On “reversed stupidity”, the success of deep learning, and what a mistaken forecast should change about a model of intelligence

This began as a Twitter/X thread after I posted a 2007 passage in which Eliezer Yudkowsky was scathing about neural networks, and asked whether, in hindsight, his dismissal was itself a case of “reversed stupidity is not intelligence”. Yudkowsky joined the thread to explain what he had and hadn’t been dismissing (and what he thought he had actually got wrong) and we ended up having the exchanges reproduced below.

I’ve preserved the dialogue verbatim, except for paragraphing, fixing obvious [typos] and expanding links. I’ve removed unrelated replies and moved a few pieces of context into bracketed editorial notes. Nothing has been rewritten for substance.

Context

Eliezer Yudkowsky, 2007:

Whenever someone exhorts you to “think outside the box”, they usually, for your convenience, point out exactly where “outside the box” is located. Isn’t it funny how nonconformists all dress the same...

In Artificial Intelligence, everyone outside the field has a cached result for brilliant new revolutionary AI idea—neural networks, which work just like the human brain! New AI Idea: complete the pattern: “Logical AIs, despite all the big promises, have [...]

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Outline:

(00:11) On "reversed stupidity", the success of deep learning, and what a mistaken forecast should change about a model of intelligence

(01:11) Context

(02:58) Which "neural networks"?

(16:06) Did LessWrong see deep learning coming?

(21:32) Appendix: How much can we infer from the Sequences?

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.

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First published:
October 2nd, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PA7f9a9ZFcqpjmGEZ/dialogue-with-eliezer-yudkowsky-on-neural-networks

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Neural network diagram with input, hidden, and output layers.

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“Dialogue with Eliezer Yudkowsky on Neural Networks” by aashish

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Dialogue with Eliezer Yudkowsky on Neural Networks” by aashish