#phil torres

[melanieexox]

EXPEDITION X | S6 E7 - Skinwalker Valley: When Josh has the receipts...

[irradiate-space]

Why longtermism is the world’s most dangerous secular credo | Aeon Essays

It started as a fringe philosophical theory about humanity’s future. It’s now richly funded and increasingly dangerous

In this article, Phil Torres seems to believe that the "heat death" is a global warming event. I say that because of the following passage:

But there is, longtermists would argue, a second tragedy that is astronomically worse than the first, arising from the fact that our extinction would permanently foreclose what could be an extremely long and prosperous future over the next, say, ~10^100 years (at which point the ‘heat death’ will make life impossible).

The word "make" links to an article about runaway global warming, describing a speculative future of 2200 CE where fewer than a billion humans remain alive. It does not mention or explain the heat death of the universe. "Heat death" is not explained in Torres' own article.

But that's not the only reason why I find this article grating. Among the reasons, here's a few things that the article does:

Describes longtermism as "quite possibly the most dangerous secular belief system in the world today" and then does a shoddy job of explaining the dangers.

Meanders without drawing conclusions in a poorly-structured way, as if a number of inverted-pyramid chunks were concatenated together without transitions.

Generically hates upon Silicon Valley and tech philanthropy and capitalism. Like, really generic bashing.

Rejects the idea that technology can be value-neutral or dual-use, apparently because that's what the NRA says and the NRA is bad.

Claims that longtermists came up with the term "existential risk." As far as Google's Ngram Viewer knows, that term predates the term "longtermism" or "existential catastrophe" by decades. This may be an innocent mistake due to lack of familiarity with the term. It felt wrong, and so I looked it up.

Suggests that, since longtermists acknowledge that technological development leads to an increase in existential risk, x-risk can be alleviated by technological stagnation. Does not elaborate for the reader what sorts of things are included under x-risks, beyond two examples: climate change at a 1/1000 probability of existential catastrophe, and UFAI at a higher probability. Does not examine whether technological stagnation is an effective mitigation for any x-risk.

Raises spectre of transhumanism. Claims transhumanism descends from eugenicists, and is a threat to longtermism. Then says that longtermists say that to fully recognize human potential, humans must be willing to become transhuman. I do not understand why the author claims transhumanism is a threat to longtermism, unless it's because longtermists are worried that it's a potential skeleton in the closet?

Explains that longtermists value future human lives as much as present human lives. Criticizes longtermists for being willing to consider actions today that preserve future lives at the expense of present lives. I would love to know whether the author is allergic to the Trolley Problem or whether he has a position on lever-pulling.

Thinks longtermists should be more worried about climate change, yet says that longtermists have determined that climate change is less of an x-risk than other things. Doesn't appear to engage with the ideology being criticized. Appears shocked that an ideology which places x-risk as the first, second, third and fourth priorities is less concerned about global warming.

Sets longtermism up as the only philosophical movement which thinks about and seeks to address human extinction. Asks the reader to reject it, because it doesn't address threats smaller than extinction, such as global warming.

Uses global warming as a model near-term threat to human health and well-being and civilization so often, without mentioning any other, that I can't tell if it's the author's pet issue or if the author actually thinks global warming is an existential threat to the human species.

Maybe Phil Torres is a crank and I wasn't aware. Maybe this is just a hastily-written 6221-word blog post, which will be further revised in the coming months into a more-coherent criticism.

Right now it feels like Cade Metz' article about Slate Star Codex, just with more words and a slightly-deeper exploration of the topic. "Here's a thing. The thing is bad. Here are some bad things, but I'm not going to actually link the bad things to the thing which is bad. Nor will I explain the thing. It's bad, though. Trust me on that."

[tremendous-entropy]

Why tf is there zero fucking Phil Torres content on this mf god forsaken site?!

HAVE Y'ALL SEEN HIM?!

Plus he's a biologist and entomologist and all around fucking gorgeous nerd. Expedition X is fantastic anyway, but I would watch him just talk about bugs for 5 hours.

Idk why the absolute fuck y'all sleepin on him. You should all be ashamed.

[old-type-40]

Josh: That's a Harry Potter spell isn't it? "Tapetum Lucidem!"

That moment when Josh Gates joins his Expedition X crew on the hunt for a cryptid with reported glowing eyes and realizes the downside of one of them being a biologist...

[otakunoculture]

Watch to Watch with Josh Gates Guiding the Expeditions for Halloween

Watch to Watch with @joshuagates Guiding the Expeditions for #Halloween with @phil_torres and @JessicaChobot in this top five list of #paranormal #supernatural #ghosts favourites!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest) Very few shows cannot match the enthusiasm that host, Josh Gates, extols when on an expedition. He rose to fame with Destination Truth on SyFy. This paranormal reality show saw him travel around the world and try to to find some evidence that those places are haunted. There are no easy pickings of which episodes are the best as the show is more about watching and…

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[keepingitneutral]

“Monarch Still, “ Phil Torres 

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Drinking turtle tears

Credit: Phil Torres

[wweassets]

WWE sign Eve’s brother challenge

isn’t he a wildlife explorer? whats he gonna do in wwe sdfjfdsj