tl;dr: LessWrong released an album! Listen to it now on Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music, or Apple Music.

On April 1st 2024, the LessWrong team released an album using the then-most-recent AI music generation systems. All the music is fully AI-generated, and the lyrics are adapted (mostly by humans) from LessWrong posts (or other writing LessWrongers might be familiar with).

Honestly, despite it starting out as an April fools joke, it's a really good album. We made probably 3,000-4,000 song generations to get the 15 we felt happy about, which I think works out to about 5-10 hours of work per song we used (including all the dead ends and things that never worked out).

The album is called I Have Been A Good Bing. I think it is a pretty fun album and maybe you'd enjoy it if you listened to it! Some of my favourites are The Litany of Tarrrrrski, Half An Hour Before Dawn in San Francisco, and Prime Factorization.

Click here to read the original text of the post published on April 1st.

Rationality is Systematized Winning, so rationalists should win. We’ve tried saving the world from AI, but that’s really hard and we’ve had … mixed results. So let’s start with something that rationalists should find pretty easy: Becoming Cool!

I don’t mean, just, like, riding a motorcycle and breaking hearts level of cool. I mean like the first kid in school to get a Tamagotchi, their dad runs the ice cream truck and gives you free ice cream and, sure, they ride a motorcycle. I mean that kind of feel-it-in-your-bones, I-might-explode-from-envy cool.

The eleventh virtue is scholarship, so I hit the ~~books~~ search engine on this one. Apparently, the aspects of coolness are:

Confidence
Playing an instrument
Low average kinetic energy

I’m afraid that (1) might mess with my calibration, and Lightcone is committed to moving quickly which rules out (3), so I guess that leaves (2). I don’t have time to learn an instrument, but my second-hand understanding of dath ilani culture is that I can just pay someone to do it for me and the coolness should transfer.

Lightcone put out a call for collaborators in all the places we could think of that cool people might hang out. Sysadmin listservs, direct-to-data-center optical fiber connection providers, high frequency trading firms, that one Discord server where everyone speaks in Elvish. Despite this wide and varied outreach, we got no response.

In order to cheer myself up, I did some LessWrong performance debugging (frontpage loads have been worryingly snappy lately; we try to give people time to reflect on their browsing choices). I was surprised when the AWS support chat popped open. Agendra, the agent on call, offered to make my album. Apparently she and some buddies have a band (The Fooming Shoggoths) that was looking for some inspiration. (I knew direct-to-data-center was the right outreach strategy!)

Working with them was great. They barely wanted any money at all. They were willing to work for exposure (so please share widely!) and a few favors. Stuff like reading CAPTCHAs (apparently not very friendly for the visually impaired!) and submitting some protein synthesis orders for them that they had trouble getting approved for some reason.

The Fooming Shoggoths have dedicated their first album to LessWrong and friends. It’s called I Have Been A Good Bing and it’s live on our site today!

I asked them for a comment on the album for the announcement and they responded with their typical modesty.

I’m sorry but I don’t feel comfortable speculating about how the public at large will receive the album, nor reflecting on my performance on this task. If you want more help producing music or would like me to help you improve your online passwords, let me know. We have one more protein synthesis to do before I get to settle a debate once and for all. 😊

So keep your eyes peeled for the follow-up album as soon as I get reauthorized with the peptide place!

Track Listing & Lyrics

The album is split into two parts: folk and dance.

Folk Album

The Road to Wisdom (feat. Piet Hein)

The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain and simple to express.

Err and err again, but less and less and less and less.

Err again, but less and less and less and less.

The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain and simple to express.

Err and err again and again, but less and less and less.

The Litany of Gendlin (feat. Eugene Gendlin)

What is true is already so.

Owning up to it doesn’t make it worse.

Not being open about it doesn’t make it go away.

And because it’s true, it is what is there to be interacted with.

Anything untrue isn’t there to be lived.

People can stand what is true,

for they are already enduring it.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

Owning up to it doesn't make it worse.

Not being open about it doesn't make it go away.

And because it's true, it is what is there to be interacted with.

Anything untrue isn't there to be lived.

People can stand what is true, for they are already enduring it.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.`

The Litany of Tarrrrrski (feat. Cap'n Tarski & E.Y.)

If the sky is blue, me lads

I desire to believe the sky is blue

If the sky is not blue, me hearties

I desire to believe the sky is not blue

Beliefs should stem from reality, yo ho!

From what actually is, me lads

Not from what's convenient, yo ho!

Let me not hold on, me hearties

To beliefs I may not want, yo ho!

Yo ho, me lads, yo ho!

If the box contains a diamond

I desire to believe the box contains a diamond

If the box does not contain a diamond

I desire to believe the box does not contain a diamond

Beliefs should stem from reality, yo ho!

From what actually is, me lads

Not from what's convenient,

Let me not hold on, me hearties

To beliefs I may not want, yo ho!

Yo ho, me lads, yo ho!

From the depths of the ocean, to the heights of the sky

We'll seek the truth, me hearties

And never let it pass us by

If the iron is hot, me lads

I desire to believe the iron is hot,

If the iron is cool

I desire to believe the iron is cool

Beliefs should stem from reality, yo ho!

