A while back, I set myself the project of figuring out how much of the MIT undergrad physics curriculum could be taught from free online books. The answer, so far, is more than I had anticipated but much less than what we deserve. But working on that, along with a few other conversations, has got me to wondering. We’ve seen TESCREAL types be just plain wrong about science many times over the years. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality botches Punnett squares and pretty much everything more advanced than that. LessWrong demonstrably has no filter against old-school math crankery. The (ahem) leading light of “effective accelerationism” just plays Mad Libs with physics words. Yudkowsky’s declarations about organic chemistry boggle the educated mind. They even manage to be weird about theoretical computer science — what we might call the “lambda calculus is super-Turing!” school of TESCREAL.
Sometimes, the difference between a TESCREAL understanding of science and a legitimate one comes from having studied the subject in a formal way. But not every aspiring autodidact with an interest in molecular biology or the theoretical limits of computation is a lost cause!
So, then: What books come down upon the superficial TESCREAL version of cool things like a ton of scientific bricks? What are the texts that one withdraws from an inside coat pocket and slides across the table, saying “This here is the good shit”?
The Fake Nerd Boys of Silicon Valley isn’t directly about TESCREAL, but its dissection of Silicon Valley’s complete and utter misunderstanding of sci-fi/fantasy does still work wonders against Yudkowsky et al’s views IMO.
Your Honor, my client might’ve murdered mr. Thiel with a Lego model of a Star Destroyer, but as witnessed by Exhibit A he acted in good faith and as what can only be described as service to the community. We move for full acquittal.
@V0ldek @BlueMonday1984 <sarcasm>I like ‘Blade Runner’ way better. I’m a capitalist. ‘Blade Runner’ is the capitalist movie. ‘Star Trek’ is the communist one. There is no money in ‘Star Trek’ because you just have the transporter machine that can make anything you need. The whole plot of ‘Blade Runner’ revolves around a perfect society run by oligarchs exploiting the masses</sarcasm>
What is it about these Tech Bros that causes them to interpret dystopian warnings as a playbook?
@V0ldek @BlueMonday1984 Also, Star Trek is science fiction that explores new ideas, while Star Wars is fantasy that trots out old ideas with new hardware. Mr. Thiel reveals himself to be stuck in the past, politically, philosophically, and scientifically.
kinda continues to surprise me how many people don’t know the, uh, roots of the Star Wars bits
(source)
yes, that’s a feature for Thiel too
@V0ldek @BlueMonday1984 You gotta give it to capitalism, it makes an excellent non-personified villain.
Now why would you insult Peter Thiel like that. He’s made it his life’s work to become that personification and he’s worked very hard at it.
@YourNetworkIsHaunted Unlike capitalism he doesn’t star in a lot of movies. And honestly, I don’t think he makes for a very believable villain. No real human is like that. Maybe he could star in some parody movie where his exaggerated opinions make for a joke.
wdym non-personified, it’s this guy