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Eliezer Yudkowsky

Eliezer Yudkowsky Quotes

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Famous Eliezer Yudkowsky Quotes

“Have I ever remarked on how completely ridiculous it is to ask high school students to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives and give them nearly no support in doing so? Support like, say, spending a day apiece watching twenty different jobs and then another week at their top three choices, with salary charts and projections and probabilities of graduating that subject given their test scores? The more so considering this is a central allocation question for the entire economy?”

WantGivingDifferentSchoolJobsChoicesThreeAsksGivenSupportEconomyWeekSubjectsStudentsHigh SchoolTestsTwentiesSpendingRidiculousScoreGraduatesConsideringProbabilitySalaryProjectionDifferent JobsAllocationHigh School StudentsTest Scores
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“If dragons were common, and you could look at one in the zoo - but zebras were a rare legendary creature that had finally been decided to be mythical - then there's a certain sort of person who would ignore dragons, who would never bother to look at dragons, and chase after rumors of zebras. The grass is always greener on the other side of reality. Which is rather setting ourselves up for eternal disappointment, eh? If we cannot take joy in the merely real, our lives shall be empty indeed.”

IfsLooksPersonsRealRealityJoyCertainSidesCommonOur LivesCreaturesEternalEmptyDecidedDisappointmentSettingSettingsBotherGrassDragonsRumorZoosLegendaryGreenerZebrasGrass Is Always GreenerGreener On The Other Side
Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky
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“Reality has been around since long before you showed up. Don't go calling it nasty names like 'bizarre' or 'incredible'. The universe was propagating complex amplitudes through configuration space for ten billion years before life ever emerged on Earth. Quantum physics is not 'weird'. You are weird.”

YearsLongHas BeensRealityEarthUniverseNamesSpaceCallingTenComplexesIncrediblesPhysicsBillionsQuantumNastyBizarreQuantum PhysicsConfiguration
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“Like that's the only reason anyone would ever buy a first-aid kit? Don't take this the wrong way, Professor McGonagall, but what sort of crazy children are you used to dealing with?" "Gryffindors," spat Professor McGonagall, the word carrying a freight of bitterness and despair that fell like an eternal curse on all youthful heroism and high spirits.”

WayFirstsChildrenReasonUsedSpiritCrazyDespairEternalAidsCurseBitternessProfessorsHeroismWrong WaySpatsGryffindorMcgonagallProfessor Mcgonagall
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“You will find ambiguity a great ally on your road to power. Give a sign of Slytherin on one day, and contradict it with a sign of Gryffindor the next; and the Slytherins will be enabled to believe what they wish, while the Gryffindors argue themselves into supporting you as well. So long as there is uncertainty, people can believe whatever seems to be to their own advantage. And so long as you appear strong, so long as you appear to be winning, their instincts will tell them that their advantage lies with you. Walk always in the shadow, and light and darkness both will follow.”

PeopleGivingBelieveWellsLongLightSeemsLyingNextWinningStrongWishWalksDarknessOne DayShadowAdvantageInstinctArguingUncertaintyAlliesAmbiguityLight And DarknessGryffindor
Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky
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“You couldn't changed history. But you could get it right to start with. Do something differently the FIRST time around. This whole business with seeking Slytherin's secrets... seemed an awful lot like the sort of thing where, years later, you would look back and say, 'And THAT was where it all started to go wrong.' And he would wish desperately for the ability to fall back through time and make a different choice. Wish granted. Now what?”

YearsFirstsLooksDifferentWholeChoicesFallWishAbilitySecretChangedFirst TimeSeekingAwfulGrantedFall BackDifferent Choices
Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky
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