sentientplatypus

Karma: 106

sentientplatypus 1 Sep 2015 21:21 UTC
0 points
in reply to: Brillyant’s comment on: Why people want to die
The difference is that life, given an infinite amount of time also has an infinite amount of options for things one can do. There are enough things to do forever, the only question is whether the specific individual will keep thinking of things that they want to do. The crux of our disagreement seems to be that you think people would get bored with literally everything if they lived long enough and I think that most people would find something worthwhile in the infinite possibilities. But neither of us have lived very long (cosmically speaking) so it is difficult to really know how we will feel if we live to be 500, 5000, or 5 million years old.

There might be thousands of years of novelty in that. Maybe millions. But the returns are diminishing. Just think of all the amazing stuff we completely ignore and are bored with already.

Returns are diminishing for one activity, but there are infinite possibilities of activities one might do in infinite time. I don’t think diminishing returns applies to everything you could do at once. But again, I don’t know, maybe continued existence would eventually become unpleasant. That’s a possibility I’m not ignoring, but just because its a possibility doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to have immortality be an option.

sentientplatypus 1 Sep 2015 3:36 UTC
0 points
in reply to: Brillyant’s comment on: Why people want to die

Why wouldn’t living forever be just like any other scenario where a good thing is multiplied by infinity? The novelty would wear off just like chocolate or sex. Things are “good” because they are scarce. Never-ending anything would become a burden.

If I get tired of eating chocolate or having sex it is because I want to do something else. I can’t really ‘do’ anything besides living (death isn’t me doing something because I no longer exist). We are also programmed to only want a certain amount of sex and chocolate, but we are for the most part programmed to want life as long as we can get it. Life also has a lot more options than more specific ‘good’ things. I always have too many things I want to do in a day. It is hard to conceive of waking up one day and thinking I was bored of life or just wanted to stop existing. I have to imagine pretty dire circumstances.

Then again, I haven’t lived tens of thousands of years, I might very well get bored and decide I was done with life. But I still would like the option to live as long as I want, just in case I don’t.

sentientplatypus 30 Aug 2015 16:01 UTC
−1 points
in reply to: entirelyuseless’s comment on: Why people want to die
More polite, but probably less accurate. I could be wrong, but it was a conscious decision to word it that way

sentientplatypus 30 Aug 2015 6:10 UTC
1 point
in reply to: Brillyant’s comment on: Why people want to die
Death is the occurrence of life being lost, the event has value insofar as the living being had value.

If one wants to continue to exist, getting rid of the state of nonexistence seems like a fairly reasonable goal for that person to pursue. I want to exist, regardless of the fact that nonexistence is itself painless.

I consider the loss of everything a person is to be ‘bad’ because I value the unique intricacies of each person. I attribute value there because I find that complexity mind-blowingly incredible. And I think it is sad when something so incredible and unique goes away forever.

Also I want to point out that you don’t actually have a reason (at least not that you’ve stated) for why you think you don’t want to live forever, you just say that you find the desire “odd” without explanation.

sentientplatypus 27 Aug 2015 6:36 UTC
2 points
in reply to: Brillyant’s comment on: Why people want to die
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone on here claim that biological immortality will fix all the problems of the world, just that reducing death is a good thing and that we should definitely do it if we can. Because the loss of the massive complexity that is a human being is really, really bad.

sentientplatypus 26 Aug 2015 21:58 UTC
4 points
in reply to: PhilGoetz’s comment on: Why people want to die
I’ve asked quite a few people this question, even older people. I don’t have wider statistics on it (maybe you do and if so I’d be interested in seeing them) but the people I ask very rarely say they would not like to live longer if they could stay young and be with their friends and families. I have even been told yes by some very religious people in their seventies.

sentientplatypus 4 Aug 2015 1:51 UTC
0 points
in reply to: btrettel’s comment on: We really need a “cryonics sales pitch” article.
What are your main concerns?

sentientplatypus 24 Jul 2015 3:28 UTC
2 points
in reply to: SilentCal’s comment on: Steelmaning AI risk critiques
I hadn’t seen this before. Hanson’s conception of intelligence actually seems much simpler and more plausible than how I had previously imagined it. I think ‘intelligence’ can easily act as a Semantic Stopsign because it feels like a singular entity through the experience of consciousness, but actually may be quite modular as Hanson suggests.

