Simulation Stupidy: Why ergo cogito sum is wrong

Descartes says that even if the world is a simulation, we at least know that we exist. This is wrong:

1. Your mind is not above/beyond the simulation. It can still be manipulated. Hence, logic and though are not guaranteed to give the correct conclusion as the entity doing the simulation could actively change your though.
2. There is no reason to believe that the rules that constitute reality inside the simulation are the same as those outside it. It could well be that existence, time, causality or logic do not apply in the external world.

This is why Descartes was wrong. This is also why most arguments today regarding/objecting to simulations are wrong.

Definition of AI, and why I lean towards acting rationality.

What is intelligence? It's a pretty basic question, and which answer you give determines a lot about how you go about building an AI and what that AI will eventually look like if you succeed. Definitions vary across two axis: whether you care about how it acts or how it thinks, and whether you want it to be human, or to be rational

Systems that think like humans.	Systems that think rationally.
Systems that act like humans	Systems that act rationally

Defining AI by how human it is in any respect seems stupid. Just because something does not resemble us, does not mean it is not intelligent. Humans are a subset of intelligence, not the other way around. The question then becomes, is action or thought important? I'm not sure, but I tend towards thought. After all, a giant lookup table which gave the same outputs as a human brain is not alive or intelligent. That's because intelligence is not only about the results a black box generates, but also about what happens in the box.

Then again, there's a difference between intelligence and sentience. Maybe something that thinks in very strange ways which we cannot recognise, yet can seemingly make decisions, is rational. Maybe the true theoretical definition of AI is thinking rationally, but the practical definition we should use is acting rationally, because our ability to determine what is and is not though, let alone rational thought, is hopelessly limited and flawed.

3 Free games worth playing

Information is valuable if you don't have it. Most top ten lists tell you what you already know; the big, popular games which everyone is playing are good. Great, but you knew that anyway. Here are a few games you didn't know about which are probably better than almost anything else that came out in 2016. Give them a shot, you won't regret it.

http://www.remar.se/daniel/herocore.php

http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php



http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net/games/phenomenon-32/

Real Roguelikes for Real Men

Do you want a nice evening with an accessible, fun game? No? Well how about graphics? You know, that thing we've had since the 1980's. Not those either? Ok, so what do you want? Insane complexity, fridge logic, face-shattering difficulty and a learning curve so steep it curves backwards on itself?

WARNING:

These games are for TRUE MEN* only. If you are not a TRUE MAN, turn back now or have your puny mind destroyed.

• Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
• Post-apocalyptic setting. Enjoy: disease, cybernetics, aliens, fungi, looting abandoned stores for week old sandwiches and freezing to death. Protip: installing cybernetics requires surgery. Protip 2: Performing surgery on yourself is a bad idea. 
• NetHack
• Do you want a rougelike so crazy, it understands elvish? Do you want a rougelike so brutal, it basically requires you to know elvish to survive he first few floors? I thought so, Protip: Go do something useful with your life.
• Dwarf Fortress
• Because you definitely need tendon level muscle simulation in a top down base management game.
• True Stories Bro:
• Elephants digestive systems weren't large enough to produce the calories said elephant needed to stay alive. Result: Crazed starving elephants.
• Patch tweaked few variables. One of them was the melting point of the subdermal layer of fat just below a dwarf's skin (yes of course subdermal fat is accurately simulated, What do you think this is, COD?) Result: Dwarves began to melt in moderate sunlight.
• PROTIP: If you find unbreakable basalt pillars, stop digging. Much FUN awaits below.

*
List of thing that preclude you from being a true man:

• Enjoying romantic comedies
• Talking to girls (you homosexual)
• Being a pineapple

List of things that do not preclude you from being a true man

• Being gay
• Being a woman (but you have to be extra awesome to qualify)
• Being a gay woman
• Being a gay woman who likes Anime
• Liking Anime

Against Potatos

Very few people do evil on their own initiative. Many do nothing to stop it.

If you want to be a good person, you probably shouldn't invest a great deal of effort or thought into not drowning children. After all, unless you got really unlucky with the genes/environment roulette, you're probably not going to turn into a sadistic serial killer the moment you stop exerting an intense mental effort to not do so. What's more important is to not be a potato. You see, the problem with being a potato is that potato's don't do much. They don't fulfil their potential, they don't change the world and they certainly don't stand up to Hitler.

If you sit around doing nothing, or do only what is expected of you in your time and place, you're probably being a potato. Stop. Try and find a better path. You probably can. Better yet, try and do some good. There are lot's of drowning children to save and it it usually doesn't take much more than effort to do so.

What is Fascism?

Language has power. Control words, and you control thoughts.

Fascism has long been defined as a right wing phenomenon. Left-wing fascism seems oximoronic. I don't think this is right. Fascism isn't defined by a certain side of the random mis-mash of beliefs grouped due to historical accident we call the political spectrum. Fascism is something else entirely.

[Or is it? People are prone to madness around politics. Hatred, pathological blindness to facts in favour of ideology and virtue signalling are normal. Is fascism really any different? Is it really a special kind of madness deserving it's own criterion?]

What is fascism? My definition is simple. Fascism

• Is tribalistic, not individualistic
• Does not tolerate dissent/free speech

This seems simple, but it matters. Western civilisation and democracy rests on at least two pillars. One is that we are all equal citizens and only our own actions define our worth. This is opposed to how most human societies organised themselves throughout history: on the basis of groups, tribes or clans. Our societies do not consist of distinct groups, racial or religious, but of one group we are all part of: the nation. The second pillar is free speech, Without the freedom to challenge orthodoxy, an orthodoxy which usually serves the interest of the elite, progress slows, ideas stagnate and evil goes unchallenged. Ever since the reformation, our societies have allowed considerable freedom in speech and thought. Groups which seek to undo this almost always do so to benefit themselves or stop others questioning their beliefs.

[Garbage. Democracy has many pillars, i.e: educated population. Even ideologically, many other pillars exist. Maybe a democracy with severely limited free speech would be good/stable? What data do you have to know otherwise? Intuition is not enough. It may be intuitive to you that free speech leads to freedom. It was intuitive to people in the 13th century that Monarchs were good.]

Licence to Stupid

Being stupid is a very important part of being smart.

If you're scared of being stupid, you'll never explore those ideas or paths which at first seem wrong but, as you explore the arguments for them more fully, gain strength.

If you're scared of being stupid, you won't take risks exploring fields you're weaker in.

Grab the light
Burn it bright
Keep the night
Don't loose sight