Paul Hazelden's Articles (149)

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Understanding Science

People who don't understand science often think that science is about 'facts' and 'numbers', reliable things which can be proved, in contrast to religion which is about believing in things which cannot be proved.  But science is about seeking to unde

Is AI about to take over the world?

Let's stop worrying about absurdly unlikely risks, and concentrate on the actual problems we face.  No AI is going to take over the world any time soon.  But they will be used to make incredibly rich and powerful people and corporations even more ric

Comparing Religions

It is sometimes claimed that religion is all about rejecting reason and choosing instead 'blind faith' or irrationality. But, when you actually examine most religions, and most of the people who follow them, it is hard to reconcile such claims with

Voting Systems

There is no perfect voting system. Whatever system you use, there can be situations where the system delivers the wrong result, according to some fairly obvious criteria for a fair system – and this has been mathematically demonstrated. But thi

Being Realistic

There is an inevitable tension here: we need hopes and dreams, but we also need to keep our feet on the ground; we need to aim high, but also have realistic expectations. The challenge here is not to achieve a balance between these two opposing prin

CFAR and its Cousins

The ‘Center for Applied Rationality’, or ‘CFAR’ is one of a group of organizations, run by a fairly small group of individuals, in the fields of artificial intelligence, rationality and global philanthropy. This is an attempt to identify some of the

Middle East

[Back to World Affairs]

In our conversations, we keep circulating around the topic of the Middle East, Israel and Gaza, but never addressing it in any substantial way, largely because nobody can think of anything productive to say.  'We are against g

Effective Beliefs

We need to find beliefs which work - beliefs which work sufficiently well and sufficiently often, without any need to pretend that they are 100% effective in all situations. We need beliefs which we can engage with as beliefs rather than proven trut

Emergent Properties

An emergent property is a property which is present implicitly in the components, but which can only be seen when it emerges in the larger system; once you see the emergent property, you understand how the interaction of the components produces it.

What Do We Mean By Morality?

When we say that something is immoral, are we only saying, as some people suggest, that we disapprove of it? Is morality just a statement of personal or group preference? And, if not, then what is it?

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