From: Ben Goertzel (ben@goertzel.org)
Date: Thu May 11 2006 - 17:03:12 MDT
Hi Alekseii,
Just a brief comment on the nature of the "content filtering" on this list...
I am obviously aware of the definition of SL4, and I enjoy this list
more than nearly any other e-mail list...
**However**, I do believe that the content filtering on this list (as
expressed by list sniping patterns) reflects the particular interests
of the list owner and the core list membership, just as much as it
reflects the general notion of "Shock Level 4."
The problem is that there is not really that much content that is
truly, strongly SL4 in nature. If this restriction were held to
strictly, then list traffic would be a lot less than it is now.
So, for topics that are "borderline SL4", discretion is used, and
there is a bias toward the list owner's and core list membership's
interests. This is not problematic in my view, as I think these
tastes are interesting ones, I'm just pointing out that it is the
case.
For instance, there is a lot of discussion of mundane aspects of
Bayesian inference and rationality on this list, and this discussion
is **definitely** not all strictly "SL4." Some of it may not even be
SL1. Rational inference is a verrrrry mainstream topic which is not
very shocking to anyone.... Granted, in a general sense it is highly
relevant to the problem of achieving a positive Singularity, but
(getting back to magnets) one may argue that human nervous system
modification is also relevant to the Singularity. True, inserting
magnets under your skin is a primitive form of nervous system
modification with no direct Singularity relevance, but there has been
plenty of discussion on here of aspects of Bayesian inference with no
direct Singularity relevance.
I think it is quite understandable that it takes list newbies a little
while to figure out exactly what the "implicit taste" of the list
owner and the list community considers on-topic. It is not really
true that the list only discusses "strictly, directly Shock Level 4"
related topics. It discusses those, plus a highly (and interestingly)
biased selection of indirectly Singularity related topics.
-- Ben G
> > Implants and up-links will be an important part of the way forward.
>
> Are you sure you're aware of the definition of the term SL4? If not,
> consult http://sl4.org/shocklevels.html
>
> What you're talking about here is still SL1, and should be discussed
> on other mailing lists, such as wta-talk.
>
> --
> Aleksei Riikonen - http://www.iki.fi/aleksei
>
>
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