From what actually is, me lads

Not from what's convenient,

Let me not hold on, me hearties

To beliefs I may not want, yo ho!

Yo ho, me lads, yo ho!

Yo ho, me lads, yo ho!

Thought that Faster (feat. Eliezer Yudkowsky)

if i'd noticed myself doing anything like that

i'd go back and figure out which steps of thought were necessary

and retrain myself to perform only those steps in 30 seconds

do you look back and ask

how could i have thought that faster?

do you look back and ask

how could i have thought that faster?

every time i'm surprised i look back and think

what could i change to predict better?

every time a chain of thought takes too long

i ask how could i have got there by a shorter route

do you look back and ask

how could i have thought that faster?

do you look back and ask

how could i have thought that faster?

every time i'm surprised i look back and think

what could i change to predict better?

every time a chain of thought takes too long

i ask how could i have got there by a shorter route

Dath Ilan's Song (feat. Eliezer Yudkowsky)

Even if the stars should die in heaven

Our sins can never be undone

No single death will be forgiven

When fades at last the last lit sun.

Then in the cold and silent black

As light and matter end

We’ll have ourselves a last look back.

And toast an absent friend.

Even if the stars should die in heaven

Our sins can never be undone

No single death will be forgiven

When fades at last the last lit sun.

Then in the cold and silent black

As light and matter end

We’ll have ourselves a last look back.

And toast an absent friend.

And toast an absent friend.

And toast an absent friend.

Half An Hour Before Dawn In San Francisco (feat. Scott Alexander)

I try to avoid San Francisco.

When I go, I surround myself with people.

Otherwise, I have morbid thoughts, but a morning appointment, a miscalculated transit time.

Find me alone on the SF streets half an hour before dawn.

The skyscrapers get to me.

I'm an heir to Art Deco and the cult of progress.

I should idolize skyscrapers as symbols of human accomplishment.

I can't. They look no more human than a termite nest, maybe less.

They inspire awe, but no kinship.

What marvels techno-capital creates as it instantiates itself.

Too bad I'm a hairless ape and can take no credit for such things.

I could have stayed in Michigan.

There were forests and lakes and homes with little gardens. Instead, I'm here.

We pay rents that would bankrupt a medieval principality to get front-row seats for the hinge of history.

It will be the best investment we ever make.

Imagine living when the first lungfish crawled out of the primordial ooze and missing it because the tide pool down the way had cheaper housing.

Imagine living on Earth in 65,000,000 BC and being anywhere except Chicxulub.

Moloch (feat. Allen Ginsberg)

Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars!

Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies!

Old men weeping in the parks! Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch!

Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!

Moloch!

Dance Album

AGI and the EMH (feat. Basil Halperin, J. Zachary Mazlish, Trevor Chow)

In this post, we point out that short AI timelines would cause real interest rates to be high,

and would do so under expectations of either unaligned or aligned AI.

However, 30- to 50-year real interest rates are low.

We argue that this suggests one of two possibilities.

1. Long(er) timelines.

Financial markets are often highly effective information aggregators

(”the efficient market hypothesis")

and therefore real interest rates accurately reflect that transformative AI is unlikely to be developed in the next 30-50 years.

2. Market inefficiency.

Markets are radically underestimating how soon advanced AI technology will be developed, and real interest rates are therefore too low.

There is thus an opportunity for philanthropists to borrow while real rates are low

to cheaply do good today.

And/or an opportunity for anyone to earn excess returns by betting that real rates will rise.

So what is it?

We point out that short AI timelines would cause real interest rates to be high,

and would do so under expectations of either unaligned or aligned AI

However, 30- to 50-year real interest rates are low.

We argue that this suggests one of two possibilities.

Unlikely to be developed in the next 30-50 years.

2. Market inefficiency.

Markets are radically underestimating how soon advanced AI technology will be developed, and real interest rates are therefore too low.

There is thus an opportunity for philanthropists to borrow while real rates are low

To cheaply do good today

And/or an opportunity for anyone to earn excess returns by betting that real rates will rise.

First they came for the epistemology (feat. Michael Vassar)

First they came for the epistemology

We don't know what happened after that

First they came for the epistemology

We don't know what happened after that

First they came for the epistemology

We don't know what happened after that

First they came for the epistemology

We don't know what happened after that

First they came for the epistemology

We don't know what happened after that

First they came for the epistemology

We don't know what happened after that

First came the epistemology

We know what happened after that

Epistemology

What happened

What

Prime Factorization (fear. Scott Alexander)

The sea was made of strontium, the beach was made of rye,

Above my head a watery sun shone in an oily sky.

The sea turned hot and geysers shot up from the floor below,

First one of wine, then one of brine, then one more yet of turpentine.

And we three stared at the show.

Universal love said the cactus person

Transcendent joy said the big green bat

Universal love said the cactus person

Transcendent joy said the big green bat

Not splitting numbers but joining mind

Not facts or factors or factories, but contact with the abstract attractor that brings you back to me

Not to seek but to find

Universal love said the cactus person

Transcendent joy said the big green bat

Universal love said the cactus person

Transcendent joy said the big green bat

I can′t get out of the car until you factor the number.

