Archive - Andy Masley

Some favorite lesser-known books

Which aren’t Parfit or Borges or Orwell

7 hrs ago • Andy Masley

3 thoughts on effective altruist comms

A poke for more people to try communicating about the high-level ideas in a way you would to a smart friend

Oct 25 • Andy Masley

Thinking about the future of AI shouldn’t feel like choosing from a buffet

The world doesn’t react to the vibes we want to give off

Oct 20 • Andy Masley

The direction I’d like for effective altruism

Planting a flag for the version of EA I want to promote and grow

Oct 14 • Andy Masley

Why I believe current AI models can really think and understand - Part 2 of 3

Why computers can in principle produce thinking and understanding

Oct 9 • Andy Masley

September 2026

Why I believe current AI models can really think and understand - Part 1 of 3

How the human mind is different from our conception of it

Sep 30 • Andy Masley

What I get out of effective altruism

Part 1: The EA story of the world

Sep 21 • Andy Masley

Don’t treat surface-level metaphors about AI as if they describe fundamental reality

Debates about whether AI is a “tool” or whether it’s wrong to “anthropomorphize” it often seem confused about what reality is made of

Sep 19 • Andy Masley

AI safety and the data center backlash

Planting a flag for AI safety as a place where we won’t abjectly bullshit you

Sep 1 • Andy Masley

August 2026

I think the data center backlash is mostly about data centers

It’s probably not your ideological thing, or mine. It’s about object-level claims about how data centers impact the communities where they’re built…

Aug 25 • Andy Masley

Thinking about other industries like we think about data centers shows how impoverished the debate is

Clumsy, arbitrary environmental ideas ignore the incredible complexity of the systems modern society depends on

Aug 18 • Andy Masley

I'm very skeptical that China has played a meaningful role in the US data center backlash

The evidence we have is pretty weak

Aug 8 • Andy Masley

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