IgnatzMouse

Karma: 95

IgnatzMouse 6 Apr 2026 8:54 UTC
12 points
3
on: 11 pieces of advice for children
This list can lead to suboptimal outcomes on its own. I understand that it was never meant to be a complete guide, but I would add a couple of ideas related to “dealing with others”. I was a child who could be described as following the advice on the list: doing things my own way, a bit stubborn, skeptical of the stories I was told, failing to respect norms, contrarian even. But I wish someone had persuaded me early on about the importance of learning from others and building more relationships than I did. So I would add two ideas:
a. Learning from people that are different from you. Some of the kids in my school were not into learning stuff and I had some disdain for them. These not-high-IQ kids went on to have interesting lives because the intelligence that helps you deal with abstractions and learning is not so important in other areas. Those kids did well in commercial settings, in design, politics. They did not understand physics like the “smarter” kids, but they had qualities that I failed to see and that are important for individual success and for mattering in the world.
b. Learn to build coalitions and understand group politics. Many important goals require a group of people acting together. No matter how smart or capable someone is, a group will be able to achieve more. Many smart kids that like to think on their own and have their own views, struggle persuading others because they cannot compromise their worldview with kids who think differently. Non-conformist smart kids want to be right and that leads to confrontation and disagreement. I know that this might go against the foundational ideas of rationality that many of you hold, but I would advice that sometimes it is better to give in and have “less right” opinions in order to forge alliances that help you achieve a higher goal. I learnt this lesson a bit too late.

IgnatzMouse 3 Feb 2026 10:05 UTC
16 points
3
on: Basics of How Not to Die
On the topic of not dying: Let’s not forget that many cancers today are manageable if caught early. I have seen several people suffer and sometimes die of colon, prostate, breast cancer that could potentially have been caught early. I am not a medical doctor, so I will write non-technically. Maybe others can improve the list.
If you are over 40 and have a prostate, get it checked. Today you can do that radiologically. If a urologist ten needs to check it by hand, s/he will.
If you are over 45, colonoscopy. Not fun, but can alert and deal with one of the most preventable cancers. I am supposed to have one in the coming months. Not looking forward to it, but I am also not looking forward to cancer.
Cervical Pap/HP for those with a cervix (over 30, apparently)
Breast exam (self exam + mammogram)
Another item I see often among people my age (50 and over) is heart related issues. A general practitioner can do one of those treadmill/bicycle exam, where they measure ECG and blood pressure. Easy and quick and can detect something fatal. More than once I have heard things like “oh, he was always very fit and then one day he collapsed while playing tennis”
These items may seem obvious to some of you. But I do now and then talk to smart and health-conscious people that postpone these tests.
Any percent point that you can shave off the probability of dying of cancer or heart attack is worth considering, particularly for those 45 and older.

IgnatzMouse 27 Jan 2026 9:45 UTC
1 point
1
on: How accurate a model of the refrigeration cycle is this doodle?
In terms of looks would look better as a cycle (like in circle or some rounded square). It would also be conceptually closer to what is happening, as the actual mechanism is a cycle.

IgnatzMouse 2 Dec 2025 14:48 UTC
3 points
0
on: you should probably eat oatmeal sometimes
I would like to add chicken broth or vegetable broth as a possible liquid for oatmeal. During my teen years I would make a small bowl of oatmeal soup as a starter before a meal (teenagers have super-human appetites). As a middle-aged adult, it is a nice savory snack that can replace a lunch.
In terms of microwave techniques, I recommend experimenting with bursts of full power (e.g. 90 sec 1000W), stir, another burst (60 sec 1000W) of full power, stir. Even at low power, bubbles of steam can form under the viscous mix and end up making a mess.

IgnatzMouse 5 Nov 2025 8:45 UTC
3 points
2
in reply to: Liron’s comment on: I ate bear fat with honey and salt flakes, to prove a point
I agree. I never saw this analogy as being about the specific bear_fat_and_honey snack. Bear fat and honey is just a vivid example to say that even though we want fat, sugar and salt, some elements of the class of foods with fat, sugar and salt are ranked as more appetizing. And it is this preference ranking what the observing aliens could not predict from knowing about preference for fat, sugar and salt.

IgnatzMouse 27 Oct 2025 7:11 UTC
5 points
2
in reply to: Karl Krueger’s comment on: Credit goes to the presenter, not the inventor
Maybe stating the obvious, but EDVAC was developed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly.

