AI is fun and cool. So were NFTs and Crypto, but people couldn’t handle the complexity and responsibility. I’m sure that won't be a problem for AI though!
New York, NY
Joined December 2009
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Chris King retweeted
>be me
>discover effective altruism
>apparently normal charity is inefficient
>why donate to random sad thing when spreadsheet can tell you optimal sad thing
>fair enough
>buy mosquito nets
>save lives
>numbers look good
>feel powerful
>couple years later
>someone asks an innocent question
>why only count people alive today
>huh
>future people matter too
>obviously
>my grandchildren shouldn't matter less just because they haven't spawned yet
>reasonable.jpg
>keep following logic
>what about their grandchildren
>also yes
>what about people in 500 years
>sure
>5000 years
>why not
>500 million years
>starting to get weird but morality is morality
>open calculator
>humanity could survive for an astronomically long time
>could colonize galaxy
>could have trillions upon trillions of descendants
>maybe digital people too
>maybe simulated civilizations
>maybe dyson spheres full of happy uploaded minds
>calculator starts smoking
>realize currently living humans are rounding error
>8 billion people suddenly looking extremely beta
>future contains potentially 10^something people
>can't even fit beneficiaries in google sheets
>new moral priority unlocked
>protect the long-term future
>stop thinking in units of "people helped"
>start thinking in "fraction of cosmic endowment preserved"
>malaria?
>terrible
>but only kills existing humans
>AI extinction could delete the entire light cone
>nuclear war could permanently derail civilization
>bad institutions could lock in terrible values for ten million years
>someone invents wrong constitution in 2140
>quadrillions suffer
>better fund governance workshop now
>friend says maybe we should improve hospitals
>explain opportunity cost
>friend says hospitals are full of actual sick people
>explain scope sensitivity
>friend stops inviting me to dinner
>need to decide what to fund
>easy
>expected value
>suppose project has one in a million chance of preventing extinction
>sounds tiny
>but extinction destroys 10^50 future lives
>multiply
>mother of god
>$10 million project has expected value of several galaxies
>charity evaluation complete
>someone asks where the one-in-a-million number came from
>expert judgement
>which expert
>us
>how calibrated
>extremely thoughtfully
>reduce estimate to one in ten million to be conservative
>still beats curing cancer by 38 orders of magnitude
>epistemic robustness achieved
>someone says maybe project doesn't work
>assign 20% chance
>still astronomical
>maybe project makes problem worse
>assign 5% chance
>still astronomical
>why 5
>because 30 felt pessimistic
>publish 46-page report
>contains seventeen sensitivity analyses
>every sensitivity analysis begins after assuming intervention has positive sign
>critic says you're multiplying enormous hypothetical stakes by extremely uncertain probabilities
>yes
>that's literally why it's important
>critic says the uncertainty might be structural rather than numerical
>make probability smaller
>critic says no, I mean maybe your model is wrong
>make probability smaller again
>critic begins rubbing temples
>discover AI safety
>perfect longtermist cause
>AI might kill everyone
>or create utopia
>or seize galaxy
>or tile universe with paperclips
>or create billions of conscious software minds
>finally a problem with numbers big enough for me
>start AI safety nonprofit
>mission: prevent dangerous AI
>hire smartest people available
>smartest people immediately start building better AI to understand dangerous AI
>interesting
>we must understand capabilities to understand safety
>we must scale models to study alignment
>we must race ahead so less responsible actors don't get there first
>we must deploy systems to learn how deployment can go wrong
>we must build the thing quickly because building the thing quickly is dangerous
>outsider asks why the people most worried about AI apocalypse all work at AI companies
>complicated field
>company releases stronger model
>very concerned
>company begins training even stronger model
>extremely concerned
>company raises $14 billion
>concern reaches unprecedented levels
>need to influence government
>future is at stake
>normal democratic process too slow
>politicians don't understand exponential curves
>public doesn't understand x-risk
>experts must guide them
>who counts as expert
>people who understand x-risk
>who understands x-risk
>our friends
>someone objects that this seems politically convenient
>explain we're representing future generations
>future generations unavailable for comment
>develop concept of value lock-in
>terrifying possibility that one ideology controls civilization forever
>therefore extremely important that civilization adopts correct values before lock-in
>whose values
>let's circle back
>begin with impartial morality
>end with small group of people deciding what quadrillions of hypothetical beings would want
>beautiful arc
>meanwhile actual humans keep doing annoying things
>voting wrong
>having parochial attachments
>loving family more than strangers
>caring about local community
>getting upset when told their suffering is cosmically negligible
>evolutionary biases everywhere
>explain that moral intuition cannot be trusted
>except intuition that future digital people count
>and intuition that extinction is uniquely bad
>and intuition that our probability estimates are sane
>and intuition that our institutional choices improve the future
>those intuitions survived peer review
>someone donates $5k to local homeless shelter
>inefficient
>could have funded 0.0000000000003% of an AI governance researcher
>think of all the simulated people you just killed
>okay maybe don't phrase it that way publicly
>PR team says "future generations deserve a voice"
>much better
>journalist asks what longtermism means
>say "future people matter"
>everyone agrees
>great
>journalist asks what follows from that
>well technically we should redirect enormous resources toward low-probability interventions affecting astronomical futures
>journalist raises eyebrow
>return to "future people matter"
>motte has entered the chat
>critic: of course future people matter
>me: glad we agree
>critic: I don't agree that your institute knows how to help them
>me: why do you hate our grandchildren
>eventually notice uncomfortable implication
>if future value dominates everything
>then helping people today mostly matters through effects on future
>education matters because future institutions
>health matters because future productivity
>democracy matters because future trajectory
>human beings slowly become instrumental variables in their own moral philosophy
>see starving child
>feel compassion
>check spreadsheet
>child's direct welfare contribution negligible
>but perhaps childhood nutrition improves national institutional quality
>compassion restored
>tell myself this is impartial altruism
>one day assistant asks obvious question
>"how do you know your intervention actually improves the far future?"
