The following is my considered evaluation of the Foundational Research Institute, circa July 2017. I discuss its goal, where I foresee things going wrong with how it defines suffering, and what it could do to avoid these problems. TL;DR version: […]
Michael Edward Johnson
Posts by Michael Edward Johnson
Taking ‘brain waves’ seriously: Neuroacoustics
Our research collective has been doing a lot of work touching on brain dynamics, resonance, and symmetry: see here and here (video). Increasingly, a new implicit working ontology I’m calling ‘Neuroacoustics’ is taking shape. This is a quick outline of that new […]
Why we seek out pleasure: the Symmetry Theory of Homeostatic Regulation
Why do we seek out pleasure- what Freud called the “pleasure principle“? More accurately: why do we seem to seek out pleasure most of the time, but occasionally seem indifferent to it or even averse to it, e.g. in conditions such […]
Symmetry Theory of Valence “Explain Like I’m 5” edition
When someone on Reddit says “ELI5”, it means “I’m having a hard time understanding this, could you explain it to me like I’m 5 years old?” Here’s my attempt at an “ELI5” for the Symmetry Theory of Valence (Part II […]
Principia Qualia: the executive summary
Put simply, Principia Qualia (click for full version) is a blueprint for building a new Science of Qualia. PQ begins by considering a rather modest question: what is emotional valence? What makes some things feel better than others? This sounds like the sort of clear-cut puzzle affective neuroscience […]
Principia Qualia
I’m proud to announce the immediate availability of Principia Qualia (download link). I started this project over six years ago, when trying to understand the problem of valence, or what makes some things feel better than others. Over time, I […]
How understanding valence could help make future AIs safer
The two topics I’ve been thinking the most about lately: What makes some patterns of consciousness feel better than others? I.e. can we crisply reverse-engineer what makes certain areas of mind-space pleasant, and other areas unpleasant? If we make a smarter-than-human […]
Effective Altruism, and building a better QALY
This originally started as a write-up for my friend James, but since it may be of general interest I decided to blog it here. Effective Altruism (EA) is a progressive social movement that says altruism is good, but provably effective altruism is […]
Spark Weekend SF Review
I went to Spark Weekend SF last weekend, a ‘lifehacking conference’. I had never been to a lifehacking conference, and expected it to maybe be a little bit fun, but a little bit hokey. It wasn’t hokey at all: it was […]
If a brain emulation has a headache, does it hurt?
Anders Sandberg has a new article out, “Ethics of brain emulations”. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0952813X.2014.895113 He discusses the uncertainties inherent in whether emulations are ‘sentient’ (i.e., whether WBEs are conscious and can feel pain) and moral considerations and strategies thereof. I’m generally rather […]