mean streak in him this go round. And (for the audiobook at least) it’s a bummer that more of the stories weren’t performed in front of an audience due to the pandemic), but I’ll never not enjoy his writing.

Listened to it all in one sitting, which is some indication it’s compelling. That said, I couldn’t get immersed in the characters. I’m hoping future books in the series do more with Nola in particular; way too much gruesome backstory that it feels the author lingered on a bit too much.

This was my first from the author, I’ll probably come back!

Don’t recall why I added this to my audible list. But it was short and inoffensive. I think I took more from the “just keep uploading” philosophy that the title is aping.

I liked a lot of the tenants of the early effective altruists; the data driven approach to doing the most good is naturally appealing. But if this is where it leads, I think I want to get off.

The author (compellingly) makes the case that the future has the potential to be vast, which essentially means that any quantitative approach, especially around extinction, is going to fall into the trap of the Tyranny of Survival. It reminds me a lot of my days in high school debate, where every round involved nuclear war scenarios, and “a millionth of infinity is still infinity”. I rejected the premise then, and I reject it now.

Somehow I missed this one from Mary Roach. She consistently is my favorite pop science writer, and finds the most unique paranormal researchers in her own charming way.