IgnatzMouse 31 Mar 2025 11:42 UTC
3 points
0
on: Conceptual Rounding Errors
The rounding of concepts and results is very common in academia, where researchers try to publish results or ideas that are “novel”. A common concern in the peer-review process is that the idea is not really new, but a consequence or a re-framing of another idea. “How is this new?” is a typical question in any referee report. In some cases this concern is correct. In others, it is conceptual rounding of a new result.
This intellectual attitude dismisses useful new instantiations of general ideas. In many cases, the particular application could be more impactful than the general result. It reminds of the reaction of Jonh von Neumann to John Nash’s work: “That’s trivial!. That’s just a fixed point theorem.” . Von Neumann was rounding too much. [I use this as an illustrative anecdote, well knowing that Nash partly generalized JvN’s results ]
I work in research in economics/management, where conceptual rounding is endemic. A machine learning colleague became exasperated by the general attitude in management, lamenting that marginal improvements to existing results are seen as trivial. He told me, “If aerospace were run like management journals, planes would not fly”.

IgnatzMouse 4 Mar 2025 9:34 UTC
45 points
14
on: Open Thread Spring 2025
I am a long-time lurker; I started following EY in Overcoming Bias and then here, where I visit on and off. I have been a business school professor for about 15 years. I use a pseudonym to keep my online professional profile distinct from my non-professional online activity.
I notice that business topics are not often discussed in LW, or at least not in the same detail and precision as other topics. It is certainly not a focal theme of the blog, but I was wondering if there would be interest to discuss business topics without the “fluff” that one inevitably finds in airport books and business school discussions.
For instance, there is a strong link between decision-making and the foundations of marketing. There are also interesting connections between branding and categorization and linguistics. If you guys think this could be a contribution to the blog, I would be more than happy to give it a go.

IgnatzMouse 8 Feb 2025 10:05 UTC
LW: 8 AF: 1
3
AF
on: How AI Takeover Might Happen in 2 Years
So this is a long ad for bioshelters? /s

IgnatzMouse 14 Nov 2024 10:50 UTC
6 points
1
on: Thoughts after the Wolfram and Yudkowsky discussion
I agree with the frustration. Wolfram was being deliberately obtuse. Eliezer summarised it well toward the end, something like “I am telling you that the forest is on fire and you are telling me that we first need to define what do we mean by fire”. I understand that we need definitions for things like “agency” or technology “wanting” something and even why do we mean by a “human” in the year 2070. But Wolfram went a bit too far. A naive genius that did not want to play along in the conversation. Smart teenagers talk like that.
Another issue with this conversation was that, even though they were listening to each other, Wolfram was too keen to go back to his current pet ideas. Eliezer’s argument is (not sure) independent on whether we think the AIs will fall under computational “irreducibilteh”, but he kept going back to this over and over.
I blame the ineffective exchange primarily on Wolfram in this case. Eliezer is also somewhat responsible for the useless rabbitholes in this conversation. He explains his ideas vividly and clearly. But there is something about his rhetoric style that does not persuade those who have not spent time engaging with his ideas beforehand, even someone as impressive as Wolfram. He also goes on too long on some detail or some contrived example rather than ensuring that the interlocutor in the same epistemological plane.
Anyway, fun thing to listen to

IgnatzMouse 17 Sep 2024 15:36 UTC
4 points
1
on: Not every accommodation is a Curb Cut Effect: The Handicapped Parking Effect, the Clapper Effect, and more
Not a deep insight, Just to add an example to the curb-cut effect I experienced that went from mild reluctance to enthusiastic acceptance.
Background: My son is hard of hearing (almost deaf). The health insurance paid for a system of microphones that connect to his hearing aid /CI and also to very high quality speakers in the back. The whole thing cost several thousands euros. The school also has really good acoustic panels in the ceiling (this schools admits one or two hard-of-hearing kids a year, out of about 120).
First reactions. Some teachers looked like “do I have to do this?” Meaning wearing the mic, learning how to use it. Other parents complaint in the fist parents meetings, asking “Why does my kid need to speak into a microphone?”, presuming it is unnatural and it does not lead to good class discussion. “What about the shy kids?”
One month in, everyone loves it. The teachers love it because their voices get amplified with high fidelity. Students like that the system forces them to speak one at a time and everyone gets their turn. In addition, every child in the back can hear what the shy child in the front is mumbling when they contribute to class discussion. Overall, the learning experience is much better. So much better, that some teachers actually commented that they would like the system in every classroom. Without the hearing aid tech, such a system would cost about 2000 euros. But it cannot be installed, because the improved learning is unquantifiable and the insurance would only pay for it if there is a child with a hearing disability.