“There's a popular concept of 'intelligence' as book smarts, like calculus or chess, as opposed to, say, social skills. So people say that 'it takes more than intelligence to succeed in human society.' But social skills reside in the brain, not the kidneys.” PeopleHumansBookSocialBrainSucceedSkillsSmartConceptsChessHuman SocietyCalculusKidneysSocial Skills Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky
“Most Muggles lived in a world defined by the limits of what you could do with cars and telephones. Even though Muggle physics explicitly permitted possibilities like molecular nanotechnology or the Penrose process for extracting energy from black holes, most people filed that away in the same section of their brain that stored fairy tales and history books, well away from their personal realities: Long ago and far away, ever so long ago.” PeopleWorldWellsLongBookRealityEnergyProcessBlackBrainCarPossibilityLimitsPhysicsHolesTalesDefinedFairyFairy TaleFar AwayLong AgoSectionsTelephonesBlack HoleHistory BooksNanotechnologyMuggles Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky
“The human brain cannot release enough neurotransmitters to feel emotion a thousand times as strong as the grief of one funeral. A prospective risk going from 10,000,000 deaths to 100,000,000 deaths does not multiply by ten the strength of our determination to stop it. It adds one more zero on paper for our eyes to glaze over.” FeelsHumansDoeEnoughEyeStrongGriefEmotionBrainRiskThousandTenPaperDeterminationAddReleaseZeroFuneralHuman BrainNeurotransmitters Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky
“Physiologically adult humans are not meant to spend an additional 10 years in a school system; their brains map that onto "I have been assigned low tribal status". And so, of course, they plot rebellion - accuse the existing tribal overlords of corruption plot, perhaps to split off their own little tribe in the savanna, not realizing that this is impossible in the Modern World.” WorldYearsHumansLittlesHas BeensSchoolCoursesRealizingBrainImpossibleModernLowsAdultsCorruptionPlotMapsRebellionSplitsTribesModern WorldSchool SystemSavanna Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky
