All of Ross Graham's Comments + Replies

Eli Dourado AMA
Ross Graham2y2

Referencing your recent AI article (which is great!):

How much of the problem of digital technology being hard to implement productively because of social/legal/policy stuff:

  1. A path dependency issue: digital technology just has to exist substantively before the social/legal/policy environment is generated, improved and optimized to accommodate it?
  2. To the extent this path dependency exists, do you think we could be doing more to prime the social/legal/policy environment for new technologies preemptively? Is better anticipation of the social/legal/policy needs
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2elidourado2yI don't think path dependency is the right way of looking at it. I'd frame it rather differently: We are doing a bunch of clown stuff that is holding back productivity improvements all the time. There is nothing about that is unique to AI. However, it's possible that it will become especially apparent that we are erecting all these obstacles ourselves as we observe AI getting very productive in unregulated or otherwise functional sectors. Absolutely, we should be dismantling the clown policies proactively, but it isn't proactive with respect to AI particularly, it's just that we should not have clown policies in the first place.
Tyler Cowen AMA
Ross Graham2y5

You are well-known for your love of food, cuisine and dining, both as a diner and as a cook. Has your deep relationship with food informed or substantiated how you think about progress and progress studies? 

Reply
4Tyler Cowen2ySTudying food markets shows that progress is possible! It shows the importance of immigration. The diversity of quarters from which innovation comes. Not all sectors are like food markets, but it is one very good place to start. And food markets give you a very good chance to chat with very smart people who are not college-educated.
Why progress needs futurism
Ross Graham3y4

Yes, I think the Italian Futurists provide us with interesting lessons. One reason their movement was so short-lived was the onset of WW1. A bunch of them died in various conflicts, but the intellectual foundations of the movement were also killed off. According to Marinetti and friends, technology and machinery was the source of dynamism and progressive change in society, and war was a primary means of putting this machinery to use. Yet in practice, the main 'achievement' of technological advancement in this period was a novel 'meat-grinder' style of warf... (read more)

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