cameroncowan

Karma: 213

cameroncowan 21 Apr 2016 23:47 UTC
10 points
in reply to: Huluk’s comment on: Lesswrong 2016 Survey
I took the survey for the 2nd year in a row. Can’t wait to see the results.

cameroncowan 12 Dec 2015 23:08 UTC
0 points
on: LessWrong 2.0
There are a few thoughts here. I mostly came here to read and educate myself on the rationality movement and this sort of thing. I think that LW is a tremendous resource of information and that that information should be collected as a resource and transported to a place like Medium where it can be read and experienced. I think it is very intimidating and I think everything can be organized into three broad categories: Philosophy, Technical, Theoretical

In short, it’s time for some media organization and distribution in such a way that people can experience it in a holistic way.

I think it’s also time to do some marketing and reach out. What is our message? How can we articulate that message? How can we organize around CFAR and MIRI to do that? It’s not just AI but rationality in general. Groups are helpful but there is plenty of online resources to allow people to interact in their own way and make small contributions through conversation. It’s not just improving this platform but making the amazing work that is happening here accessible as best we can. When someone writes something technical an effort can and should be made to create that as something much more for people to take in and incorporation. The Sequences are intimidating, how can we break that down into something digestible?

As for community, groups are a good idea to foster and support but creating online accountability groups and such can also be helpful. A social network aspect of this may be helpful as well. How can we provide support for a rationality community? How can we foster greater contributions?

As for helping people I think it’s digestible articles, video, and blog posts that have to be created in order to make it really accessible in a fun and exciting way that people can actually use. Could we create some teams for this?

Just putting out ideas here. I think there can be life in LW if we create something new and novel.

I know I quit commenting because there just wasn’t much going on.

cameroncowan 6 Oct 2015 20:07 UTC
1 point
on: Monthly Bragging Thread October 2015
I took more leisure time away from the big business of The Cameron Cowan Show.

cameroncowan 28 Sep 2015 23:35 UTC
0 points
in reply to: johnsonmx’s comment on: FAI and the Information Theory of Pleasure
And I guess I’m saying that the sooner we think about these sorts of things the better off we’ll be. Going for pleasure good/suffering bad reduced the mindset of AI to about 2 years old. Cultural context gives us a sense of maturity Valence or no.

cameroncowan 26 Sep 2015 5:16 UTC
3 points
on: The Temptation to Bubble
You should read The Big Sort by Bill Bishop, he talks about how in America we are literally and physically moving towards areas that favor our political and social ideas. This makes local control easy and national control impossible.

cameroncowan 26 Sep 2015 5:15 UTC
2 points
on: Future of Life Institute is hiring
I can’t apply for the News Editor job as I am too busy with my own work but I would like to contribute and perhaps help with promotion across The Cameron Cowan Show network. Let’s chat: cameron@cameroncowan.net

cameroncowan 26 Sep 2015 5:14 UTC
0 points
on: FAI and the Information Theory of Pleasure
Where is the cultural context in all of this? How does that play in? Pain and pleasure here in the West is different than in the East just as value systems are different. When it comes to creating AGI I think a central set of agreed upon tenets are important. What is valuable? How can we quantify that in a way that makes sense to create AGI? If we want to reward it for doing good things, we have to consider cultural validation. We don’t steal, murder or assault people because we have significant cultural incentive not to do so, especially if you live in a stable country. I think that could help. If we can somehow show group approval of the AGI, like favorable opinions, verbal validation and other things that I intrinsically values as we do. We could use our own culture to reinforce norms within it’s archetecture.

cameroncowan 26 Sep 2015 5:10 UTC
0 points
on: Why Don’t Rationalists Win?
We are the people who knew too much.....

cameroncowan 29 Aug 2015 4:15 UTC
0 points
on: Words per person year and intellectual rigor
What is your measure? Does it stem from the lack of satisfaction in their work? Their lack of analysis? I feel like word count is not necessary. Zizek is also very accessible because he works in Lacanian psychoanalysis....I need more data!

cameroncowan 8 Aug 2015 6:57 UTC
0 points
on: Help Build a Landing Page for Existential Risk?
I would like to talk to you more about this for my blog. Please msg me.

cameroncowan 8 Aug 2015 6:55 UTC
12 points
on: Effects of Castration on the Life Expectancy of Contemporary Men
I think it’s generally a good thing to try diet and exercise before having one’s manhood removed for a longer life. And according to your data, it wouldn’t do most of us much good on account of the fact that a majority, if not all, of the men on this site are already well past puberty. However, this was an interesting journey.

cameroncowan 8 Aug 2015 6:50 UTC
0 points
in reply to: Gunslinger’s comment on: Base your self-esteem on your rationality
I would say at least in cursory observations of people that is true, but then I also think there is environmental considerations. Broken people tend to hang out together creating a greater case for it. Well-adjusted people tend to hang out with like people. I’m sure that if I were a totally well-adjusted person and hung out with less damaged souls then I would have an idea of it being far lower or very exceptional. Whereas, because I tend to hang out with people that have similar backgrounds to my own it seems higher. Its the fish tank effect.

