plex's Shortform

post by plex (ete) · 2020-11-22T19:42:38.852Z · LW · GW · 6 comments

6 comments

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comment by plex (ete) · 2023-10-29T23:25:31.743Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Life is Nanomachines

In every leaf of every tree
If you could look, if you could see
You would observe machinery
Unparalleled intricacy
 
In every bird and flower and bee
Twisting, churning, biochemistry
Sustains all life, including we
Who watch this dance, and know this key

Illustration: A magnified view of a vibrant green leaf, where molecular structures and biological nanomachines are visible. Hovering nearby, a bird's feathers reveal intricate molecular patterns. A bee is seen up close, its body showcasing complex biochemistry processes in the form of molecular chains and atomic structures. Nearby, a flower's petals and stem reveal the dance of biological nanomachines at work. Human silhouettes in the background observe with fascination, holding models of molecules and atoms.

Replies from: niplav
comment by niplav · 2023-10-30T11:57:29.313Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Related: Video of the death of a single-celled Blepharisma.

comment by plex (ete) · 2021-01-07T23:46:47.100Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

A couple of months ago I did some research into the impact of quantum computing on cryptocurrencies, seems maybe significant, and a decent number of LWers hold cryptocurrency. I'm not sure if this is the kind of content that's wanted, but I could write up a post on it.

Replies from: ChristianKl
comment by ChristianKl · 2021-01-08T12:05:50.172Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Writeup of good research is generally welcome on LessWrong.

comment by plex (ete) · 2020-11-22T19:42:39.283Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Thinking about some things I may write. If any of them sound interesting to you let me know and I'll probably be much more motivated to create it. If you're up for reviewing drafts and/or having a video call to test ideas that would be even better.

  • Memetics mini-sequence (https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/memetics [? · GW] has a few good things, but no introduction to what seems like a very useful set of concepts for world-modelling)
    • Book Review: The Meme Machine (focused on general principles and memetic pressures toward altruism)
    • Meme-Gene and Meme-Meme co-evolution (focused on memeplexes and memetic defences/filters, could be just a part of the first post if both end up shortish)
    • The Memetic Tower of Generate and Test (a set of ideas about the specific memetic processes not present in genetic evolution, inspired by Dennet's tower of generate and test)
    • (?) Moloch in the Memes (even if we have an omnibenevolent AI god looking out for sentient well-being, things maybe get weird in the long term as ideas become more competent replicators/persisters if the overseer is focusing on the good and freedom of individuals rather than memes. I probably won't actually write this, because I don't have much more than some handwavey ideas about a situation that is really hard to think about.)
  • Unusual Artefacts of Communication (some rare and possibly good ways of sharing ideas, e.g. Conversation Menu, CYOA, Arbital Paths, call for ideas. Maybe best as a question with a few pre-written answers?)
Replies from: cSkeleton
comment by cSkeleton · 2023-04-15T18:41:38.841Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Hi, did you ever go anywhere with Conversation Menu? I'm thinking of doing something like this related to AI risk to try to quickly get people to the arguments around their initial reaction and if helping with something like this is the kind of thing you had in mind with Conversation Menu I'm interested to hear any more thoughts you have around this. (Note, I'm thinking of fading in buttons more than a typical menu.) Thanks!