mej10

Karma: 70

mej10 28 Feb 2013 0:39 UTC
0 points
in reply to: Matt_Simpson’s comment on: Idea: Self-Improving Task Management Software
It won’t make the suggestions/evaluate things itself. But it is very good for tracking productivity and getting different views into that data, and it has a bunch of plugins for common productivity things.

I meant to clarify that more in my original post.

mej10 27 Feb 2013 15:59 UTC
3 points
on: Idea: Self-Improving Task Management Software
You should check out org-mode for Emacs. It is somewhat similar to what you describe, but being an Emacs mode it doesn’t get as much love as it should. I use it daily and it is awesome. It isn’t quite what you are envisioning, but it is probably the closest thing that currently exists.

That being said, I am actually working on something like this currently. Well, it is the next big step of the project, anyway. Currently it doesn’t focus on the meta level as much as I would like, but is very much along the lines of trying to fix “Humans are not automatically strategic”

Based on the people we have spoken to and the research we have done, we think there is a market for something like this.

I say go for it. If it is open source I would probably contribute if for some reason my project collapses or you make something more awesome.

mej10 12 Sep 2012 15:08 UTC
6 points
in reply to: gwern’s comment on: Random LW-parodying Statement Generator

what is true is already so. Eliezer Yudkowsky doesn’t make it worse

That isn’t going to help me sleep at night.

mej10 6 Sep 2012 18:06 UTC
7 points
on: Politics is the Mind-Killer
Can we get a citation for “The evolutionary reasons for this are so obvious as to be worth belaboring: In the ancestral environment, politics was a matter of life and death.”

I am just interested in how this was concluded. I have always been a little skeptical of evolutionary psychology type things, which, is what this sounds like.

mej10 30 Aug 2012 16:59 UTC
2 points
on: What Are You Doing for Self-Quantification?
I track all of my “I should do this daily or almost daily” tasks/habits. (Review TODO lists, schedule things for tomorrow, chores)
- How long I read for.
- How many personal tasks I completed that aren’t considered chores.
- How many commits I made on my code.
- If I am studying something, how many hours I spent studying and the exercises completed (the latter bit isn’t of too much use, other than it being >0)
- Which supplements did I take.
- A rough sketch of what I ate (basically, the food items and rough macro-nutrient quantities)
- If I exercised then I track almost every detail. When/What/Weight lifted/Sets.
I will also occasionally record what my “mental clarity” feels like on a scale from 1 − 5. I don’t yet do this often enough for it to be worthwhile, and I may just stop altogether unless I figure out a useful system.

The best thing I have found for my personal habit formation is https://chains.cc/ but there are a lot of “riffs” on this idea out there. I have one desktop on my computer dedicated to tracking all of the things important to me (chains, calendar, TODO lists, long-term goals). I have Google Calendar “event” that creates a popup on this desktop every day at 5:00am, so that ensures it is the first thing I look at.

mej10 26 Jul 2012 18:40 UTC
16 points
in reply to: advancedatheist’s comment on: Article about LW: Faith, Hope, and Singularity: Entering the Matrix with New York’s Futurist Set
Saying that we haven’t made much progress recently isn’t the same as not wanting a positive singularity event. These are orthogonal. Thiel has directly supported singularity related organizations and events, while also being pessimistic on our technology progress. These are most certainly related.

mej10 26 Jul 2012 17:33 UTC
18 points
in reply to: iceman’s comment on: Article about LW: Faith, Hope, and Singularity: Entering the Matrix with New York’s Futurist Set
The “evangelical polyamory” seems like an example of where Rationalists aren’t being particularly rational.

In order to get widespread adoption of your main (more important) ideas, it seems like a good idea to me to keep your other, possibly alienating, ideas private.

Being the champion of a cause sometimes necessitates personal sacrifice beyond just hard work.

mej10 18 Jul 2012 17:26 UTC
2 points
in reply to: novalis’s comment on: Summary thread for Coursera classes
I also liked Andrew Ng’s machine learning course. It is a great introduction to the ideas and techniques of the field.

I have since started diving into a more serious treatment of the topic by studying Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning by Bishop, and I will say that the knowledge from the course has definitely helped, but its main benefit was in getting me interested in the topic.

mej10 10 Jul 2012 2:39 UTC
0 points
in reply to: komponisto’s comment on: Advice On Getting A Software Job
It requires decent knowledge of Java, XSLT, Perl, *nix command line fluency, Web stuff (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), caching, SQL, and RESTful web services. I may not have been entirely fair in calling it “pretty basic web app stuff” it is just paltry compared to what Google and Facebook (for example) do.

HOWEVER, an acquaintance of mine with no programming knowledge, no degree, just a passion for technology got a job as some kind of Visual Basic forms programmer (it is an extremely limited subset of the language). He has since taken some night classes to learn programming more formally and has moved to a normal programmer-type position. This place probably hired 3-4 people to do this.

mej10 10 Jul 2012 2:24 UTC
1 point
in reply to: fubarobfusco’s comment on: Advice On Getting A Software Job
Thanks for responding, this is a good comment and I have considered some of what you suggest.

I do work in a very large organization, and there is a huge amount of technology in use here. The big problem is that technology is a cost center. They will never (without major changes to how the business works) do anything technologically innovative due to this. That is part of my problem with it.

I am looking at several startup jobs in the area that use more interesting technologies. I’m hoping that my incomplete side projects are enough proof that I don’t only know/care about Java.

I use a ton of open source stuff (emacs, rails, countless libs) I just have problems putting myself out there when it comes to contribution.

mej10 9 Jul 2012 23:13 UTC
6 points
on: Advice On Getting A Software Job
Any advice for software developers that are in a rut? Basically, I have been working my first post-college job the last 3.5 years or so, but honestly what I do is pretty basic web app stuff.

I really want to get into a job where I have a lot more responsibility and more interesting work, but I feel like I have shot myself in the foot by working at such an easy (but decent paying) job for so long.

I am very interested in pretty much all programming related topics and study them for fun, but having not built any super awesome software makes me feel inadequate.

Honestly, I should probably just apply to some places and see if I can get a better job, but for some reason I am afraid I will just get turned down.

mej10 21 Jun 2012 16:47 UTC
2 points
in reply to: shminux’s comment on: Minimum viable workout routine
Weight lifting bored me out of my skull until I started doing a linear progression weight lifting program. Going up in weight every time I lift not only tests my mental fortitude (which is where the main fun comes from for me), but also provides great (unexpectedly great for me) motivation.

Also, I think the technique in Attention control is critical for… could help with increasing the amount of enjoyment. Or at least lessening the friction.

mej10 22 Mar 2012 14:09 UTC
4 points
in reply to: Will_Newsome’s comment on: Modest Superintelligences
How is Catholicism the best religion?

mej10 15 Feb 2012 15:43 UTC
3 points
on: Welcome to Less Wrong! (2012)
Hi. I’ve studied Computer Science and Mathematics at the undergraduate level. I currently work as a software engineer, but have been looking into fields that would allow me to work with more mathematics. I am also very much interested in entrepreneurship from both the “fix problems I see with the world” and the “get really wealthy” perspectives.

I have been reading LW and OB off and on for years, but have never quite made it through all of the sequences.

I am mainly interested in efficient learning and applications of rationality to every day life. My primary concerns currently focus around what I should do with my life to benefit society (and myself and loved ones) the most. I have been applying the anti-akrasia tactics to some effect, but still have a long way to go before I would consider myself a truly effective person.

I tend to overuse signaling explanations for human behavior. They are very compelling to me.