Top all-time · #531
Don't Worry About the Vase
Personal blog · thezvi.wordpress.comaiphilosophy
Don't Worry About the Vase is a personal blog at thezvi.wordpress.com about ai and philosophy. Since 2015, 110 different Hacker News readers have linked it 193 times, most often “Does Big Business Hate Your Family?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 10 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Zvi's posts on moral mazes, Moloch, slack and optimization, mostly as sources; several call his writing valuable and worth reading.
- Recommended for · 10 comments
- Called spot on, a great round-up, valuable, fascinating, illuminating, and worth reading; a big fan.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Trying to dig out from minus a million points
Most-linked posts?
- Does Big Business Hate Your Family?6 people · 18 mentions · first linked 2020-01-02
- Slack (2017)5 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2019-06-08
- Quotes from Moral Mazes (2019)5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2020-02-12
- More Dakka5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-05-30
- Out to Get You4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-10-01
- METR and Redwood Offer Holy %^ Postmortem of the HuggingFace Hack4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2026-08-30
- The Three AI Pills3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-08-05
- How to Escape from Immoral Mazes3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-01-16
- Do Not Mess with Scarlett Johansson3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-05-22
- Kids Are Not Okay2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-03-09
What Hacker News says?
"Sufficiently Powerful Optimization Of Any Known Target Destroys All Value" https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/does-big-business-ha...
Comment linking /2019/12/31/does-big-business-hate-your-family/
on “It’s Time to Build”Submitted An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles as a story · 421 points
HN discussionIt's not a trap, it just is. In the end you're forced to choose: revenue or something else? "Sufficiently Powerful Optimization Of Any Known Target Destroys All Value ... when we optimize for X but are indifferent to Y, we by default actively optimize against Y, for all Y that would make any claims to resources" https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/does-big-business-ha...
Comment linking /2019/12/31/does-big-business-hate-your-family/
on “My Resignation from the Intercept”Submitted METR and Redwood Offer Holy %^ Postmortem of the HuggingFace Hack as a story · 274 points
HN discussionFound on a different discussion at TheZvi ( https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2021/09/23/covid-9-23-there-is-... ): --- start quote #1 --- Thanks to your ongoing efforts, my 40+ year old sibling finally got vaccinated about three weeks before getting infected by her kids. She still had it pretty bad, so I think it’s likely you saved her a trip to the hospital or worse. She was on the brink of getting vaccinated weeks ear…
Comment linking /2021/09/23/covid-9-23-there-is-a-war/
on “YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content”Submitted Prediction Markets: When Do They Work? as a story · 230 points
HN discussionKPIs go up – "Sufficiently Powerful Optimization Of Any Known Target Destroys All Value" https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/does-big-business-ha...
Comment linking /2019/12/31/does-big-business-hate-your-family/
on “Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?”Submitted How to identify an immoral maze as a story · 186 points
HN discussionI'm all for this type of thinking, but like the others point out, you still need to keep yourself in check and put active effort into figuring out when it makes sense. 'Spartan' isn't the only relevant quality. The Hobart mixer is cool, but might it consume too much energy, or is it too heavy to move around when needed? The beakers are sweet, but am I yet wealthy enough to pretend money isn't real? https://thezvi.wo…
Comment linking /2017/12/02/more-dakka/
on “Overkill objects for everyday life”Submitted Artifact: What Went Wrong? as a story · 130 points
HN discussionWhy – "Sufficiently Powerful Optimization Of Any Known Target Destroys All Value" https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/does-big-business-ha...
Comment linking /2019/12/31/does-big-business-hate-your-family/
on “Don't use third party auth to sign in”Submitted Out to Get You as a story · 119 points
HN discussionThis is 4th blog post in a sequence and I have not yet read the whole thing - but it looks like it is spot on: https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/does-big-business-ha...
Comment linking /2019/12/31/does-big-business-hate-your-family/
on “I Was Google’s Head of International Relations”Submitted How to Escape from Immoral Mazes as a story · 117 points
HN discussionRelated: the "Moral Maze" of Robert Jackall fame, recently "popularised" (if Less Wrong can be considered "popular") by Zvi Mowshowitz ( https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2020/05/23/mazes-sequence-summa... ).
Comment linking /2020/05/23/mazes-sequence-summary/
on “What Silicon Valley gets about engineers that traditional companies do not”Submitted Blackmail Should Be Illegal as a story · 92 points
HN discussionThis extremely-long series of posts includes some advice: https://thezvi.wordpress.com/category/immoral-mazes-sequence... But it's not optimistic about the compatibility of middle-management success and your soul.
Comment linking /category/immoral-mazes-sequence/
on “How to Get Promoted”Submitted Free-to-Play Games: Three Key Trade-Offs as a story · 72 points
HN discussionSorry, I don't trust this guy. It was just explained how he uses social media to manipulate the story he tells. https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2021/10/28/an-unexpected-victor...
Comment linking /2021/10/28/an-unexpected-victory-container-stacking-at-the-port-of-los-angeles/
on “What caused all the supply chain bottlenecks?”Submitted Tidying One’s Room as a story · 61 points
HN discussionhttps://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/slack/ > Slack. The absence of binding constraints on behavior. > Poor is the person without Slack. Lack of Slack compounds and traps. > Slack means margin for error. You can relax. > Slack allows pursuing opportunities. You can explore. You can trade. > Slack prevents desperation. You can avoid bad trades and wait for better spots. You can be efficient. > Slack permits planni…
Comment linking /2017/09/30/slack/
on “Maybe you should do less 'work'”Submitted In a world of venture capital as a story · 49 points
HN discussionTo all those going around in circles debating the legality of hiring similar-sounding voice actors (spoiler: it’s still illegal) there’s a great round up post by Zvi M on this — you want to be looking here if you’re interested: https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2024/05/22/do-not-mess-with-sca...
Comment linking /2024/05/22/do-not-mess-with-scarlett-johansson/
on “OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show”Submitted On Car Seats as Contraception as a story · 42 points
HN discussionAnd the yin to that yang: https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2019/12/28/moloch-hasnt-won/ Longer series, but the first post does a good job of summarizing Meditations on Moloch. Somewhat offtopic, try listenig to the original poem on youtube. It's a treat.
Comment linking /2019/12/28/moloch-hasnt-won/
on “Just Too Efficient”Submitted DeepSeek v3.1 is not having a moment as a story · 41 points
HN discussionhttps://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/12/02/more-dakka/
Comment linking /2017/12/02/more-dakka/
on “YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study on recommendations”Submitted Omicron Post #8 as a story · 39 points
HN discussionIncompetent and unreliable labour is dirt cheap. I found the following link describing hiring a nanny illuminating in terms of where the bar is and how many people limbo under it. https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2018/07/22/who-wants-the-job/
Comment linking /2018/07/22/who-wants-the-job/
on “Things they don’t teach you running a business by yourself”Submitted Repeal the Foreign Dredge Act of 1906 as a story · 36 points
HN discussion
