I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again—this is mild cult behavior.
… That being said, bring on the low cost gratification! I’ve taken the survey!
Spectral_Dragon
Karma: 192
One possible issue with radically increased lifespan
BEHAVIOR GUIDE (in order to avoid mere survival) Intended for younger generations by JEAN TOUITOU
Although appearance shows quite the reverse the natural trend of the system is to turn you into a slave. Your mission is to remain erect and never crawl.
when learning, you must know how to make the clear distinction between what is ideology and what is genuine knowledge.
Be fully aware of the difference between making a compromise and compromising yourself.
Whatever happens, heart break hotel is sure to be your dwelling place, for one or several stays. This is no reason to overindulge in the pangs of love for too long.
Learn how to make simple and excellent meals.
Fear no gods, whatever appearance they may have.
For girls: all boys are more or less the same. For boys: all girls are different.
Keep well away from competitive sport that will only cause wounds that will make you suffer when you are over forty.
There is no such thing as good and evil. There is what is right and what is bad, what is consistent and what is wrong.
That is the entire original quote, but not all felt like it belonged here. It’s all part of the same, I think.
This is entirely true—as a mere human, my interest plummeted at “covariance”, and I’d still like to think I’m SOMEWHAT equipped to handle correlation/causation. Just not numerically. So, as a roughly average human, I say your suspicions are correct.
Hello! I came here researching free will for a school project. I’m currently 18, studying science at a fairly basic level in a small town in Sweden. I’ve so far read a few articles and the sheer amount of interesting thoughts in the articles made me want to stay. When I read what Lesswrong stands for, I knew I wanted to be a part of it, to try to become a better, hopefully wiser person.
I’ve liked philosophy for a long time, and don’t usually like “because” as an answer for anything. I want to find out reasons behind everything. I’m so far not as good as I wish, due to limited time and wanting to read a lot of the articles, but not having enough time. However, I find it difficult to abandon half-read articles, even though they can be a bit of a long read compared to what I’m used to, excluding books.
Since I’m easily influenced by new ideas, too, as long as they make sense, I’m expecting myself to switch a lot. Lesswrong seems interesting, anyway, and I want to know more. I want more perspectives and thoughts. So far Lesswrong seems wonderful, and I think I’ll like it. Hoping the community can oversee shortcomings when needed, but I’m expecting you all to be a nice bunch.
For science, and a greater understanding. Hopefully I’ll be able to learn from you. But it’s late now, and I’ll be going now. Just thought I’d say hi.
By definition atheism is closed minded.
Is it, really? I find more open mindedness in “there is no evidence for this, so I have no reason to believe it” than any theism. Someone telling you to be open minded usually means they want you to agree with them: Accepting a solution instead of considering others as well. It’s happened to me, when people talked about ghosts, which have been disproven regardless. But then, it’s just accepting one seemingly possible solution.
If all unlikely explanations seem possible, how is it open minded to select just one?
Not only competition, but what seemed logical. I’m only 5 years late to this, but I figure I’ll add this regardless: Shrimp made people sick, so it only made sense to make rules against eating shrimp, regardless of the reason behind it making people sick. A lot of the old testament is pretty much a survival guide.
That link is however a church, and as far as I can tell does not represent the Jewish faith. From what I know, it’s not that shrimp were bad, and hated by God, but that since people got sick, it was not a great idea to eat it. Same logic that founded rules about washing your hands before dinner—they didn’t think God hated your hands, they just figured out some correlation between sickness, and filth.
That said, it’s not all good, but it seems to me that at least SOME rules were based on logic. And that whoever had the worse rules DID die more frequently.
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
-- Albert Einstein
I went from being dead set on physics to a joined major of math and physics, following up with a master in math in a while, and instead of thinking “I should learn programming some time”, I am currently sitting at a lecture in Python. Had I not encountered lesswrong, I would have been a quirky, regular physicist who lives their life, thinking of some Big Questions, but not actually coming to an answer. I would also not have become atheist quite as quickly. I intend to keep being less wrong in the future, and I’ve seen results—positive, as well as negative due to what some people consider too much honesty. But all in all, I have improved my odds of reaching my goals.
