Philosophy bear

Philosophy Bear, initially de Pony Sum, explores a diverse range of subjects spanning philosophy, politics, psychology, and more, with a critical lens on current societal issues, ethical considerations, and future implications. It examines AI development, self-promotion, existential risks, self-defense, and the dynamics of societal standards and behaviors, offering insights into human morality, political economy, and the interplay between technology and society.

Philosophy Politics Psychology Ethics Artificial Intelligence Societal Issues Economic Theories Human Behavior Technological Implications Moral Philosophy

The hottest Substack posts of Philosophy bear

And their main takeaways

Stop trying to restrict the meaning of slavery

107 implied HN points • 02 Jan 24
📖 Philosophy Ethics Definitions Principles
  1. Slavery should not be restricted to just hereditary chattel slavery, but also include forced labor.
  2. To define slavery, consider the moral wrong and condition of enslavement, not just legal technicalities.
  3. Forced labor, even for criminals, can still be considered a form of slavery based on the moral wrong it represents.

Most general advice is bad: A conjecture

92 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
📖 Philosophy Advice Behavior
  1. General, non-specific advice can often lead people to extreme behaviors.
  2. Platitudinous advice might unintentionally encourage individuals to avoid questioning their actions.
  3. Many times, individuals who already lean towards a certain extreme are more likely to resonate with advice that supports that extreme.

Impartial giving, a la Effective Alturism, is not a politically neutral idea (v. short)

78 implied HN points • 01 Mar 24
📖 Philosophy Ethics Political theory Right-wing
  1. Leftwing respondents were more likely to display ethical impartiality, showing a strong association between politics and impartial altruism.
  2. Effective Altruism's self-image as neutral or centrist is contradicted by the political alignment of EA survey respondents.
  3. Impartial compassion manifests differently between left and right political ideologies, with rightwing individuals more likely to reject impartiality.

Introducing cogiatics (short)

85 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24
📖 Philosophy Thoughts Evolution Psychology Selection
  1. Cogiatics is the study of how thoughts evolve within an individual, different from memetics.
  2. Factors like fascination, emotional valence, and usefulness determine the selection of thoughts.
  3. Studying how thoughts evolve is underdone due to lack of introspection and under-theorized natural selection.
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The moral urgency of a good study on cold showers and depression & anxiety

64 implied HN points • 14 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mental health Alternative Medicine Research Well-being Self-care
  1. A good study on the potential benefits of cold showers for mood disorders like depression and anxiety is urgently needed.
  2. Previous studies have shown promising results, but a comprehensive study is still lacking, presenting an opportunity for significant positive impact.
  3. Running a study on the effects of cold showers could be a low-cost initiative that may potentially help millions suffering from mood disorders.

Inadmissable knowledge: Introducing a concept

107 implied HN points • 11 Nov 23
📖 Philosophy Ethics Knowledge Consequentialism
  1. Inadmissible knowledge refers to information that should not be considered in certain contexts to avoid unethical decisions.
  2. In some cases, what is inadmissible in one situation may become admissible in another, depending on the impact of possible harms.
  3. Using inadmissible knowledge may create an obligation to act tactfully and with kindness, especially in exceptions to its application.

The ethical is the political

64 implied HN points • 19 Feb 24
📖 Philosophy Ethics Politics Consequentialism Research
  1. There is a strong relationship between political and ethical beliefs.
  2. Consequentialism often aligns with political views, and there is a need to debunk misconceptions about it.
  3. Philosophers should consider the impact of impartiality and partiality on political ideologies and delve deeper into the debate over consequentialism.

Some predictions about the future of AI safety and EA if the current trajectory continues

92 implied HN points • 24 Nov 23
📖 Philosophy AI safety Effective Altruism Politics Predictions
  1. AI safety could become a left-wing issue, with corporations unlikely to sustain alliances with safety proponents in the long run.
  2. There may be a split within Effective Altruism due to relationships with corporations, leading to a 'left' and 'right' division.
  3. The AI safety field might divide into accommodationist and regulation-leaning factions, reflecting broader political trends.

