Top all-time · #2075
Michael Nielsen
Personal blog · michaelnotebook.comaisciencewriting
Michael Nielsen's personal blog at michaelnotebook.com covers ai, science and writing. Since 2022, 38 different Hacker News readers have linked it 51 times, most often “How to be a wise optimist about science and technology? (2024)”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Essays and working notes by Michael Nielsen on existential risk, metascience, tools for thought, and the relationship between science, art, and religion.
Most-linked posts?
- How to be a wise optimist about science and technology? (2024)4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2024-12-01
- ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goal4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-04-14
- Discovery Fiction3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-01-04
- Prefatory Remarks on 'Oppenheimer'3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-08-31
- Notes on the Vulnerable World Hypothesis3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-12-18
- Building a Better Memory System3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-11-23
- Notes on Tanya M. Luhrmann's Book 'How God Becomes Real'2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-05-08
- The Sacrifices We Choose to Make2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-07-14
- Developing Creative Identity2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-03-26
- Which Future?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-02-18
What Hacker News says?
I was about to link the "discovery fiction" article [0] by Michael Nielsen, but halfway through saw Grant mention it as an inspiration. It's one of my favorite styles of writing that lets you settle into a cozy read of a narrative around a problem while slowly exposing you to the rigor and nuances of tackling it. It's definitely deserving of a public index of some sort, like one of those "Awesome X" list repositorie…
Comment linking /df/index.html
on “If math is more than proof, we need to better celebrate the rest of it”Submitted Slow as a story · 991 points
HN discussionIf you zoom out more, we are incredibly fortunate that nuclear weapons turned out to be very difficult to build. There is no guarantee that future discoveries won't uncover things that are both easy to build and incredibly destructive. Examples listed in the article [1]: >easily constructed nuclear weapons, perhaps inspired by one of the Taylor-Zimmerman-Phillips designs; easily-constructed antimatter bombs; destruc…
Comment linking /optimism/index.html
on “America's Expanding Domestic Surveillance”Submitted Notes on Effective Altruism as a story · 116 points
HN discussionDid you have a better path forward? I point to Michael Nielsen's commentary on Vulnerable World Hypothesis [1] again: >do you think inexpensive, easy-to-follow recipes for building catastrophic technologies will one day be found, given sufficient understanding of science and technology? With every increase in technology and science, the probability increases, and as a result, society will necessitate ever more surve…
Comment linking /vwh/index.html
on “America's Expanding Domestic Surveillance”Submitted How is AI impacting science? as a story · 94 points
HN discussionOne idea I haven't seen much discussion on is "provably beneficial surveillance" [1], which builds off of Nick Bostrom's vulnerable world hypothesis. It seems like the best path forward. >We can turn that conventional wisdom on its head, by reframing it as a question: is it possible to do surveillance and consequent policing in a way that is (a) compatible with or enhances liberal values, i.e., improving the welfare…
Comment linking /optimism/index.html
on “America's Expanding Domestic Surveillance”Submitted Michael Nielsen: Quick thoughts on research as a story · 11 points
HN discussionPleased to see this posted here again. Nielsen's writing on Anki and memory systems more broadly has been nothing short of incisive, inspiring and paradigm-shifting in contributing to the ongoing "hermeneutic turn" within the community. Whilst this is not as evident as with his later essays, ATLM lays the foundations for some of the most important points for beginners of using the tool: a focus on coherence, disambi…
Comment linking /bbms/index.html
on “Augmenting Long-Term Memory”Submitted The Sacrifices We Choose to Make as a story · 5 points
HN discussionI think you make a great point about adding even further abstraction. I was inspired by Michael Nielsen's idea of "Discovery Fiction"[0], and porting the Sussman library gave me the idea that building the abstraction layers required to to do the physics in "Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics" would make for a great narrative backbone. I DID start the newsletter thinking I would read Road to Reality…
Comment linking /df/index.html
on “Road to Reality Executable Essay”Submitted The Sacrifices We Choose to Make as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Slow as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goal as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goal as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goal as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Prefatory Remarks on 'Oppenheimer' as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to be a wise optimist about science and technology? (2024) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goal as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Slow as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goal as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted ASI existential risk: reconsidering alignment as a goal as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Teaching to Discover as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Notes on Differential Technological Development as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Using memory systems to memorize text passages as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Notes on Existential Risk from Artificial Superintelligence as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Notes on Existential Risk from Artificial Superintelligence as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Prefatory Remarks on 'Oppenheimer' as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted How I Use Memory Systems as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted How is AI impacting science? as a story · 2 points
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