Eric often uses terms or turns-of-phrase that some people may not immediately understand. This page is a reference source for those only. This should not be confused with more general topic areas that may at first cause confusion such as the DISC, EGOs, Load-Bearing Fictions, etc.
See also: Eric Weinstein Quotes
A/B testing
A/B testing (also known as bucket testing or split-run testing) is a user experience research methodology. A/B tests consist of a randomized experiment with two variants, A and B. It includes application of statistical hypothesis testing or "two-sample hypothesis testing" as used in the field of statistics. A/B testing is a way to compare two versions of a single variable, typically by testing a subject's response to variant A against variant B, and determining which of the two variants is more effective. (Source)
Reference: [1] Discussed in the context of adding “differential diagnosis” to our educators’ toolkit so that teaching disabled educators can learn how to add to better instruct students rather than externalizations the blame for their inadequate methods onto into the students.
Adaptive landscape
- Sewall Wright's theory of adaptive landscapes of fitness
Adaptive valley
- Sewall Wright's theory of adaptive landscapes of fitness
Adjective, occupation, name
https://twitter.com/ericrweinstein/status/955117591378329606?lang=en
Anthropic capitalism
Anti-expert
Anti-interesting
Artificial Outelligence
Artificial Outelligence, n: An unintelligent computer system that evolves by hijacking the minds it dupes & outwits.
Example:
The Bass designs false fish used by the mussels to better parasitize the bass.
It’s one thing to think & talk about the risks of unintelligent agents using *our* brains to outsmart ourselves. Another to see such examples in nature:
References
https://twitter.com/ericrweinstein/status/867050623174295552?s=21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu8s0tp9yzY
https://twitter.com/ericrweinstein/status/1116065653847285760?s=21
Consensus
There’s no arithmetic consensus because it doesn’t require a consensus. But there is a Washington consensus. There is a climate consensus. “Consensus” is how we bully people into pretending that there’s nothing to see, move along, everyone. And so I think that in part, you should start to learn that people don’t naturally come to high levels of agreement unless something is either absolutely clear, in which case consensus isn’t present, or there’s an implied threat of violence to livelihood or self.
- (https://tim.blog/2016/01/13/eric-weinstein/)
Church and Pike commissions
Deaths of accountability
De-Potemkin
Depotemkin, verb: To create the missing reality that a façade was originally constructed to suggest was present.
Dining a la carte philosophically/politically/ideologically
Don't screw yourself out of magic
The Educational Complex
A system of selective political, economic, and memetic pressures resulting in a cult of the teaching profession which prioritizes the careerist desires of the educators over the learning needs of the students.
Environment of evolutionary adaptation
Efficient Frontier
Environmental insult
Escher's Hands Drawing Hands
Forced citation
Gating function
Genius vs Excellence
High Agency
When you’re told that something is impossible, is that the end of the conversation, or does that start a second dialogue in your mind, how to get around whoever it is that’s just told you that you can’t do something? So how am I gonna get past this bouncer who told me that I can’t come into this nightclub? How am I going to start a business when my credit is terrible and I have no experience? You’re constantly looking for what is possible in a kind of MacGyverish sort of a way. And that’s your approach to the world.
Irrationality
Irrationality is a feature not a bug. It gives us the ability to Camp and decamp.
It's a beautiful thing
This originates from New York City.
Meaning: You can extract money from people with no say in the matter.
Related: "It's perfectly legal" – something ethically dubious may be going on.
Injustice Budget
Kayfabe
Long term vs short term optimization
Long/short positions (nuanced positions)
Maladaptive strategies
Meaning
"The meaning of my life is the progressing struggle to impart meaning to meaning." [2]
Middle Finger
It's the US’s Competitive Advantage. One of the things that the US still has over, let’s say, a competitor like China is that we tolerate the middle finger. it’s really important to start respecting our marginal citizens of greatest ability, and looking for the unusual personality types that are irreverent and committed enough to making things happen and really do things.
Minus epsilon
This originates from the epsilon-delta definition of a limit in mathematics.
No more heroes
Operation Cointel pro
Overton window
Potemkin village
Rent-seeking elites
Resource capture
Riding on a technical substrate
Samizdat
The clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state, especially formerly in the communist countries of eastern Europe.
Selective pressures
Semi-reliable communal sense-making
Steady hands
This originates from Washington D.C.
"He has steady hands." You can count on him to do the wrong thing during an emergency to keep everyone on the inside okay Everyone on the inside is super dependent to burn all of their credibility in public
Steel-manning
The steel man argument (or steelmanning) is the exact opposite of the straw man argument. The idea is to find the best form of the opponent's argument to test opposing opinions.
Teaching disabilities
Not Learning Disabilities Differential diagnosis
Terms of Service
References:
The Observerse
There is no secret ingredient
This is a line from Eric's favorite movie, Kung Fu Panda.
Thinkquisition
TIM - Technology Intelligence Media
Umwelt
(in ethology) The world as it is experienced by a particular organism.