>silence
>open spreadsheet
>increase column width
>add confidence interval
>assistant asks again
>"no, I mean how do you know the sign is positive?"
>stare into cosmic light cone
>10^50 people staring back
>none of them exist
>none of them can tell me
>none of them can falsify my assumptions
>realize I have invented the perfect constituency
>infinitely important
>completely silent
>and always represented by me
This thing I was not promised and was given access to like yesterday and was told up front my access would be temporary is now owed to me and having it taken away is against my human rights! I demand satisfaction.
The US government, citing national security authorities, has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including foreign national Anthropic employees.
The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance.
Access to all other Claude models is not affected.
We apologize for this disruption to our customers. We believe this is a misunderstanding and are working to restore access as soon as possible.
Read our full statement: anthropic.com/news/fable-myt…
Chris King retweeted
Statement about the future of fxhash
Hey fx community,
As you are aware, these times have been hard for platforms on NFT markets, and we're no exception. We recently had to scale down the team and have been working on scaling down our infrastructure. At this point in time, no one in the team is getting paid, there's myself and a handful of volunteers, as we're essentially running out of cash. I can understand why many platforms stopped trying, building this kind of product is draining you to the bone.
That being said, I am committed to getting us through this rough patch as I still deeply believe in such a tool existing for artists, but it's clear that the current model is not working. I've been thinking a lot about the future of fxhash, if any, and it came clear to me that the platform drifted from its initial goal of serving artists primarily along its journey.
I think at the root of the problem is that a tool serving artists should be fully owned by its users, and not operated by a small team of people, regardless of how benevolent might their intentions be. While it's always been a long-term goal of ours to fully decentralize the protocol at some point, now seem to be the only opportunity we'll have at it. It only seems like a tangible path towards the future in case the company could not keep supporting the product.
We're close to securing some money as a loan / investment, targeting end of June. Once we get this cash, it's clear that we will need to immediately change our trajectory.
The plan
- reduce operational costs to a minimum
- 4k$/mo in services -> will require 1-3 months of work
- 8k$/mo in employment -> reemploy a very small and focused team
- 2 devs
- 2-3 part-time members for helping across the board (admin, marketing, artist liaison, community, etc...)
- transition towards decentralization
- implement a DAO
- open-source everything
- figure out pipelines to slowly decentralize decision-making and ownership, from governance towards implementation
- open books: company financials for everyone to see
- first order of business to solve together: financial sustainability, targeting profitability
- consolidate the core product through governance
- chains supported
- features available
- etc...
This is the very last time we'll be able to raise cash in our current state, so essentially this will be our last shot at finding a way to build a sustainable long-lasting ecosystem. But I deeply think that the only way to do so will be collectively. It's essential that we reduce operational costs to a minimum until we figure out a sustainable path in the future.
The bridge till June
It's unclear whether we will be able to keep all the services running until we get cash. We took all the steps that we can and informed our providers, but their policies are understandably strict, I'll keep you updated about this.
AI has entered the "crypto influencer loses crypto keys to obvious scam, wallet drained" phase of the hype cycle. OpenClaw is dangerous - designed to be used by any normie and it immediately impresses, but then normies do normie stuff and get wrecked.
Blew thru Claude Max 20x weekly quota by Wednesday afternoon. Agent teams are game changing - sooo much less work than planning out workflows of sequential phases of parallel herds of background agents. Idea -> Implementation with no concern about "How".
Chris King retweeted
It’s funny how everyone is dunking on NG and saying “I said this would happen ages ago”.
