I seem to have put in a lot less effort to get what seem to me to be similarly awesome results. This very weakly implies that a lot of your skill gaining might not have been necessary:
There might have been a learning curve, but by golly, at the end of all that DIY science and rationality training and scholarship I’m actually seeing an awesome poly girl, I’m free to take up other relationships when I want, I know fashion well enough to teach it at rationality camps, I can build rapport with almost anyone, my hair looks great and I’m happy.
I didn’t really do much of anything, yet at 19 I’m living with a very laid-back 21yo Cal cognitive science student who pays for my rent and food, I know fashion well enough to turn heads when I walk down the street, I can somehow build rapport with almost anyone I particularly care about building rapport with, my hair looks great when I bother to get it cut which is really a rather simple procedure, and I don’t remember the last time I felt the emotion of “happiness” but that wasn’t really the focus of this article. Back when I was in the game I was banging cheerful sweet intelligent 17yo models like it was no big deal. I pulled that off despite the fact that I have a lot of weird psychological/neurological stuff going on that makes many people think I’m autistic or something, and I’m at only like 7 on the physical attractiveness scale. My secret? Probably decision theoretic anthropic selection.
It sounds like you and lukeprog are doing a lot of the same things, and have the same skills… the difference is that you managed to attain these skills without needing to study them so much. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m sure there are people who might work as hard as lukeprog, and still not attain the results in dating that either you or him achieve, because they are starting off as more unattractive and socially impaired, or they don’t learn quickly.
I know fashion well enough to turn heads when I walk down the street
If you’re turning heads, then you are either great at fashion, or you are more attractive than a “7” (at least, to a sufficient proportion of women).
I can somehow build rapport with almost anyone I particularly care about building rapport with
For some people, it takes work to attain this skill.
my hair looks great when I bother to get it cut which is really a rather simple procedure
Not everyone has hair that looks great with minimal work, and some people have to spend time and effort learning how to maintain it.
Back when I was in the game I was banging cheerful sweet intelligent 17yo models like it was no big deal. I pulled that off despite the fact that I have a lot of weird psychological/neurological stuff going on that makes many people think I’m autistic or something, and I’m at only like 7 on the physical attractiveness scale.
Based on what I know of you so far, I suspect that you are substantially above the mean in attractiveness to women (or at least, to a certain subset of women). It sounds like you’ve developed a lot of the prerequisites without needing to try very hard. While I will congratulate you, I’m not sure that your experience suggests that lukeprog’s skill development was not necessary. He just needed to work harder to put together a similar amount of skills and attractiveness. Due to a different biology and social experience, it takes different people different amounts of work to attain the same skills.
Upon reflection I was overlooking a few different sources of sheer luck that are pretty important; e.g. for some reason I excelled at picking up 8.5-9.5s when I was lucky enough to meet them—perhaps because they were invariably smarter than the many 7s who for some reason I generally didn’t do well with, or ’cuz they invariably had less friends than nearly another type of girl for some reason? Anyway, it wasn’t obvious to me before that 1. decent looks, 2. very high intelligence iff clothes are high quality, and 3. confidence around 8s and 9s are all traits that can be genetically gifted to you, and that their combination in a single person is more than just additive. Obvious but non-obvious. Thanks for the even-handedness as always, HughRistik.
I’ve seen a photograph of you and you are strikingly handsome.
And if you talk anything like the way you write, you give the impression of having a high opinion of yourself.
Bleh, I have a cute story about how I almost got one such citation, but there’s no way I’m posting it under a name that’s linked to a Facebook account. I’ll just say it involved a high school yearbook and a “list of accomplishments”.
I seem to have put in a lot less effort to get what seem to me to be similarly awesome results. This very weakly implies that a lot of your skill gaining might not have been necessary:
I didn’t really do much of anything, yet at 19 I’m living with a very laid-back 21yo Cal cognitive science student who pays for my rent and food, I know fashion well enough to turn heads when I walk down the street, I can somehow build rapport with almost anyone I particularly care about building rapport with, my hair looks great when I bother to get it cut which is really a rather simple procedure, and I don’t remember the last time I felt the emotion of “happiness” but that wasn’t really the focus of this article. Back when I was in the game I was banging cheerful sweet intelligent 17yo models like it was no big deal. I pulled that off despite the fact that I have a lot of weird psychological/neurological stuff going on that makes many people think I’m autistic or something, and I’m at only like 7 on the physical attractiveness scale. My secret? Probably decision theoretic anthropic selection.
It sounds like you and lukeprog are doing a lot of the same things, and have the same skills… the difference is that you managed to attain these skills without needing to study them so much. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m sure there are people who might work as hard as lukeprog, and still not attain the results in dating that either you or him achieve, because they are starting off as more unattractive and socially impaired, or they don’t learn quickly.
If you’re turning heads, then you are either great at fashion, or you are more attractive than a “7” (at least, to a sufficient proportion of women).
For some people, it takes work to attain this skill.
Not everyone has hair that looks great with minimal work, and some people have to spend time and effort learning how to maintain it.
Based on what I know of you so far, I suspect that you are substantially above the mean in attractiveness to women (or at least, to a certain subset of women). It sounds like you’ve developed a lot of the prerequisites without needing to try very hard. While I will congratulate you, I’m not sure that your experience suggests that lukeprog’s skill development was not necessary. He just needed to work harder to put together a similar amount of skills and attractiveness. Due to a different biology and social experience, it takes different people different amounts of work to attain the same skills.
Upon reflection I was overlooking a few different sources of sheer luck that are pretty important; e.g. for some reason I excelled at picking up 8.5-9.5s when I was lucky enough to meet them—perhaps because they were invariably smarter than the many 7s who for some reason I generally didn’t do well with, or ’cuz they invariably had less friends than nearly another type of girl for some reason? Anyway, it wasn’t obvious to me before that 1. decent looks, 2. very high intelligence iff clothes are high quality, and 3. confidence around 8s and 9s are all traits that can be genetically gifted to you, and that their combination in a single person is more than just additive. Obvious but non-obvious. Thanks for the even-handedness as always, HughRistik.
I’ve seen a photograph of you and you are strikingly handsome. And if you talk anything like the way you write, you give the impression of having a high opinion of yourself.
That’s my explanation right there.
[citation needed]
Bleh, I have a cute story about how I almost got one such citation, but there’s no way I’m posting it under a name that’s linked to a Facebook account. I’ll just say it involved a high school yearbook and a “list of accomplishments”.