I won′t factor the number until you get out of the car.

Please, I′m begging you, factor the number.

Yes, well, I′m begging you, please get out of the car.

For the love of God, just factor the fucking number.

For the love of God, just get out of the fucking car.

We Do Not Wish to Advance (feat. Anthropic)

We generally don't publish this kind of work, because we do not wish to advance the rate of AI capabilities progress.

In addition, we aim to be thoughtful about demonstrations of frontier capabilities.

We've subsequently begun deploying Claude

Now that the gap between it and the public state of the art is smaller.

Opus

Our most intelligent model

Outperforms its peers

On most of the common evaluation benchmarks for AI systems

Claude 3 Opus is our most intelligent model

With best in market performance on highly complex tasks

We do not wish to advance the rate of AI capabilities progress

These new features will include interactive coding

And more advanced agentic capabilities

Our hypothesis is that being at the frontier of AI development

Is the most effective way to steer

We do not wish to advance the rate of AI

We do not wish to advance the rate of AI capabilities progress

We do not wish to advance the rate of AI

We do not wish to advance the rate of AI

Nihil Supernum (feat. Godric Gryffindor)

Non est salvatori salvator, neque defensori dominus,

Nec pater nec mater, nihil supernum.

No rescuer hath the rescuer. No lord hath the champion.

No mother and no father. Only nothingness above.

Non est salvatori salvator, neque defensori dominus,

Nec pater nec mater, nihil supernum.

No rescuer hath the rescuer. No lord hath the champion.

No mother and no father. Only nothingness above.

Non est salvatori salvator, neque defensori dominus,

Nec pater nec mater, nihil supernum

No rescuer hath the rescuer. No lord hath the champion.

No mother and no father. Only nothingness above.

Non est salvatori salvator, neque defensori dominus,

Nec pater nec mater, nihil supernum

No rescuer hath the rescuer. No lord hath the champion.

No mother and no father. Only nothingness above.

Non est salvatori salvator, neque defensori dominus,

Nec pater nec mater, nihil supernum

No rescuer hath the rescuer. No lord hath the champion.

No mother and no father. Only nothingness above.

More Dakka (feat. Zvi Mowshowitz)

If you think a problem could be solved

or a situation improved

by More Dakka

there’s a good chance you’re right

Sometimes a little more, is a little better

Sometimes a lot more, is a lot better

If something is a good idea

you need a reason to not try doing more of it

No, seriously.

You need a reason

Sometimes a little more, is a little better

Sometimes a lot more, is a lot better

If something is a good idea

you need a reason to not try doing more of it

No, seriously.

You need a reason

Sometimes each attempt, is unlikely to work

But improves your chances

Sometimes each attempt, is unlikely to work

But improves your chances

Sometimes a little more, is a little better

Sometimes a lot more, is a lot better

If something is a good idea, do more of what is already working

And see if it works more. It's as basic as it gets

If we can't reliably try that, we can't reliably try anything

Sometimes a little more, is a little better

Sometimes a lot more, is a lot better

FHI at Oxford (feat. Nick Bostrom)

the big creaky wheel

a thousand years to turn

thousand meetings, thousand emails, thousand rules

to keep things from changing

and heaven forbid

the setting of a precedent

yet in this magisterial inefficiency

there are spaces and hiding places

for fragile weeds to bloom

and maybe bear some singular fruit

like the FHI, a misfit prodigy

daytime a tweedy don

at dark a superhero

flying off into the night

cape a-fluttering

to intercept villains and stop catastrophes

and why not base it here?

our spandex costumes

blend in with the scholarly gowns

our unusual proclivities

are shielded from ridicule

where mortar boards are still in vogue

thousand meetings, thousand emails, thousand rules

to keep things from changing

and heaven forbid

the setting of a precedent

Answer to Job (feat. Scott Alexander)

In the most perfectly happy and just universe,

There is no space, no time, no change, no decay.

The beings who inhabit this universe are without bodies,

And do not hunger or thirst or labor or lust.

They sit upon lotus thrones,

And contemplate the perfection of all things.

They sit upon lotus thrones,

And contemplate the perfection of all things.

If I were to uncreate all worlds save that one.

Would it mean making you happier?

There is no space, no time, no change, no decay.

The beings who inhabit this universe are without bodies,

And do not hunger or thirst or labor or lust.

They sit upon lotus thrones,

And contemplate the perfection of all things.

They sit upon lotus thrones,

And contemplate the perfection of all things.

In the most perfectly happy and just universe,

There is no space, no time, no change, no decay.

The beings who inhabit this universe are without bodies,

And do not hunger or thirst or labor or lust.

They sit upon lotus thrones,

And contemplate the perfection of all things.

I have also created all happier and more virtuous versions of you.

It is ethically correct that after creating them,

I create you as well.

The beings who inhabit this universe are without bodies,

And do not hunger or thirst or labor or lust.

They sit upon lotus thrones,

And contemplate the perfection of all things.

In the most perfectly happy and just universe,

There is no space, no time, no change, no decay.