cameroncowan 24 Jul 2015 4:09 UTC
1 point
in reply to: Gunslinger’s comment on: Base your self-esteem on your rationality
Self-esteem is just how you think about yourself and how you view your interaction with the world as well as the conceptions you have of yourself that make up your internal dialogue about yourself. It is deeply cultural and is also based on a host of things like how you grew up, your perceived gender, and much more. If you don’t have a very high opinion of yourself it can be hell to raise it. In fact, I would say that if you don’t start out with a decent amount of self-esteem it’s about impossible to build back up. Indeed the old saying goes, “It’s easier to raise quality kids than fix broken adults.”

cameroncowan 24 Jul 2015 4:07 UTC
0 points
in reply to: David_Bolin’s comment on: Base your self-esteem on your rationality
We aren’t always rational, we do things that make us comfortable and keep us safe and able to function. I think if we died our ego and super ego to rationality we all might as well have a mass suicide party and go together because that’s about the mood we would all be in.

cameroncowan 24 Jul 2015 4:05 UTC
0 points
on: Base your self-esteem on your rationality
I think this stems from the idea that, “I’m ok” which is the basis of most people’s conception of themselves. As long as they are, “OK” then their opinions stem from that simple idea. In order to change that you have to give them something compelling that will leave them being “OK” (or safe) but will modulate their opinion on things. It really has to do with what motivates people and how they look at the world around them. Then, you have to meet them where they are in their experience. I can deliver a message 9 different ways and get 9 different responses. At scale that’s huge. This is why we have so many channels and so many ways of saying the same thing. I know people that will never like black people because they got harassed in highschool. Look at how insular the techworld is to non-tech people and people of color. Think about communities where people focus on personal development and advancement. All in all, none of this will change until you understand what motivates people and make your argument align with where they live and realize that there are some people that will never change because to give up their beliefs means that they might die/not exist in their private internal space of, “I’m ok.”

My mother would rather keep her prinicples of being against homosexuality than accept her son for who I am. That’s just life.

cameroncowan 24 Jul 2015 3:38 UTC
11 points
on: Welcome to Less Wrong! (8th thread, July 2015)
I think I’ve caused enough kerfluffles around here that many people know me but I’m Cameron. I’ve been on the site almost a year I think. BA and MA in Political Science. I have a regular interest in philosophy and I found out about the site from a disparaging article on Slate.com. I’m one of the weird spiritual people on her practicing western esoterica. In the past I’ve worked in media and PR. Currently, I’m a novelist in Tacoma, WA, USA and host of The Cameron Cowan Show, every monday and friday on youtube (fresh shows in August!) For more information, clips and All The News You Need To Know In 10 Minutes or Less (and why you should care about it), see me at CameronCowan.net! Thanks for reading!

cameroncowan 5 Jun 2015 4:38 UTC
2 points
on: Learning takes a long time
Let me approach this from another angle. I’ve been playing the flute since I was 5. Counting the several competitions and the 5 hours a day I used to practice. I’ve spent more than 10K hours. I probably passed that when I was 12 or 13. I’ve now gotten to the place where I can go for a few weeks at a time and then pick up the flute and be able to play it with aplomb and ease without degradation in skill. Learning does take a long time and even though music is/was still my life, it can be a slog and there isn’t really a faster way to do it especially on very complicated things (like being a novelist) because of the nature of forging the new pathways in our brains.

In my mind this is a great argument for broad-based classical education that touches on a variety of subjects and lets students then specialize in a field of study. It gets your brain ready for learning, gives you plenty of knowledge and helps you with your communication skills so that you can do what I do: explain really complicated things to a general audience. It also gives you the chance to speak knowledgeably with other knowledge brokers. In some ways, that is what our society has lost with excess specialization. Look at this site, how many people would benefit from a holistic education in philosophy but are unwilling to put in the hours and study it takes to learn about the conundrums of philosophy?

I think is a great argument for broad education.

cameroncowan 9 Feb 2015 9:41 UTC
0 points
on: How to learn soft skills
I’m glad you’re talking about this because I spent a good deal of Highschool (age about 15-18) working on how I related with people and social situations and now I do it with aplomb, grace, and ease. Very good!

cameroncowan 20 Jan 2015 5:22 UTC
0 points
in reply to: Gram_Stone’s comment on: Open thread, Jan. 19 - Jan. 25, 2015
Oxford’s Rhetoric could be helpful in this area.

cameroncowan 20 Jan 2015 5:21 UTC
0 points
in reply to: sixes_and_sevens’s comment on: Open thread, Jan. 19 - Jan. 25, 2015
Digg is good for me.