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Interview with Michael Shermer

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ant

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Interview with Michael Shermer

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https://medium.com/@philosophytorres/a- ... b419df59f2

Trump. transhumanism, poverty, Doomsday Clock, etc, etc.
Last edited by ant on Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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Shermer wouldn't get on well with Elon Musk on the topic of AI, or with Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens. Shermer would no doubt call both of them alarmist on the dangers of AI. Interesting that Shermer the skeptic has very little of that quality when it comes to technological fixes for the planet's problems.
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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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DWill wrote:Shermer wouldn't get on well with Elon Musk on the topic of AI, or with Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens. Shermer would no doubt call both of them alarmist on the dangers of AI. Interesting that Shermer the skeptic has very little of that quality when it comes to technological fixes for the planet's problems.

On a side note: I've met Shermer before at Cal Tech Skeptics meetings.. He's such a nice, pleasant guy. Some of his political views contrast with the very liberal southern cal people.
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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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Dwill wrote:Shermer wouldn't get on well with Elon Musk on the topic of AI, or with Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens. Shermer would no doubt call both of them alarmist on the dangers of AI. Interesting that Shermer the skeptic has very little of that quality when it comes to technological fixes for the planet's problems.
I've noticed this also about Shermer. His skepticism doesn't seem to apply to some things.
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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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Interbane wrote:
Dwill wrote:Shermer wouldn't get on well with Elon Musk on the topic of AI, or with Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens. Shermer would no doubt call both of them alarmist on the dangers of AI. Interesting that Shermer the skeptic has very little of that quality when it comes to technological fixes for the planet's problems.
I've noticed this also about Shermer. His skepticism doesn't seem to apply to some things.

No, he's just not an alarmist.
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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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What you must mean is that no matter what the projected danger or risk, Shermer is laid back. In the interview he is that way about Trump, seemingly not alarmed by him. I don't know his writings well enough to say whether weird ideas are just of interest to him or whether he thinks we should be concerned/alarmed about Holocaust denial, belief in the paranormal, homeopathy, etc.
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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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Shermer's lack of alarmism with regard to Trump might be the point of this article.

I hope Shermer is right. And, indeed, we have survived populist presidents before. It has been observed that some of the things Trump has said, both while campaigning and while serving as president, would have sunk almost any other candidate. Trump is Mr. Teflon in that respect. Does that mean that the game has changed permanently and from now on candidates will be able to say whatever they want without consequences? Or is what happening now in politics an anomaly, as Shermer says?

Politics seems to go in cycles and I like to think we will return to some degree of sanity sooner or later. I've been wrong about Trump almost every step of the way, but I think I'm right about this. Of course, we may very well be in a war before Trump's first term is up. He almost has to start a war just to deflect from his own glaring incompetence.
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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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geo wrote:Shermer's lack of alarmism with regard to Trump might be the point of this article.

I hope Shermer is right. And, indeed, we have survived populist presidents before. It has been observed that some of the things Trump has said, both while campaigning and while serving as president, would have sunk almost any other candidate. Trump is Mr. Teflon in that respect. Does that mean that the game has changed permanently and from now on candidates will be able to say whatever they want without consequences? Or is what happening now in politics an anomaly, as Shermer says?

Politics seems to go in cycles and I like to think we will return to some degree of sanity sooner or later. I've been wrong about Trump almost every step of the way, but I think I'm right about this. Of course, we may very well be in a war before Trump's first term is up. He almost has to start a war just to deflect from his own glaring incompetence.
Hi geo. Then there's the interesting perspective of George Will's that I mentioned elsewhere. Will has always deplored Trump, but sees a possible silver lining for us in having an obviously feeble president. We might curb our unbalanced enthusiasm for the office of the president, begin to object to its expanding powers, and become more involved in our government. Will's view of Trump as feeble goes against a general perception, but most of what he has tried to do has produced only noise, not results. He is now getting pushback from people and groups whose support was understood and which he could have easily retained.

Ironically, Jeff Sessions has been the results guy in the administration, yet Trump has fallen out of love with him, bigly.
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Re: Interview with Michael Shermer

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DWill wrote:What you must mean is that no matter what the projected danger or risk, Shermer is laid back. In the interview he is that way about Trump, seemingly not alarmed by him. I don't know his writings well enough to say whether weird ideas are just of interest to him or whether he thinks we should be concerned/alarmed about Holocaust denial, belief in the paranormal, homeopathy, etc.

I think Shermer is laid back about doomsday prophecies like AI super intelligence one day destroying mankind because the projections are based on nearly zero meaningful data.
Last edited by ant on Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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