Reality check but most marketplaces/platforms don’t exist anymore, even older players than NG.
RIP:
Makersplace
Knownorigin
Async Art
Nifty Gateway
The only ones left from 2020 (or older) are Rarible and Super Rare (and OS)
Foundation was abandoned by its founders, Art Blocks is not releasing anymore, Fxhash is experimenting, Objkt is very slow lately, highlight seems abandoned and Opensea is focusing on token trading…
The only person I clearly remember that called all of this early was @artnome 🤷🏻♂️
At least we still have Manifold and Transient for smart contracts and Verse, Fellowship, Heft, Nguyen Wahed and Feral File, Gallery Met for curated platforms/galleries. (I’m definitely forgetting some).
Chris King retweeted
Today, we are announcing that the Nifty Gateway platform will be closing on February 23, 2026. Starting today, Nifty Gateway is in withdrawal-only mode.
Nifty Gateway was launched in 2020 with the vision of revolutionizing digital art. Since launching, Nifty supported dozens of innovative drops and brought new creative experiences to life. We are incredibly proud of the work the Nifty team has pioneered and grateful to Nifty Gateway’s customers and artists for joining us on this journey.
Customers with a current balance of USD or ETH, or who hold an NFT, will be notified by email with instructions for moving their assets off of the Nifty platform. Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.
Chris King retweeted
A-Z OF DIGITAL ART 2026
The art and tech community sets the brave new year in context with Right Click Save
rightclicksave.com/article/a…
Chris King retweeted
THE BOOK
137 artists. 39 collections. One decade of on-chain cultural history.
As we approach the launch of the Collecting Art Onchain limited Collector’s Edition, we’re excited to reveal the 137 artists featured in the book. Told through 39 collections and exclusive conversations spanning works from 2015 onward, THE BOOK is the first analog-to-on-chain publishing platform dedicated to documenting, preserving, and evolving the cultural history of Web3.
Its inaugural release, Collecting Art Onchain, pairs 101 utility tokens with 101 analog Collector’s Editions — each linked to a unique @Manoloidee Cover Tecrrain collection.
Chris King retweeted
Eternally grateful to @thefunnyguysNFT and @lerandomart for continuing to support FEMGEN since our first event in Miami in 2022🫂
21 October @ArtverseParis will be a special intergenerational conversation with sales the following week courtesy of @fellowshiptrust👏
Sign up👇
FEMGEN Paris 🇫🇷
21st October at @ArtverseParis
the fourth edition of FEMGEN is going to Paris!
So excited to continue to build FEMGEN alongside @AlexEstorick and with the incredible support of @lerandomart!
save the date & rsvp at the link below :))
Chris King retweeted
I consider @RtClick_Save a rare bastion and safe haven for creative discourse in this increasingly banal space. @AlexEstorick, @artnome, @peergrid built something immense and necessary
Can only hope their work continues with the same indomitable spirit
🔊ANNOUNCING A NEW HOME FOR RIGHT CLICK SAVE
The magazine’s new owner, Tony Lyu (@TonyYLyu), shares his journey into digital art with Jason Bailey (@artnome) and Alex Estorick (@AlexEstorick)
rightclicksave.com/article/a…
Chris King retweeted
🔊ANNOUNCING A NEW HOME FOR RIGHT CLICK SAVE
The magazine’s new owner, Tony Lyu (@TonyYLyu), shares his journey into digital art with Jason Bailey (@artnome) and Alex Estorick (@AlexEstorick)
rightclicksave.com/article/a…
Chris King retweeted
Thank you @AlexEstorick @RtClick_Save @tenbeo_official @futureofmichael for the insightful conversation about one of the most pressing topics of our time. Proof of Humanity and Data Sovereignty ✨
"The ancient Greek axiom “know thyself” must be reinterpreted for this new era, where the self exists across dimensions. To truly know ourselves now means understanding and protecting our data."
@Krista_Kim on maintaining agency in the age of AI 🔥
Credit: @juliusbaer
Chris King retweeted
CAN WE PROVE WE ARE HUMAN IN A WORLD OF MACHINES?
Artists and technologists are developing strategies to restore personal sovereignty over our data bodies
Read the article at the link👇
Chris King retweeted
Having witnessed first hand the volume of work of impeccable execution that @club_nft has engineered, this is a truly sad day.
When many were building marketplaces, @club_nft built a safety net. Proud to have been part of this team of generous spirits and rare talents.
Chris King retweeted
Proud of what we built with @club_nft to help preserve digital culture. But with the market contracting over the last few years, we haven’t been able to make the product sustainable. Grateful to everyone who believed in the mission. ❤️👇
It's been an honor and a pleasure to build @club_nft with @artnome and the talented team we've assembled. Few people have the opportunity to do work they really believe in, for a community they really care about, with colleagues they really love - I've been blessed.