Do you have recommendations for commercially-available probiotics to buy?
seez
Karma: 721
Isn’t male-male homosexual sex illegal in Singapore? And I get the sense it’s generally quite conservative. Seems like a bad deal for a lot of rationalists.
You could sign up for one of these human challenge trials, then your exposure might help with vaccine development, and you’d probably be safer because they’d probably give you a low dose and do close monitoring after.
[Question] What authors consistently give accurate pictures of complex topics they discuss?
This post seems like an overly brief and vague description compared to what I was hoping for and would guess the community would be interested in.
Pinker indicates that a number of factors were important. You think technology is the most powerful. Why?
Also, just because technology has had the greatest absolute impact on human wellbeing (hasn’t done much for non-humans, yet) doesn’t mean it’s the most efficient. In fact, I think it’s very likely that it isn’t the most efficient. Because it’s often a win-win, many people will contribute to creating and using it, unlike the sacrifices many EAs advocate for. They might contend that through sacrifice, a given individual can achieve far more that ey could by focusing on technology, although those altruistic individuals may (or may not!) remain rare enough that technology has a great overall impact.
Could someone explain or link to an explanation of the significance of the feminism-digit ratio connection? Why is it exciting?
Can you provide a link to the article, if you remember it?
In case I wasn’t clear, I see nothing wrong with seeking a personal assistant for Bostrom amongst EAs and LessWrongers. Obviously, many people in those groups might be very interested in the job. I’m sure it will be an interesting opportunity for whoever gets it. My objection was to the tone. I’m glad if people didn’t find it as alarming as I did, but I was aware of some additional controversy, expressed both publicly in the comments and privately. And of course, there is no downvote on Facebook.
I can see how it could come across as ‘hero worship’, except that Bostrom is indeed a widely-recognised world-leading academic at the highest ranked philosophy department in the world. There are sound reasons to be respectful of his work.
Yes, by all means, be respectful of Bostrom’s work! Luckily, there’s a lot of room between “worshipful” and “respectful” to aim at. Lots of hero worship, perhaps even most of it, is directed at people who are legitimately awesome (as I personally believe Bostrom is)! And since LW has already been accused of excessive hero worship, with varying degrees of thoughtfulness, to an extent that has turned people off the site, I think it’s worth considering extolling the virtues of those we admire in a more conventional manner, especially in large public forums.
I completely believe that no innuendo was intended. That’s why I thought it would be helpful to let you know that at least to some people, it came off that way.
I think this ad makes LW and EA look cultish, because this ad sounds like hero worship and sexual innuendo. I was especially troubled to see this link on the EA Facebook page, where many potential/new EAs who don’t know who Bostrom is, have lower weirdness tolerance, and have still-forming understanding of effective altruism, could see it.
Conscientious and discreet… Able to keep flexible hours (some days a lot of work, others not much)...Has a good personality ‘fit’ with Bostrom… Willing to do some tasks that are not high-status… Willing to help Bostrom with both his professional and personal life (to free up his attention)...
I showed this to a few smart young people, the type EAs want to reach out to, and they said it sounded “sketchy” “unprofessional” and “kind of like prostitution.” Maybe it’s totally fine and even attractive for LW, but I think EA leaders trying to recruit really need to be more thoughtful about their language. I think a different description should have been written up for that forum.
At the very least, it’s very unconventional. Ads for personal assistants usually mention specific duties like “answering emails” and “preparing food,” not just all-purpose service, so that people know what they are getting into.
tl:dr This ad sounds sketchy to me, and I really wish it wasn’t linked on the EA Facebook group, where it can scare off new/potential EAs
Definitely getting her HPMOR for her 10th birthday :)
A conversation between me and my 7-year-old cousin:
Her: “do you believe in God?”
Me: “I don’t, do you?”
Her: “I used to but, then I never really saw any proof, like miracles or good people getting saved from mean people and stuff. But I do believe in the Tooth Fairy, because ever time I put a tooth under my pillow, I get money out in the morning.”
I finished my thesis!
The original had a typo. It’s fixed now. To clarify, I am concerned that especial attention is paid to tech skills and how they can be used. I would like to see greater focus on other diverse skills.
Some questions I’d love to see addressed in posts:
How much can we raise the sanity waterline without transhumanism (i.e. assuming current human biology is a constant)?
