Avi

Karma: 221

Avi 22 Oct 2021 7:53 UTC
35 points
on: Zoe Curzi’s Experience with Leverage Research
FYI—Geoff will be talking about the history of Leverage and related topics on Twitch tomorrow (Saturday, October 23rd 2021) starting at 10am PT (USA West Coast Time). Apparently Anna Salamon will be joining the discussion as well.

Geoff’s Tweet

Text from the Tweet (for those who don’t use Twitter):

“Hey folks — I’m going live on Twitch, starting this Saturday. Join me, 10am-1pm PT:
twitch.tv/geoffanders
This first stream will be on the topic of the history of my research institute, Leverage Research, and the Rationality community, with @AnnaWSalamon as a guest.”

Avi 22 Oct 2021 7:47 UTC
27 points
on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
FYI—Geoff will be talking about the history of Leverage and related topics on Twitch tomorrow (Saturday, October 23rd 2021) starting at 10am PT (USA West Coast Time). Apparently Anna Salamon will be joining the discussion as well.

Geoff’s Tweet

Text from the Tweet (for those who don’t use Twitter):

“Hey folks — I’m going live on Twitch, starting this Saturday. Join me, 10am-1pm PT:
twitch.tv/geoffanders
This first stream will be on the topic of the history of my research institute, Leverage Research, and the Rationality community, with @AnnaWSalamon as a guest.”

Avi 20 Oct 2021 7:52 UTC
25 points
in reply to: mingyuan’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
I agree with the intent of your comment mingyuan, but perhaps the reason for the asymmetry in activity on this post is simply due to the fact that there are an order of magnitude (or several orders of magnitude?) more people with some/any experience and interaction with CFAR/MIRI (especially CFAR) compared to Leverage?

Avi 22 Oct 2021 9:31 UTC
22 points
in reply to: AnnaSalamon’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
The fact that the people involved apparently find it uniquely difficult to talk about is a pretty good indication that Leverage != CFAR/MIRI in terms of cultishness/harms etc.

Avi 19 Oct 2021 19:29 UTC
18 points
in reply to: James_Miller’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
Most of the wildly successful people that exist in the western world today display current, or displayed prior, ‘willingness to violate drug laws’.

Avi 20 Oct 2021 14:34 UTC
12 points
in reply to: James_Miller’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
I have to say, your extreme/rigid opposition to any form of whatever you’re currently defining as ‘illegal drugs’ reminds me of religious people who have similarly rigid and uncompromising views on things.

Ironically, this also seems to me to be antithetical to rationality...

Avi 18 Oct 2021 8:40 UTC
12 points
in reply to: Kaj_Sotala’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
Psilocybin-based psychedelics are indeed considered low-risk both in terms of addiction and overdose. This chart sums things up nicely, and is a good thing to ‘pin on your mental fridge’:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Drug_danger_and_dependence.svg/1920px-Drug_danger_and_dependence.svg.png
You want to stay as close as possible to the bottom left corner of that graph!

Avi 19 Oct 2021 15:47 UTC
11 points
in reply to: AnnaSalamon’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
There’s also these 2 podcasts which cover quite a variety of topics, for anyone who’s interested:
You’ve Got Mel—With Michael Vassar
Jim Rutt Show—Michael Vassar on Passive-Aggressive Revolution

Avi 20 Oct 2021 7:45 UTC
10 points
in reply to: [DEACTIVATED] Duncan Sabien’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
In my personal and anecdotal experience, for the people who have a positive experience with psychedelics it really is more your ‘a’ option.
Psychedelics are less about ‘thinking random thoughts that seem meaningful’ and more about what you describe there—reflecting on their actual life and perspectives with a fresh/clear/different perspective.

Avi 19 Oct 2021 17:16 UTC
9 points
in reply to: humantoo’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
Can someone please clarify what is meant in this conext by ‘Vassar’s group’, or the term ‘Vassarites’ used by others?

My intution previously was that Michael Vassar had no formal ‘group’ or insitution of any kind, and it was just more like ‘a cluster of friends who hung out together a lot’, but this comment makes it seem like something more official.

