Although it sounds like you’ve very much landed on your feet here, may I point out the LW FAQ?
...not an intellectual wankfest but something actually practical, even when it comes to the less reasoned parts of ourselves. So, thanks for that.
Oceans of ink have been spilt on this topic here. We’re trying very hard to be practical, but a lot of us also really enjoy more airy topics for their own sake.
...people who are themselves inclined towards reasoned debate, even civilly, drastically overestimate how much other people are also inclined towards debate and argument… [and might be] more readily listened to by a dissimilar audience if they choose to present their ideas in a way that seems to them to be more indirect...
Yes. This is why I love projects like HP:MoR. Of course it IS very didactic, but still manages to convey a lot of important ideas without bogging down in syllogisms or raising people’s hackles.
Also, at the risk of exposing my unintellectual taste, my “O Isis Und Osiris” is the bassline of Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.”
Although I mentioned Beethoven as mine in another comment, the same goes for about ten folk songs. :)
Thanks! Yeah, I’ve done a little bit of exploratory looking around, but not so much as to have found that yet; I’ll take a look. (I did, however, find the welcome thread, and not post in it. Yet. cough)
We’re trying very hard to be practical, but a lot of us also really enjoy more airy topics for their own sake.
Good to know. I may not appreciate every thread, but I needn’t flee from the whole community. That is acceptable. ;)
HP:MoR
Okay, I do at least try to Google unknown terms, but I’m guessing you were not referring to a printer.
However, the bit you quoted is also the reason that I like Nonviolent Communication, which I forgot to mention at the time. It’s essentially a codified template for how to talk about emotions and needs, and find practical solutions, in a conflict situation, without making the conflict worse. As someone who is fairly balanced between the logical and emotional sides of her brain, I find it handy, but it seems like for someone who was very logic-dominant it would be invaluable. Of course, it’s written in a very emotional, touchy-feely style (typical psyche again), which makes it very unappealing to the people who (incoming opinion) need it most. This inspired me to start brainstorming a book designed for more logically-minded and less emotionally-conscious people on how to communicate with those who are the other way around. I may at some point try to pick the brains of folks here about that.
the same goes for about ten folk songs
That too. I’m very early in the process of learning the guitar, and spent much of this afternoon belting out Jim Croce’s Workin’ at the Car Wash Blues. It went a long way towards getting me out of a frustrated “oh-god-this-is-hard-and-there-is-so-much-more-to-learn” funk.
This inspired me to start brainstorming a book designed for more logically-minded and less emotionally-conscious people on how to communicate with those who are the other way around. I may at some point try to pick the brains of folks here about that.
I look forward to that! You may want to know that a lot of those communication methodology issues have been talked about (though certainly not exhaustively) in the “Craft and Community” sequence.
It went a long way towards getting me out of a frustrated “oh-god-this-is-hard-and-there-is-so-much-more-to-learn” funk.
Well done! I’m still in that funk with my mando, alas.
I think this is an area where linking to HP:MoR with the text of the link being the term looked for helps Google properly categorize it. Of course, Google mostly ignores forum threads, so the link above probably won’t help much.
No worries. I’ve had fair warning about the frequency of specialized communication in here; I was mostly just amused by that particular one’s unsearchability (as opposed to, say, “akrasia,” which I just asked Wikipedia about the first time I encountered it).
in the “Craft and Community” sequence
Thanks; I’m eyeing the sequence list in another tab but hadn’t gotten that far yet. I’m a huge communication and language nerd (albeit one wholly without technical qualifications), so that and the word definition stuff jump out at me, aside from the core. However, the fact that it’s nearly 1:30am also jumps out at me. (Speaking of akrasia.) (I did just go through the gentle intro to Bayesian Theory, although after getting the initial problem correct, I admit I skimmed some of the explanation. I don’t have a good intuition for what the right answers are, but I have a good intuition for when not to trust my intuition about what they are, and then I can work the math out at my leisure.)
I’m still in that funk with my mando
Good luck! Two things it has helped me to remember when working on the guitar come from my mental file of good-advice-I-heard-somewhere, both paraphrased:
1) “Getting better at things is a skill which, like any other skill, improves with practice.” (I got this from a documentary whose name I don’t recall, about a fellow trying for the world record in Missile Command. It encourages me because my last big learning project went well, so maybe I’m getting better at getting better at things!)
