Sandi

Karma: 54

Sandi Apr 22, 2017, 3:11 AM
2 points
0
on: Open thread, Apr. 17 - Apr. 23, 2017
The SSC article about omega-6 surplus causing criminality brought to my attention the physiological aspect of mental health, and health in general. Up until now, I prioritized mind over body. I’ve been ignoring the whole “eat well” thing because 1) it’s hard, 2) I didn’t know how important it was and 3) there’s a LOT of bullshit literature. But since I want to live a long life and I don’t want my stomach screwing with my head, the reasonable thing to do would be to read up. I need book (or any other format, really) recommendations on nutrition 101. Something practical, the do’s and don’ts of food and research citations to back it up. On a broader note, I want to learn more about biodeterminism, also from a practical perspective. There might be conditions in my environment causing me issues that I don’t even know of. It goes beyond nutrition.

Sandi Mar 15, 2017, 10:28 PM
0 points
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on: Open thread, March 13 - March 19, 2017
I have two straight-forward empirical questions for which I was unable to find a definitive answer.

1) Does ego depletion exist? There was a recent meta-study that found a negligible effect, but the result is disputed.

2) Does visualizing the positive outcome of a endeavor help one achieve it? There are many popular articles confirming this, but I’ve found no studies in either direction. My prediction is no, it doesn’t, since the mind would feel like it already reached the goal after visualizing it, so no action would be taken. It has been like this in my personal experience, although inferring from personal experience is incredibly unreliable.

Sandi Feb 9, 2017, 9:08 PM
1 point
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in reply to: g_pepper’s comment on: Welcome to Less Wrong! (11th thread, January 2017) (Thread B)

Depending on where you are in your life and education, you could consider enrolling in graduate school.

If I’ve managed to translate “graduate school” to our educational system correctly, then I currently am in undergraduate school. Our mileages vary by quite a bit, most people I meet aren’t of the caliber. Also, it’s hard to find out if they are. Socially etiquette prevents me from bringing up the heavy hitting topics except on rare occasions.

I guess I should work on my social skills then cast a bigger net. The larger the sample, the better odds I have of finding someone worthwhile. Needless to say I’m introverted and socialization doesn’t come easily, but I’ll find a way.

I do this too.

Oh, thank the proverbial God.

Sandi Feb 8, 2017, 10:15 PM
0 points
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on: Welcome to Less Wrong! (11th thread, January 2017) (Thread B)
I’m not 100% clear as to where the non-ambitious posts should go, so I will write my question here.

Do you know of a practical way of finding intellectual friends, so as to have challenging/interesting conversations more often? Not only is the social aspect of friendship in general invaluable (of course I wouldn’t be asking here if that was the sole reason), but I assume talking about the topics I care and think about will force me to flesh them out and keep me closer to Truth, and is a great source of novelty. So, from a purely practical standpoint (although I don’t deny other motives), I want to improve this part of my life.

Sporadic discourse with my normal friends often pops up in unsuitable conditions and with underequipped participants. Meeting the right type of person in real life takes a huge sample and social skills. Focused forums, like this one, contain the right type of people and are very useful, but lacking in one-to-one personal and casual conversation (neither method is superior, I’d prefer a mix of both to the current imbalance).

Fun fact about me (or a thinly vailed plea for a diagnosis): Often when I’m bothered by a problem or simply bored, my mind will conjure vivid conversations with one of my friends and have us argue this problem. I never actually aim for it to happen, it’s as spontaneous as normal thinking. I have no proof, but I’d say those imaginary conversations are more productive, because my imaginary listeners will disagree or misunderstand me, raising important points or faults in my reasoning. Whereas with normal thinking, I agree with myself the wast majority of time.