Avi 18 Oct 2021 10:10 UTC
9 points
in reply to: hg00’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
I agree, and think it’s important to ‘stay grounded’ in the ‘normal world’ if you’re involved in any sort of intense organization or endeavor.
You’ve made some great suggestions.
I would also suggest that having a spouse who preferably isn’t too involved, or involved at all, and maybe even some kids, is another commonality among people who find it easier to avoid going too far down these rabbit holes. Also, having a family is positive in countless other ways, and what I consider part of the ‘good life’ for most people.

Avi 22 Oct 2021 8:38 UTC
8 points
in reply to: AnnaSalamon’s comment on: Zoe Curzi’s Experience with Leverage Research
I’m sure it’ll be fine :-)
I’m not involved in this in any way, but from the comments I’ve seen of yours in these threads you’ve shown great honesty and openness with everything.

Avi 18 Oct 2021 18:45 UTC
8 points
in reply to: James_Miller’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
In refernce to point 1, how would you define ‘illegal drugs’ (as defined by which country/state)?

My understanding is that if you applied that rule (people that have used or currently use ‘illegal drugs’ are not ‘good enough’ to be in the community) it would rule out at least ~90% of the humans I’ve ever interacted with.

Avi 22 Oct 2021 17:22 UTC
7 points
in reply to: cistrane’s comment on: Covid 10/21: Rogan vs. Gupta
Common sense implies that they must be at least partially effective at reducing transmission of various diseases, in the same way that wearing gloves does (i.e. a barrier is created which partially blocks movement of potentially harmful particles).

Avi 20 Oct 2021 7:47 UTC
5 points
in reply to: James_Miller’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
I would agree with you there.
I wouldn’t agree that describing an experience as ‘meaningful’ is antithetical to rationality, though.

Avi 19 Oct 2021 19:31 UTC
5 points
in reply to: James_Miller’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
How does someone thinking that they had a meaningful experience make them less rational?

Avi 1 Jan 2021 14:00 UTC
5 points
on: Large Gains from Small Choices
It’s all about the basics. If you can get the basics right, you’re highly likely to win life (within the constraints of your own personal limits).

Eat simple healthy food. Move your body substantially sometimes. Sleep. Maintain a close-knit group of family and friends.

If you do these things you will already be ahead of 99% of humanity, including many people who spend far more effort (and money) optimising some particular aspect of their lives (e.g. expensive workout gear or ‘superfoods’).

Avi 1 Nov 2020 7:46 UTC
5 points
on: Taking Ideas Seriously is Hard
That means learning the broadest applicable skills you’d apply throughout your life first.

Another example: when learning a new language focus on the list of 100 or 1000 or whatever most commonly used words—this enables you to get started understanding the gist of basic conversations quickly, which then enables a positive feedback loop of compounding as you speak more in the new language, gain confidence, pick up new words in those conversations etc.

Extending this—focus learning (especially in early life) on permanent, unchanging knowledge like math, physics etc.

Also—with compounding, optimise for things you can keep doing for a long time. The earlier and longer you can do something, the more you will gain from the force of compounding.

There are some caveats to the principle of compound interest (with money and other applications):
- Not all things will continue to compound forever, or the rate will change
- No one ever got rich putting $100 in the bank and letting it compound for 50 years. Lesson: You do still need significant deposits (raised through means other than compounding interest) to actually get large gains from compounding.

Avi 7 Nov 2020 11:06 UTC
4 points
on: When Money Is Abundant, Knowledge Is The Real Wealth
The best investments in knowledge are mental models that can be applied across domains (some of which were mentioned in the post) and unchanging/permanent/durable knowledge like that in the STEM fields. This provides both leverage (from the cross-disciplinary latticework of mental models) and allows compounding to work as your knowledge compounds over the years.

Avi 18 Oct 2021 15:10 UTC
3 points
in reply to: null’s comment on: My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi’s writeup of experiences at Leverage)
Correct—but they are low-risk for those factors (addiction and/or overdose).