Working in the field of genetics is a bizarre experience. No one seems to be interested in the most interesting applications of their research. [...] The scientific establishment, however, seems to not have gotten the memo. [...] I remember sitting through three days of talks at a hotel in Boston, watching prominent tenured professors in the field of genetics take turns misrepresenting their own data [...] It is difficult to convey the actual level of insanity if you haven’t seen it yourself.

Like Yudkowsky writing about quantum mechanics, this is cult shit. "The scientists refuse to see the conclusion in front of their faces! We and we alone are sufficiently Rational to embrace the truth! Listen to us, not to scientists!"

Gene editing scales much, much better than embryo selection.

"... Mister Bond."

The graphs look like they were made in Matplotlib, but on another level, they're giving big crayon energy.

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 14 points 4 months ago

Am i misunderstanding the data? No it is all the scientists who are wrong. (He is also ignoring the "scientists" who do agree with him, who all seem to have a special room for ww2 paraphernalia)

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Working in the [field] is a bizarre experience. No one seems to be interested in the most interesting applications of their research

depending on field, it might be crackpottery or straight up criminal. but if you post shit like this on linkedin, then it's suddenly "inspiring" and "thought-provoking"

Our knowledge has advanced to the point where, if we had a safe and reliable means of modifying genes in embryos, we could literally create superbabies

and from that point on it's all counterfactual

[–] fnix@awful.systems 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Isn’t it all a bit like Ludic’s writings on software engineering which have been shared approvingly here a number of times? The profession is shit, office politics dominates actual work, most other people are NPCs who instead of moving mountains just go through the motions etc – but I bear the Spirit and dare to stand on higher ground! Or am I dumb and getting stuck in superficial similarities here, discounting the substantive differences?

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

ymmw but for me ludic comes off a bit as a sort of a benevolent grifter. difference being that unlike lw poster, ludic probably knows what he's talking about, also i'm not in that field. some of unseriousness and money sloshing around comes from the fact that both dev space and biotechs are quite startuppy, unlike many other fields

[–] fnix@awful.systems 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yeah, I suppose academia and the tech industry are quite different things, for all their problems.

Still, there’s a way to critique systemic issues without mixing it up with self-aggrandizement and the implication that all your coworkers except a few friends are idiots. He really reminds me of Nassim Taleb in that regard, who (among other things) has made some valid criticisms of IQ but whose style is just a bit too much for my sensibilities. ‘Benevolent griftiness’ seems just the right descriptor here. =)

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Working in the field of genetics is a bizarre experience

How the fuck would you know that, mate? You don't even have a degree in your field, which, let me remind you, is (allegedly) computer science. Has Yud ever been near an actual genetics professor?

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 4 months ago

these posers would repost "i fucking love science" on facebook but clearly never came back home in dead of the night after 13-hour shift in lab smelling of cum and mothballs because of a minor accident that nevertheless allowed to push envelope of known world just that little bit farther