Michael Nielsen
@michaelnielsen.bsky.social
Searching for the numinous
Australian Canadian, currently living in the US
https://michaelnotebook.com
Australian Canadian, currently living in the US
https://michaelnotebook.com
This was terrific:
Mindscape 342 | Rachell Powell on Evolutionary Convergence, Mind, and Morality. Do social structures, like eyes and fins, arise independently from evolutionary pressures? #MindscapePodcast
www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026...
www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026...
February 2, 2026 at 3:12 AM
This was terrific:
Please find me on Substack Notes: substack.com/@michaelniel...
Michael Nielsen | Substack
Searching for the numinous π¦πΊ π¨π¦, home in πΊπΈ Research @AsteraInstitute http://michaelnotebook.com
substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Please find me on Substack Notes: substack.com/@michaelniel...
Thanks. Bsky didn't seem to be going in a great direction, so I only check briefly once or twice a month. I was quite irritated by this comment: bsky.app/profile/bnew...
I think those get at "root cause" and more effective (and less toilsome) than soft-blocks
though soft-blocks fit some workflows/expectations and would complement. and also useful in other more high-context / small-scale social situations
though soft-blocks fit some workflows/expectations and would complement. and also useful in other more high-context / small-scale social situations
November 17, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Thanks. Bsky didn't seem to be going in a great direction, so I only check briefly once or twice a month. I was quite irritated by this comment: bsky.app/profile/bnew...
I enjoyed this thoughtful account of how Open Phil approach progress: support technical and scientific advances, but keeping a thoughtful eye on safety, too, viewing it as part of progress, not competitive with
Some people think Open Phil are luddites because we work on AGI safety, and others think weβre techno-utopians because we work on abundance and scientific progress. Weβre neither. Here's why we think safety and accelerating progress go hand in hand: π§΅
www.openphilanthropy.org/research/wh...
www.openphilanthropy.org/research/wh...
October 1, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I enjoyed this thoughtful account of how Open Phil approach progress: support technical and scientific advances, but keeping a thoughtful eye on safety, too, viewing it as part of progress, not competitive with
Actually, it might be in the Barenco et al 1995 paper (the one with 9 or so authors, on gate universality). I suspect that's a good spot to check!
September 3, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Actually, it might be in the Barenco et al 1995 paper (the one with 9 or so authors, on gate universality). I suspect that's a good spot to check!
Wrote it down? I'm not sure. IIRC I learned it from Manny Knill in 1996, but my memory is very fuzzy
September 3, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Wrote it down? I'm not sure. IIRC I learned it from Manny Knill in 1996, but my memory is very fuzzy
Reposted by Michael Nielsen
I surprised myself by writing a blog post about religion this morning π€
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/08/01/a...
I thank (blame?) @economeager.bsky.social and @michaelnielsen.bsky.social for inspiring me with their recent essays
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/08/01/a...
I thank (blame?) @economeager.bsky.social and @michaelnielsen.bsky.social for inspiring me with their recent essays
Atheism is like a point null hypothesis and other thoughts on religion | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu
August 1, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I surprised myself by writing a blog post about religion this morning π€
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/08/01/a...
I thank (blame?) @economeager.bsky.social and @michaelnielsen.bsky.social for inspiring me with their recent essays
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/08/01/a...
I thank (blame?) @economeager.bsky.social and @michaelnielsen.bsky.social for inspiring me with their recent essays
Reading this with much interesst!
August 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reading this with much interesst!
Reposted by Michael Nielsen
Reminds me of this paragraph from @michaelnielsen.bsky.social about human willingness to delegate to world-ending authority automated systems (whether because oversight is impossible or just inconvenient)
michaelnotebook.com/xriskbrief/i...
michaelnotebook.com/xriskbrief/i...
July 9, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Reminds me of this paragraph from @michaelnielsen.bsky.social about human willingness to delegate to world-ending authority automated systems (whether because oversight is impossible or just inconvenient)
michaelnotebook.com/xriskbrief/i...
michaelnotebook.com/xriskbrief/i...
"Maybe if we add another rule / consultation that will help fix the decay" is kinda an attempt at distilling the inverse philosophy...
June 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
"Maybe if we add another rule / consultation that will help fix the decay" is kinda an attempt at distilling the inverse philosophy...
Good choice
(I just listened to Serkis read "The Silmarillion" and "The Lord of the Rings", and it was great!)
(I just listened to Serkis read "The Silmarillion" and "The Lord of the Rings", and it was great!)
June 2, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Good choice
(I just listened to Serkis read "The Silmarillion" and "The Lord of the Rings", and it was great!)
(I just listened to Serkis read "The Silmarillion" and "The Lord of the Rings", and it was great!)
A few thoughtfully-chosen excerpts from my "How to be a wise optimist..." essay:
Just finished reading @michaelnielsen.bsky.social's essay "How to be a wise optimist about science and technology?"
I really enjoyed this, as I feel Michael and I share a lot of the same worries. I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing. Here are 5 lines that stood out to me:
(1/5)
I really enjoyed this, as I feel Michael and I share a lot of the same worries. I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing. Here are 5 lines that stood out to me:
(1/5)
May 26, 2025 at 4:25 PM
A few thoughtfully-chosen excerpts from my "How to be a wise optimist..." essay:
Lovely thread:
This is such a great prompt, I feel like I could write for an hour about my transformational walks in the woods.
May 24, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Lovely thread:
Do you know what happened with this? I missed that Cremieux was invited (and would likely have declined to participate had I known)
May 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Do you know what happened with this? I missed that Cremieux was invited (and would likely have declined to participate had I known)
Yeah, I had people like Ostrom, Mancur Olson, Schelling, Axelrod, and even Fukuyama in mind - really, the whole game-theoretic foundations for the evolution of co-operation
May 20, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Yeah, I had people like Ostrom, Mancur Olson, Schelling, Axelrod, and even Fukuyama in mind - really, the whole game-theoretic foundations for the evolution of co-operation
Working notes on Joe Carlsmith's notion of "deep atheism": michaelnotebook.com/deepatheism/...
Notes on deep atheism
michaelnotebook.com
May 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Working notes on Joe Carlsmith's notion of "deep atheism": michaelnotebook.com/deepatheism/...
Who is going to less.online?
LessOnline 2025: A Festival of Truthseeking and Blogging
May 30th β June 1st | Lighthaven, Berkeley CA | Ticket Prices Increase April 1st
less.online
May 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Who is going to less.online?
At some point I realized that everything online breaks, so what you want is handwritten static files hosted in the most stable place you can think of. GitHub Pages will eventually die, but I think that site is safe for a while...
May 12, 2025 at 11:58 PM
At some point I realized that everything online breaks, so what you want is handwritten static files hosted in the most stable place you can think of. GitHub Pages will eventually die, but I think that site is safe for a while...
Thanks. I'm certainly never going to be known for my design skills...
May 12, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Thanks. I'm certainly never going to be known for my design skills...
ChatGPT, took 10 seconds for me to type the prompt
May 9, 2025 at 10:11 PM
ChatGPT, took 10 seconds for me to type the prompt
A thoughtful post on AI Alignment:
[new draft post] Alignment is confinement https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/05/08/alignment-is-confinement/index.html
May 8, 2025 at 11:18 PM
A thoughtful post on AI Alignment:
Congratulations!
May 6, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Congratulations!