2) “You’re going to lose your first hundred games; may as well get them over with.” (From a Go player. Generalizable to: “When you’re new to something, you’re going to suck at it. Do it loud, do it proud, and most importantly do it often, and soon the necessary period of sucking at it will be over.”)
Welcome!
Although it sounds like you’ve very much landed on your feet here, may I point out the LW FAQ?
Oceans of ink have been spilt on this topic here. We’re trying very hard to be practical, but a lot of us also really enjoy more airy topics for their own sake.
Yes. This is why I love projects like HP:MoR. Of course it IS very didactic, but still manages to convey a lot of important ideas without bogging down in syllogisms or raising people’s hackles.
Although I mentioned Beethoven as mine in another comment, the same goes for about ten folk songs. :)
Thanks! Yeah, I’ve done a little bit of exploratory looking around, but not so much as to have found that yet; I’ll take a look. (I did, however, find the welcome thread, and not post in it. Yet. cough)
Good to know. I may not appreciate every thread, but I needn’t flee from the whole community. That is acceptable. ;)
Okay, I do at least try to Google unknown terms, but I’m guessing you were not referring to a printer.
However, the bit you quoted is also the reason that I like Nonviolent Communication, which I forgot to mention at the time. It’s essentially a codified template for how to talk about emotions and needs, and find practical solutions, in a conflict situation, without making the conflict worse. As someone who is fairly balanced between the logical and emotional sides of her brain, I find it handy, but it seems like for someone who was very logic-dominant it would be invaluable. Of course, it’s written in a very emotional, touchy-feely style (typical psyche again), which makes it very unappealing to the people who (incoming opinion) need it most. This inspired me to start brainstorming a book designed for more logically-minded and less emotionally-conscious people on how to communicate with those who are the other way around. I may at some point try to pick the brains of folks here about that.
That too. I’m very early in the process of learning the guitar, and spent much of this afternoon belting out Jim Croce’s Workin’ at the Car Wash Blues. It went a long way towards getting me out of a frustrated “oh-god-this-is-hard-and-there-is-so-much-more-to-learn” funk.
Sorry! HP:MoR = Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, a fanfic by Eliezer Yudkowsky.
I look forward to that! You may want to know that a lot of those communication methodology issues have been talked about (though certainly not exhaustively) in the “Craft and Community” sequence.
Well done! I’m still in that funk with my mando, alas.
I think this is an area where linking to HP:MoR with the text of the link being the term looked for helps Google properly categorize it. Of course, Google mostly ignores forum threads, so the link above probably won’t help much.
No worries. I’ve had fair warning about the frequency of specialized communication in here; I was mostly just amused by that particular one’s unsearchability (as opposed to, say, “akrasia,” which I just asked Wikipedia about the first time I encountered it).
Thanks; I’m eyeing the sequence list in another tab but hadn’t gotten that far yet. I’m a huge communication and language nerd (albeit one wholly without technical qualifications), so that and the word definition stuff jump out at me, aside from the core. However, the fact that it’s nearly 1:30am also jumps out at me. (Speaking of akrasia.) (I did just go through the gentle intro to Bayesian Theory, although after getting the initial problem correct, I admit I skimmed some of the explanation. I don’t have a good intuition for what the right answers are, but I have a good intuition for when not to trust my intuition about what they are, and then I can work the math out at my leisure.)
Good luck! Two things it has helped me to remember when working on the guitar come from my mental file of good-advice-I-heard-somewhere, both paraphrased:
1) “Getting better at things is a skill which, like any other skill, improves with practice.” (I got this from a documentary whose name I don’t recall, about a fellow trying for the world record in Missile Command. It encourages me because my last big learning project went well, so maybe I’m getting better at getting better at things!)
2) “You’re going to lose your first hundred games; may as well get them over with.” (From a Go player. Generalizable to: “When you’re new to something, you’re going to suck at it. Do it loud, do it proud, and most importantly do it often, and soon the necessary period of sucking at it will be over.”)