Hindsight in 2020

29 December, 20208 March, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 4 Comments

I sum up 2020 and digress a little about writing, creativity and how things become part of the past. Read more (14 min, 3500 words).

Variations on the Tilted Political Compass

16 December, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 16 Comments

I make up ten variations of my version of the political compass from last year. Some small and fun, some large and serious, and it all comes together by the end. Read more (36 min, 8900 words).

Fantasia for Two Voices

17 November, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 12 Comments

A dialog on how everything is. Read more (6 min, 1600 words).

Ahistorical Siblings

27 October, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 10 Comments

What are the equivalents of the word "ahistorical" for other disciplines? Read more (6 min, 1400 words).

Notes on Notes

24 September, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 6 Comments

A tale on the nature of footnotes, writing in general, and other things, told almost entirely in footnotes. Read more (18 min, 5500 words).

Turnabout Trash: An Exercise in Lowbrow Cryptonormativism

18 August, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 11 Comments

I roleplay being a culture warrior in response to something unusually irritating, and decide not to do it again. Read more (15 min, 3800 words).

To Die Happily Ever After

29 July, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 11 Comments

I'm apprehensive about transhumanism, and have no particular desire to live forever. A big part of the reason is that I believe happiness is precarious, and our chance at achieveing it in radically altered circumstances is not great.
Read more (13 min, 2800 words).

Good vs. Good

25 June, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 16 Comments

I use a poor innocent guide book author as a target for complaining about empty consumerism, and explain why features of the Swedish language makes it slightly less unreasonable than it appears.
Read more (6 min, 1500 words).

Leftovers from Last Time

22 May, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 17 Comments

I pick up and elaborate on some parts that were cut from my review of "The AI Does Not Hate You", including some riffing on mind dumps, weirdness, tensions between the rationalist community and polite society, my conservatism-free youth, the conservatism of Star Trek and my hopes for AI stagnation.
Read more (17 min, 4300 words).

Review: The AI Does Not Hate You

20 March, 202017 January, 2022 ~ John Nerst ~ 6 Comments

I review Tom Chivers's book The AI Does Not Hate You, about AI risk, the rationalist community and his own process finding out whether he agrees with them. I note that I wanted to hear more about the last part, mostly because of how similar to the author I seem to be. Read more (16 min, 3900 words).