Is the sanity waterline rising?
What is the best way to introduce rationality to different groups of people/subcultures?
Does LW and other rationality reading material unnecessarily signal nerdiness so strongly that it limits its effectiveness and ability to spread?
What are the best things someone with very low tech skills can do for the rationality movement, and for the world?
If LW is declining/failing, why is this happening, could this have been prevented, and are other rationality-related communities infected with the same problem?
It wasn’t my first time, but it was my first time having to work that hard for someone’s attention professionally. He not only had power, he also had incentives not to take me on (not enough time, high-risk low-reward, sets a precedent of accepting younger students, etc.). Dr. C has definitely become friendlier to me recently, although I still find him harder to charm than most of the people I work with. I think part of that is that yes, it works for him to make people a nervous and concise. I think he’s also just socially awkward as well.
In Silicon Valley. With a group of people who know about LessWrong but are dubious about its instrumental value.
Seriously! I just overheard someone say “wow, maybe all that rationality stuff actually does help them do better.”
Getting my first adviser, Professor C, was a nightmare that made me miserable for a month. I really wanted him as my adviser because I think he is one of the only good scientists in my field and my department. I also had long-term plans to ask him to advise my later degree. I met with him once, and showed him a vague, decent research proposal. I focused more on being charming than on the research, because this had been working well for me with the other professors I knew. Unfortunately (and fortunately!) C is more focused on the science. He told me he would think about it, then email me back in a week. He never emailed me. I emailed him. He didn’t respond. I emailed him. He didn’t respond. I despaired, decided I had ruined my career and destroyed my chances of succeeding in the field I love by making him dislike me and now having no advisor, and emailed him again. He didn’t respond. After six weeks of this I told a different professor what had happened, who told my C ignores most emails, even from other professors, and it’s really hard to interpret his lack of response. He recommended that I just show up at his office and try to talk to him again. I worked desperately hard, trying to create a proposal so good it would redeem my earlier failure and weird stalking in C’s eyes. I became completely obsessed, didn’t sleep, read every paper in my entire subfield, thought and talked it over for a week, thought of five original questions, of which three were “important,” wrote the proposal with every important point underlined and put in bold, and finally put on my most professional blazer and went to C’s office. When I found him and showed him my proposal, I was literally shaking. He agreed to be my adviser right away. He seemed kind of confused about the whole thing, and said he just forgot to answer my emails. Sigh.
I got the second adviser because I got the first one. He emailed his colleague Professor K recommending that K meet with me. Otherwise I would not have stood a chance of catching K’s attention, since he does not take early-stage students and does not teach at my school. I wanted a paying position as a research assistant in K’s lab, in addition to him being one of my official advisors, but K was expressing ambivalence about the idea. I basically wrote an extended research proposal/contract, stating exactly what I wanted to do, how I was going to do it, what I expected of him, and what I wanted in return. He agreed, and said he deeply admired my audacity, and that my display of confidence made him feel more confident about my ability, and that I was the sort of intense and serious person he wanted in his lab. This is one of the academically boldest things I have ever done, but I had a strong sense that he would appreciate that sort of behavior.
I write all this because I’m not really sure what made the difference. I certainly acted bolder than I usually do, and I’ve noticed that most of the good things I do follow bursts of very intense misery and feelings of insecurity that I channel into desperately hard work. I’m never surprised when I do well, though; the insecurity is this sort of instrumental self-imposed drama I use. I wish I could work desperately hard without such a seemingly mentally unhealthy process, but so far I haven’t found any better personal motivators than my intense fear, even dread, of failure and the desire to protect my sense of my own identity as a smart, successful person.
RE the NY site, in my experience from living in upstate NY for a time, an hour (or 75min) to Grand Central doesn’t seem to match what people think of when they think of “an hour+ to NYC”; it’s much worse. When I hear “an hour to NYC” I think “an hour to get to my destination”, but if it’s “an hour (or 75min) to Grand Central” it’s likely at least 1.5-2hrs to my destination, perhaps even 2-2.5, with additional subjective hassle from getting to the train upstate, getting out of Grand Central, and transferring to the subway + walking or uber. Plus, you are limited to making the trip while trains are running (so, no late-night hangouts then sleeping in your own bed).