This is one of the best essays I've ever read.
I was surprised to find it was never discussed on HN (plenty of submissions, no traction). So go read it HNers.
I was surprised to find it was never discussed on HN (plenty of submissions, no traction). So go read it HNers.
Then the essay comes, builds some new connections, and drives home one or more new points that you were building up to unknowingly. The whole structure is strengthened, and some parts of it even get something resembling a final shape.
We sometimes then just call it an enjoyable read and move on, until the next time. But regardless of the outcome the process itself is one of the best things in the human experience.
I also feel that as an engineer it is really easy to forget to see the context of a problem. Often technical solutions can be really shitty, but still work because of the context. And installing better solutions won't work if the context does not allow it (or makes it too pricey). Often the shittiest solutions are cemented in use by difficult webs of dependencies that are hard to change. Examples of this kind of systems would be social media platforms (cemented by network effects) and payment systems (technically PITA, but hard to compete with).
Mind you, I have never found Yudkowsky's thought anything but imprecise and wandering.