sentientplatypus 9 Jul 2015 23:49 UTC
0 points
in reply to: polymathwannabe’s comment on: Crazy Ideas Thread
Wasn’t the idea to not be sated until the end of the day and thus have a clearer head and be more productive? I’m not concerned about losing weight, which I have heard skipping dinner is pretty good for.

sentientplatypus 9 Jul 2015 23:00 UTC
0 points
in reply to: polymathwannabe’s comment on: Crazy Ideas Thread
Same. I’m completely fine if I skip lunch though. I think I might try doing that regularly and see how it goes.

sentientplatypus 9 Jul 2015 22:52 UTC
−2 points
on: Crazy Ideas Thread
What if you put little electricity-generating windmills on top of an electric car. Could they produce enough electricity to help propel the car, or would the energy produced be counteracted by the drag added?

sentientplatypus 23 Apr 2015 19:45 UTC
0 points
in reply to: philh’s comment on: Self-verification
A video seemed like the obvious solution to me as well, but with no memories I don’t think you would know what to do with the blood or even understand why that would identify you. For that matter would someone with no memories be able to even understand the message? I guess we have to assume some procedural memory is kept, but even with that it could be a stretch to understand the message even if the words were remembered.

sentientplatypus 22 Apr 2015 22:15 UTC
5 points
in reply to: Adam Zerner’s comment on: [link] The surprising downsides of being clever

Trouble finding people smart enough that they could talk to and/or have a real relationship with (could refer to friend or romantic).

If I’m sad, this is probably why.

sentientplatypus 22 Apr 2015 18:37 UTC
0 points
in reply to: Adam Zerner’s comment on: LessWrong experience on Alcohol
Not saying you should start drinking but almost no one likes the taste of alcohol the first time they try it.

sentientplatypus 22 Apr 2015 18:35 UTC
1 point
on: LessWrong experience on Alcohol
I drink fairly regularly. It makes social gatherings more fun. I have some rules for drinking: only drink at social gatherings and only drink an amount that does not impair my ability to operate the next day.

sentientplatypus 4 Apr 2015 0:43 UTC
4 points
on: Defeating the Villain
I think a good example of defeating the villain and not actually making things better can be seen in many of the Arab Spring revolutions, especially Egypt. It was the most stable country in the Middle East for decades, though it was ruled by a dictator. Egypt got rid of Mubarak, but the movement that did it had no kind of coherent plan for how they were going to create a stable democracy afterward. And now Egypt is a decidedly worse place to live than when Mubarak was in charge.

sentientplatypus 3 Mar 2015 2:25 UTC
2 points
in reply to: lukeprog’s comment on: What subjects are important to rationality, but not covered in Less Wrong?
Could you elaborate on these or point to some place they are discussed? I’d like to learn more on those subjects, but aside from LW I don’t see people using the phrase ‘instrumental rationality’ or even using the word rational to mean what it means here.

sentientplatypus 8 Nov 2013 6:01 UTC
2 points
on: Human Memory: Problem Set
1) check that its locked, then write a reminder, note, etc in your phone that you locked it 2) If you say “That sounds really interesting, let me write that down so I remember to look it up later” that’s not rude at all, its showing you’re actually interested in what he’s saying. 3)Put a giant yellow sign on the front that says ‘check that I’m closed!’ 4)If possible put it down on paper or in your phone. If not then make up a ridiculous story using the street names and turns, such that the non-sequitur helps you remember. 5) write up an outline of key points and memorize those, helping yourself remember them by creating an acronym from the letters that begin each point, so you’ll be able to check whether you’re about to skip one. 6) splitting it into three number chunks before memorizing it would help a lot, I think 7) I just get up, I’ve given up on this one. 8) Random associations, between firms and names and names and people would be my suggestion. 9)Read the book. Anki. Take a class on the same material while reading a different book on the same material. It worked for learning huge amounts about molecular biology in a short time for me.

sentientplatypus 13 Sep 2013 23:47 UTC
2 points
on: Please share your reading habits/techniques/strategies
This post of mine might be helpful to you.

sentientplatypus 6 Sep 2013 2:51 UTC
2 points
on: I attempted the AI Box Experiment again! (And won—Twice!)
I may be missing something obvious, but what is the huge problem with releasing the logs?