Great post. But, squishy as we are, there are two physical activities in which we have dominated the animal kingdom for a long time: throwing stones and long distance running. A silver-back gorilla can tear you apart limb from limb, but have you seen them attempt to throw something? Pityfull! The most they can achieve is flinging. And while intelligence is what started us on the path to developing the strongest long-range attack, the key to endurance hunting is our water cooling system (i.e. sweating). A trained human can literally run at a horse until it drops from heat stroke.
We ran at things and threw rocks at them for a long time. And when we caught things, we broke their bones and skin with more rocks. After awhile, the muscles for our jaws atrophied. Which, combined with the caloric surplus from our successful hunts, allowed our skulls and brains to grow. And then—then it was big brains time!
“Born to run” is further read on the topic—it also describes the proper technique of running (forefoot striking instead of heel striking, think rope jumping and stepping quietly). Although, the author does not seem to know math very well and his style might be too obnoxious for some.
TL;DR—intelligence is cool, but sweating should receive some recognition as the other super-power we humans enjoy. Or, as Toph Beifong would put it: ” You are a genius. A sweaty, stinky genius.”
Hello lesswrong community!
“Who am I?” I am a Network Engineer, who once used to know a bit of math (sadly, not anymore). Male, around 30, works in IT, atheist—I think I’ll blend right in.
“How did I discover lesswrong?” Like the vast majority, I discovered lesswrong after reading HPMOR many years ago. It remains my favourite book to this day. HPMOR and the Sequences taught me a lot of new ideas and, more importantly, put what I already knew into a proper perspective. By the time HPMOR was finally finished, I was no longer sure where my worldview happened to coincide with Mr. Yudkowsky, and where it was shaped by him entirely. This might be due to me learning something new, or a mixture of wishful thinking, hindsight bias and the illusion of transparency, I don’t know. I know this—HPMOR nudged me from nihilism to the much rosier and downright cuddly worldview of optimistic nihilism, for which I will be (come on singularity, come on singularity!) eternally grateful.
“When did I became a rationalist?” I like to think of my self as rational in my day-to-day, but I would not describe myself as a rationalist—by the same logic that says a white belt doesn’t get to assume the title of master for showing up. Or have I mixed those up and “rational” is the far loftier description?
“Future plans?” I am now making a second flyby over the Sequences, this time with comments. I have a few ideas for posts that might be useful to someone and a 90% complete plotline for an HPMOR sequel (Eliezer, you magnificent bastard, did you have to tease a Prologue?!!!).
Looking forward to meeting some of you (or anyone, really) in the comments and may we all survive this planet together.