Searching for the numinous Australian Canadian, currently living in the US https://michaelnotebook.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3mf3o55gy3s2aNew essay: “Which Future?” https://michaelnotebook.com/whichfuture/index.html On how to wisely navigate risks from transformative technology, especially artificial superintelligence (ASI). This condenses much of the key thinking from my more extended essays17 Feb 2026 22:59 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mf3o55gy3s2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3mdtut3xpo22yThis was terrific: [contains quote post or other embedded content]02 Feb 2026 03:12 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdtut3xpo22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3m7l5tsotak2tPlease find me on Substack Notes: https://substack.com/@michaelnielsen109 Dec 2025 18:19 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7l5tsotak2thttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3m25ijd6gr22dI enjoyed this thoughtful account of how Open Phil approach progress: support technical and scientific advances, but keeping a thoughtful eye on safety, too, viewing it as part of progress, not competitive with [contains quote post or other embedded content]01 Oct 2025 16:47 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3m25ijd6gr22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lq3lmb4nys2bA few thoughtfully-chosen excerpts from my "How to be a wise optimist..." essay: [contains quote post or other embedded content]26 May 2025 16:25 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lq3lmb4nys2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lpvim6pprk22Lovely thread: [contains quote post or other embedded content]24 May 2025 06:15 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpvim6pprk22https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lpkb53di7227Working notes on Joe Carlsmith's notion of "deep atheism": https://michaelnotebook.com/deepatheism/index.html19 May 2025 19:02 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpkb53di7227https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lozpccvdys2iWho is going to less.online? https://less.online13 May 2025 05:00 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lozpccvdys2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lop2bvdqyc2nA thoughtful post on AI Alignment: [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 May 2025 23:18 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lop2bvdqyc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lojpjynk6s2nThis is a really interesting speculative thread: [contains quote post or other embedded content]06 May 2025 20:22 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lojpjynk6s2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lojkg37cas26I find it oddly irritating when people think they're working but are actually hanging out. Like... just own that you're socializing, and do it well, rather than working totally ineptly...06 May 2025 18:50 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lojkg37cas26https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lohzb56n5c26The use of the term "real world" to mean participation in primate social hierarchies is simultaneously tremendously misleading, and also a real testament to just how right Darwin was...06 May 2025 04:11 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lohzb56n5c26https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3loh2luoezk26I always find Socrates a little annoying. He's putting up a show of being interested in truth, but he never seems entirely honest himself05 May 2025 19:02 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3loh2luoezk26https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnva7tkekc2tCurious: what is the next world reserve currency going to be? And why and when?28 Apr 2025 16:55 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnva7tkekc2thttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnsndsat4k2kFascinating: [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Apr 2025 16:11 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnsndsat4k2khttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnsjmmw5m22cThis graph (via @albrgr.bsky.social ) is one I think about regularly: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/21/what-the-data-says-about-americans-views-of-artificial-intelligence/27 Apr 2025 15:05 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnsjmmw5m22chttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnq7kpl4722qI made an announcements mailing list, to which you may subscribe: michaelnielsenupdates.substack.com/subscribe I've had a creaky old announcements list on Mailchimp for years. But I never use it, because Mailchimp charges hundreds of dollars per email. This solves that problem! https://michaelnielsenupdates.substack.com/subscribe26 Apr 2025 16:59 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnq7kpl4722qhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnpyge4ty22qSome working notes on Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" monologue. It's one of my favourite texts, but has some issues I wanted to dig into: https://michaelnotebook.com/pbdredux/index.html A few years ago, I wrote a companion piece exploring what I admire about the text: https://michaelnotebook.com/cosmos/index.html26 Apr 2025 14:52 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnpyge4ty22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnnsshhcpk2vI love seeing people reading or writing papers in esoteric areas. Fashion always has a constituency and a strong machine behind it; progress depends more on what is less legible to our culture (My fortune cookie posting is strong the last couple of days! I'll switch to more substantive things...)25 Apr 2025 18:06 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnnsshhcpk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnmg6xce722vOne strange thing about writing is that the harder you work, the easier many people think it was to do25 Apr 2025 04:47 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnmg6xce722vhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnm6mfzvzc2vStill thinking about Biosphere 225 Apr 2025 02:32 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnm6mfzvzc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnl5g2soos22What a wonderful image (the Earth eclipsing the Sun, viewed from the moon): https://www.space.com/the-universe/moon/wow-private-lunar-lander-watches-diamond-ring-eclipse-from-the-surface-of-the-moon-photo (via @andymatuschak.org )24 Apr 2025 16:38 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnl5g2soos22https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnl4kkquxc22That feeling of cleaning out your inbox upon return from vacation...24 Apr 2025 16:22 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnl4kkquxc22https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnl4e7v4ms22Very curious to see what Quanta Books publishes: www.quantabooks.org https://www.quantabooks.org/24 Apr 2025 16:19 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnl4e7v4ms22https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnkurp5pek22I enjoyed this dive into the decreasing length of sentences(!!) https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xYn3CKir4bTMzY5eb/why-have-sentence-lengths-decreased24 Apr 2025 14:03 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnkurp5pek22https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnkuilivxc22Added the long-term Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth to: michaelnotebook.com/slow/24 Apr 2025 13:58 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnkuilivxc22https://bsky.app/profile/michaelnielsen.bsky.social/post/3lnkt5r5cy222A lovely post by @henrikkarlsson.bsky.social on learning people: https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/friends-missed24 Apr 2025 13:34 +0000at://did:plc:yitfhdr53a5cewb5p3qdnugh/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnkt5r5cy222