Ideas for Next-Generation Writing Platforms, using LLMs
I've been doing more writing recently and have been heavily leaning on LLMs to help. This has been useful, but it seems clear that the fundamental LLM abilities are far outpacing the frontends and tools that use them. Here's a quick list of ideas that I&
Higher-Order Forecasts
Higher-order forecasting could be a useful concept for prediction markets and forecasting systems more broadly. The core idea is straightforward: Nth-order forecasts are forecasts about (N-1)th order forecasts. Examples Here are some examples: 0-Order Forecasting (i.e., the ground truth) * Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election * The
Scorable Functions: A Format for Algorithmic Forecasting
Introduction Imagine if a forecasting platform had estimates for things like: 1. "For every year until 2100, what will be the probability of a global catastrophic biological event, given different levels of biosecurity investment and technological advancement?" 2. "What will be the impact of various AI governance
Upcoming Workshops and Talks, at Manifest
Manifest is happening this June 7-9th in Berkeley, CA. Also, this time they're holding a special "Summer Camp" the week before. I'll be at both. I'll give workshops at both events on making forecasts using functions, using Squiggle. I'll also
Eli and Ozzie: Is Forecasting a Promising EA Cause Area?
Podcast Link There was recently a lengthy thread on the EA Forum about the value of forecasting as a potential cause area, between Eli Lifland and myself. We thought it would be interesting to expand on this in a podcast episode. Some Summary Points * Open Phil's expanded forecasting
Distinctions when Discussing Utility Functions
Epistemic Status: Early. The categories mentioned come mostly from experience and reflection, as opposed to existing literature. On its surface, a utility function is an incredibly simple and generic concept. An agent has a set of choices with some numeric preferences over them. This can be Von Neumann–Morgenstern (VNM)
Substack -> Ghost
We're leaving Substack in favor of Ghost, in order to get better customization. All of our previous Substack members have been migrated over. We're also using this new setup as our new website homepage. One benefit for subscribers is that this gives more control over subscriptions.
New Squiggle Workshops this Wednesday and Saturday
We’ve been busy coding Squiggle these last few months, but this week we’ll have 2 workshops in the East Bay. There are a lot of people around for EAG, so it seemed like a good time. Wednesday We’re hosting an intimate person Introduction to Squiggle workshop at
Squiggle 0.8.6
Calculators, and standard library improvements, and experimental imports
Updates: Manifest Presentation, Squiggle Workshop this Thursday
First, my presentation from Manifest 2023 is now on YouTube. Enjoy! Second, I’m holding a intimate Squiggle Introduction Workshop in Berkeley this Thursday, at FAR Labs. Come and practice estimating things you care about. Sorry for the lack of other updates recently. Slava and I have been focused on
QURI-related Questions, on Manifold Markets
Recently, I’ve experimented with writing questions on Manifold. I find this the most accessible forecasting platform to ask questions quickly. Many of these questions can be better asked and resolved, but I think doing miniature versions is often better than waiting for polished versions. Questions can always be improved
Open Technical Challenges around Probabilistic Programs and Javascript
While working on Squiggle, we’ve encountered many technical challenges in writing probabilistic functionality with Javascript. Some of these challenges are solved in Python and must be ported over, and some apply to all languages. We think the following tasks could be good fits for others to tackle. These are