maraoz.com

maraoz's personal website.
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Texting While Driving
4 Nov 2024 | original ↗

I. The world is texting while driving and nobody seems to care. I don’t mean it literally (although that’s also true). It seems like everyone’s continuously living with half of their brain-power away on something else. Damn. Another “old man yelling at cloud” post. Fuck it. I have to write this. II. Recently, a very special group of friends of...

Weird People
26 Aug 2024 | original ↗

I. I always thought of myself as weird. Well, not really. But when I did start thinking of myself as weird, my life improved a lot. As a kid, I struggled to conform to other’s expectations of normalcy. Everyone played fútbol during school recess, but I hated it. One of the few times I ventured to the field, a classmate accidentally kicked the...

The Meaning of Bitcoin
10 Jun 2024 | original ↗

I. In December 2001, Argentine President Fernando de la Rua imposed an ATM withdrawal limit of $250 per week. The country was in a drawn-out recession since 1998, and the government tried to stop a precipitating bank run. I was 12 at the time, and my whole life savings were $80. My godfather had given me a $100 bill as a gift a few years back,...

In Search of the Lost Web
5 Jun 2024 | original ↗

I. Not long ago, you could play the guitar while singing along to almost any song just by googling “song name + chords” on your phone. This was a really nice social gathering activity, especially among musicians. Your phone (or tablet) was invisible, just a tool. The focus was in expressing yourself through music and connecting with friends....

What Do You Optimize For?
16 May 2024 | original ↗

What are you optimizing for? Money? Personal growth? Knowledge? Experiences? Family? Peace? Money is power. Money is time. It’s access to future energy. It’s freedom. It is control over nature. It takes effort to get money, but once you do, it’s addictive. With it, you can help others. A great many problems seem to disappear. You architect the...

Light Tech Backpack: 10 Tools to Defend Your Attention
25 Apr 2024 | original ↗

Summary: I share techniques I use to protect my brain when using computers. Part 3 of a 3 post series on good practices for using tech. In part 1, I shared some tips for preserving digital privacy. Part 2 was about digital security basics. I’ll now explain what I do to protect my mind from going crazy with overstimulation from computers. This...

Write Honestly: A Personal Manifesto
23 Feb 2024 | original ↗

I want to be an honest writer. To be an honest writer, I need to think hard about my life and I need to write a lot. Observe what’s going on around me with curiosity and sensitivity. And then I have to write about it, and write it well. I have to remember what I see. And then put it into words as succinctly and beautifully as possible. One of the...

2023 Book Recommendations
31 Dec 2023 | original ↗

Summary: I share the best books I read during 2023. 2023 was an amazing year for me in many ways. One of them was: I read a fucking lot — 33 books, or 2.75 per month! Here’s a list of the top 10 books I’d recommend, in order of priority: 1. “The Diamond Age” by Neal Stephenson fiction sci-fi goodreads link 11/10. This book is many, many...

What's the Deal with Argentina?
21 Oct 2023 | original ↗

Summary: I talk about the weird and chaotic nature of Argentina, my country of origin. I was born in Argentina in the year 1989, while the country was going through hyperinflation (~3000% inflation that year). My parents couldn’t afford disposable diapers so they bought multiple-use cloth ones. My mom washed them after each use. My dad tells...

The Secret of Psalm 46
4 Sept 2023 | original ↗

One of my all-time favorite texts on the interwebz recently disappeared (returns 404). I decided to publish it on my blog for posterity. This is a fantastic lecture by Brian Moriarty that talks about our constant search for meaning, even where there’s none. It beautifully recounts our fascination with hidden messages and puzzles concealed in...

Thoughts on Superintelligence Security
25 Aug 2023 | original ↗

Summary: I explain my current understanding of the artificial intelligence security problem, and why I think you shouldn't dismiss it. In the long run, the most important question for humanity will be whether we were able to create superhuman artificial intelligence before we destroy ourselves and the planet. A lot has been written on this...

Random Thoughts Post-EthCC[6]
25 Jul 2023 | original ↗

I’ve recently been thinking about writing, and how important it is: both for the one doing the writing and the ones doing the reading. I usually only commit ideas to written form when I come to some sort ahá moment. However, I noticed that most of the writers I admire (historical or contemporary), often share half-baked ideas or intuitions. With...

Truth and Story
21 Apr 2023 | original ↗

Summary: my personal journey in epistemology, and lessons learned in the past 2 years out of twitter. "Truth hurts" — GM Ben Finegold I want to write about something deep and subtle. Something I’ve been thinking about for, possibly, my whole life. My twitter bio has been “In search of truth and good stories to tell” for many years now....

Blue Tech Backpack: Digital Security Basics
7 Apr 2023 | original ↗

Summary: I share basic techniques to protect your security online. Part 2 of a 3 post series on good practices for tech usage. In part 1, I shared some tips for preserving digital privacy. I’ll now explain some basic techniques you can follow to protect your online life from attackers. Blue Tech Threat Model As the singularity approaches and...

The Parable of the Unbounded Child
20 Mar 2023 | original ↗

An experiment in AI-based generative content storytelling. HTML5 audio is not supported in this browser. In a faraway forgotten land, there was a village hidden between mountains and the sea. The villagers were known for their resourcefulness, which shone like stars at night. They controlled the land, using their knowledge to...

2022 Book Recommendations
4 Jan 2023 | original ↗

Summary: I share the best books I read during 2022. Welcome to my 2022 book recommendations! This year, I had the opportunity to read a wide range of books. From science fiction to philosophy, these books provided new insights and perspectives on the world around us. I hope that my recommendations will inspire you to pick up one of these great...

Road to Artificial General Intelligence
31 Oct 2022 | original ↗

Summary: An attempt at defining a roadmap for AGI, broken down into milestones of progressive difficulty. In the early days of artificial intelligence, the field was defined by a single goal: to build a machine that could think and behave like a human. We call that AGI, or artificial general intelligence, and it’s humanity’s final tech...

A vision for Decentraland's next 5 years
4 May 2022 | original ↗

As some of you may know, I’ve been involved in the early days of Decentraland. I participated in creating the first prototypes between 2015 and 2017. Back then, Decentraland’s testnet ran as a fork of bitcoin, and fully in the browser. Crazy times. I also contributed in naming the project and defining the initial goal with the early team: to...

2021 Book Recommendations
27 Dec 2021 | original ↗

Summary: I share the best books I read during 2021. I’ve long wanted to start a tradition of sharing the best books I read each year. This year I was lucky to read a lot, so I have lots to share. The end of the year also seems like a good time to promote good reading. I love recommending stuff, too, to be honest. Here’s a list of the best...

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