Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I’m 21, male, and a college student majoring in economics and minoring in CS. I first heard of Eliezer Yudkowsky when a couple of my friends discovered Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality two years ago. I started reading it and enjoyed it immensely at first, but as the plot eclipsed what I’d call the “cool tricks”, I became less interested and dropped it. More recently, a different friend linked me to Intellectual Hipsters. After reading it, I read several sequences and was hooked.
My journey to rationality was started by my parents (both of whom are atheists with degrees in STEM fields). I was provided with numerous science books as a child, and I was taught the basics of the scientific method, as well as encouraged to think analytically in general. They also introduced me to science fiction. I grew up in a heavily religious part of the US, so I frequently had to defend my beliefs. Then I discovered what people call “arguing on the Internet”, which I found I enjoy. That caused me to refine and develop my beliefs.
My current beliefs. I’m a quasi-Objectivist (in the Ayn Rand sense), though politically I’m a classical liberal (pragmatic libertarian). I’m not particularly interested in AI or cryonics (though I support transhumanism). I’m a compatiblist (free will and determinism are not mutually exclusive). I think technological and scientific progress will continue to reduce limitations on humans, and that’s a good thing.
Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I’m 21, male, and a college student majoring in economics and minoring in CS. I first heard of Eliezer Yudkowsky when a couple of my friends discovered Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality two years ago. I started reading it and enjoyed it immensely at first, but as the plot eclipsed what I’d call the “cool tricks”, I became less interested and dropped it. More recently, a different friend linked me to Intellectual Hipsters. After reading it, I read several sequences and was hooked.
My journey to rationality was started by my parents (both of whom are atheists with degrees in STEM fields). I was provided with numerous science books as a child, and I was taught the basics of the scientific method, as well as encouraged to think analytically in general. They also introduced me to science fiction. I grew up in a heavily religious part of the US, so I frequently had to defend my beliefs. Then I discovered what people call “arguing on the Internet”, which I found I enjoy. That caused me to refine and develop my beliefs.
My current beliefs. I’m a quasi-Objectivist (in the Ayn Rand sense), though politically I’m a classical liberal (pragmatic libertarian). I’m not particularly interested in AI or cryonics (though I support transhumanism). I’m a compatiblist (free will and determinism are not mutually exclusive). I think technological and scientific progress will continue to reduce limitations on humans, and that’s a good thing.