Updated Rationality from AI to Zombies

I have created a new release candidate of the tex version of Rationality from AI to Zombies https://github.com/jrincayc/rationality-ai-zombies/releases/tag/1.0rc1. This version has been proofread from cover to cover. In other news, MIRI is also updating their version and has produced printed versions of the first two parts https://intelligence.org/rationality-ai-zombies/

Article on Anger

"""All of this anger-mongering in campaigns, whether subtle or overt, has had a corrosive effect on American democracy. A poll by The Washington Post found that 35 percent of voters in battleground districts of the 2018 midterm election chose the word angry to describe their feelings about the campaign; 24 percent chose patriotic. “The thing about political professionals is, we get to leave after the campaign is over,” the pollster Jefrey Pollock told me. “[We] don’t have to worry about what comes after the election.” These professionals aren’t moral crusaders, as Cesar Chavez was; they’re hired guns. After a long campaign, Pollock said, there’s “this huge group of passionate, energized people” who don’t know where to direct their anger.
As Chavez learned, that’s a perilous state of affairs. Without anyone to channel that anger, it can turn into a destructive obsession. And that’s when things can really get out of control."""

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/charles-duhigg-american-anger/576424/

Why? (A computer mystifies me)

So I am trying to get a computer to boot that I haven't turned on for about three months. It refuses to turn on (no bios beeps, no fans, but the motherboard light is on). I replace the clock battery, reset the bios, vacuum the dust out, check that the power supply works, check the power button works with a multimeter, try reseating the power cables, nothing works. Then with the case off, I'm pressing the power button randomly, and one of the times I randomly spin the CPU fan, and then the computer just comes on when I spin the fan. Whiskey Tango Hotel? After that it has turned on a half dozen times fine.

Things we have learned since 1963

I have been reading the Feynman Lectures It is fascinating what we have learned since the lectures were done. For example, we didn't know about quarks, or plate tectonics, or how RNA was converted into proteins. 1963 wasn't that long ago, but we have learned a lot of new science since then, since we didn't know how DNA worked, or how mountains were formed or what neutrons and protons were made of back then.

The Sex Recession

Fascinating article about the lack of romantic relationships and their causes:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex-recession/573949/

New desktop computer

My new computer, which cost less than $500 (monitor not included) and works quite nicely in Ubuntu 18.04 Linux:

• Antec NSK3180 Black 0.7 SGCC Steel Micro ATX / Mini-ITX Computer Case 380W Power Supply
• ASRock AB350M Pro4 AM4 AMD Promontory B350 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
• AMD A10-9700E Bristol Ridge Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Socket AM4 35W AD9700AHABBOX Desktop Processor Radeon R7(alternate seller)
• Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model BLS2K4G4D240FSC
• Lite-On DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS124-14 - OEM
• WD Red 2TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD20EFRX
• Logitech MK120 Wired USB Keyboard and Mouse - Black

Some stats from Idaho's last two midterms.

Number voting for Lieutenant Governor in 2014: 18705+271268+141917 = 431890
Number voting for Lieutenant Governeor in 2018: 240292+356082 = 596374

Number not voting for anyone for State Controller in 2014: 431890-342013 = 89877  (as percentage: 89877/431890 = 20.8%)
Number not voting for anyone for State Controller in 2018: 596374-464142 = 132232 (as percentage: 132232/596374 = 22.2 %)

So there has been a bit of increase in the number of people who would rather not vote than vote for a Republican in Idaho.

Sources:
2014: https://sos.idaho.gov/elect/results/2014/General/statewide_totals.html
2018: https://sos.idaho.gov/elect/results/2018/General/ENR/statewide_summary.html

What should the Democrat's do with their house majority?

From the economist:
"The main onus is now on the Democrats. For their own good, not to mention the country’s, they have to find ways to appeal in America’s heartland.

That starts with exercising restraint. Yes, they should use their majority in the House to scrutinise a president who shows contempt for the norms that have constrained past presidents. They should look carefully at what has been going on in federal agencies, and investigate possible presidential abuses of power or misuse of the office for personal aggrandisement. But Democrats should resist the urge to use their majority in the House to take revenge, hounding the president in the way that Newt Gingrich and his Republican colleagues once hounded Bill Clinton. Prosecution should be left to prosecutors."
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/11/08/the-mid-terms-produce-a-divided-government-for-a-divided-country

Welcome

There are many blogs, but this one is mine.  This is mainly to replace my public google plus feed.