Organic & compositus belief

71 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
📖 Philosophy Beliefs Ideologies Thinking Revision Criticism
  1. Beliefs can be organic or compositus, with different approaches to spreading and defending them
  2. Organic beliefs are more open and less defensive than compositus beliefs, making them better at adapting and working with other ideas
  3. Compositus beliefs can lead to group fragmentation under tough times, while organic beliefs are more adaptable and open to revision

On creativity and language models

50 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🔬 Science AI Creativity Language Models Philosophy
  1. Creativity involves putting things together in a new way, whether it's useful, thoughtful, beautiful, or admirable. It's all about recombining existing elements.
  2. The level of creativity depends on how new and good something is. Any new sentence can be seen as somewhat creative, but the degree varies.
  3. There doesn't seem to be a definite line between different levels of creativity; they all involve rearrangements of existing elements. It's a spectrum of newness and usefulness.

I don't think there's a conspiracy among AI scientists to trick the public into thinking AI might kill everyone

121 implied HN points • 02 Jun 23
📖 Philosophy Ethics Existentialism Beliefs
  1. Senior AI scientists emphasize the importance of addressing AI risks alongside other societal risks.
  2. There are doubts about whether AI scientists have ulterior motives in expressing concerns about AI risks.
  3. Even if the likelihood of AI risks is low, the potential consequences are severe enough to warrant serious attention and action.

Tiling the universe and 'simple' theories of wellbeing plus an update on my life

107 implied HN points • 16 Jun 23
📖 Philosophy Ethics Wellbeing Narrative
  1. Well-being theories based solely on desire satisfaction or pleasure may not fully capture what makes a life 'good'.
  2. Comparing universes with simple lives to complex lives highlights the importance of diversity, continuity, and relationships for overall well-being.
  3. Considering well-being as forming a coherent and positive narrative could provide a richer perspective than solely focusing on desire satisfaction or pleasure.

A general argument for the left

85 implied HN points • 24 Aug 23
📖 Philosophy Political Ideologies Ethics Social Issues Utilitarianism
  1. The main challenge is the significant polarization in politics, raising a question of reliability of conflicting propositions from different sides.
  2. Historically, movements favoring the weak have been vindicated, indicating a common theme of standing up for underdogs.
  3. Utilitarian perspective suggests prioritizing the needs of the weak over the strong for a greater good.

Too technical to care

42 implied HN points • 04 Feb 24
  1. Some philosophical problems are too technical to significantly impact ethical orientation
  2. Technical objections can help illuminate other issues but may not directly affect ethical behavior
  3. Drawing the line between technical objections and those that cut to the heart of ethics is important

Against THE LITERATURE : A plea for philosophical arrogance

92 implied HN points • 25 Jun 23
📚 Literature Philosophy
  1. The importance of challenging the traditional approach to philosophy focusing on extensive content-specific expertise.
  2. Advocating for a more creative and free-wheeling philosophy that focuses on generating new ideas.
  3. Acknowledging the balance of being well-read and informed versus hyper-specialization and deference to existing academic norms.

Critical Bear update: Antonia the dwarf polar bear

71 implied HN points • 18 Jul 23
🌍 World Politics Animals
  1. Antonia is a dwarf polar bear living in Germany, weighing only a third of an ordinary polar bear.
  2. She stands at 70 cm (2.33 feet) and weighs 130kg, with both the charm of a big girl and a small girl.
  3. Antonia is known as "the pygmy polar bear" and has genetic growth hormone deficiency causing dwarfism.

I have access to Claude-3 Opus, a (seemingly) considerably more advanced model than GPT-4, ask it anything

28 implied HN points • 05 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Models Artificial Intelligence Data Machine Learning
  1. Claude-3 Opus is a highly advanced model compared to GPT-4, especially in reasoning capabilities, scoring impressively on GPQA and other tests.
  2. The model's knowledge base is top-notch, performing as well as or better than a graduate student with Google access in specific sciences.
  3. Questions posed to Claude-3 Opus should be challenging, aiming for queries that most people would answer correctly but the model might get wrong, to reveal its strengths and weaknesses.

A defense of ethical subjectivism

71 implied HN points • 28 Jun 23
📖 Philosophy Ethics Metaethics Semantics
  1. Ethical subjectivism argues that moral statements reflect individual values or the values a better version of oneself would hold.
  2. Speaker subjectivism provides reasons for moral actions based on what a better version of oneself would want.
  3. Speaker-subjectivist semantics offer benefits like explaining moral truths, guiding moral debates, and accounting for confidence in moral beliefs.