Lund, Sweden—despite not living here that long, just a few months, I’ve gotten a good grip of it. Pros: Massive university that serves as an intellectual meetingplace, everything from feminism to transhumanism in unofficial lectures, a particle accelerator is being built if you’re into that kind of thing, and it’s possible to get EVERYWHERE with a bike.
Cons: Difficult to get anywhere fast with a car, the weather can be less than enjoyable, housing prices are fairly high and we might be heading for an economical crash soon, and it would likely seem quite different moving here from outside europe.
In short: Economical value low, cultural value high.
Thank you! That was what I was looking for in a title, I just couldn’t seem to find the right words. I’ll be editing the title in a minute. I also got pretty intimidated—within 10 minutes I’d lost about a fifth of my total karma and no one would tell me why. That seems to me another weakness—we are too quick to vote and seemingly not good enough at debating some topics and explaining WHY something deserves to be voted up/down.
Interesting. I’ve not thought of it like that, but it would make sense—groups would drop their weird rules if they didn’t fit the larger group which they were integrated into.
However, in this case at least, it IS so that the weird rules increased survival. Rules about keeping clean were seen as weird, but were generally beneficial for the individual. Example linked to the discussion: During the Black Plague fewer Jews got infected, mainly due to the weird rules. Only negative was that this was suspicious, and these Jews were believed to be the cause… A bit of a lose-lose situation, with good intentions.
I am currently looking for job around the british isles, currently aiming at Belfast. If I find a good job, and an affordable place, shared, I could message you, if you like? We sound reasonably similar (and why, I AM a mentally odd person who likes living with other people!). Or, if that is prefered, if you’re considering moving to Sweden, I’d do my best to assist you. Always easier with a local contact.
Inspiring words. Something I wish I would be able to write if such a fate ever befell me. I didn’t really know who you were before, but now, you’re among those I’d like to emulate whenever life gets hard. Best of luck with your life. Keep fighting.
I think maybe an introductory sequence—simple, straightforward, easily contemplated and applied, for new people. Especially teenagers, then—I’d have LOVED to read Guessing the Teacher’s Password when I was 15, but it wasn’t among the first I read. Hard to find unless you knew what you were looking for. So simple things to find their own answer to—do we have free will, figure out why the people arguing about trees making sounds are arguing in the first place, stuff like that. A place to discuss this without anyone spoiling it would be great for newcomers, I think.
Maybe tips on how to combat procrastination, getting efficient at studying and social insights. Do we have a wiki entry for basic expressions used here, that might not be so basic to teens? We should expect intelligent people with zero knowledge on rationality here, so we prepare for that. That’s all I can think of now, I’ll add more if I think of anything.
Sign up to plenty of stuff, meaning to work on them… Then I get busy, of course, and postpone… I keep procrastinating since I have more important stuff to do. Doesn’t hurt to sign up, though! Thanks for mentioning it’s about to start!
I found it hilarious, I think it’s the first time I’ve seen bayesians mentioned outside LW, and since it seems to be a lot of betting, wagers, problems hinging on money, I think both are equally approporiate. Insightful for being mostly entertainment (the opposite of the articles here—aiming to be insightful, usually ending up entertaining as well?), but my warning light also went off. Perhaps I’m already too attached to the label… I’ll try harder than usual to spot cult behaviour now.
I joined LessWrong at age 18, and noticed no massive hurdles apart from not having read enough math to comprehend the math-ier sequences, but I can see where you’re going with this. I’d have been incredibly eager to start thinking better at age 16 or so already. I would LOVE to introduce my more intelligent friends to this, but it can be pretty terrifying here at first. Your idea sounds perfect for that purpose. I’ll join that other site too, and provide feedback if I can.
Edit: Ah, must’ve skipped a paragraph. Not interested in skipping college, ignore. I’d just be interested in, as with me, casual refinement beside my normal education, as for the people I’d recommend this site to.
Do you have a deadline for when you have to move out, or when to have a solid plan? I’ll likely know if I have a position or not before wednesday, and there’s plenty of living around the university area, in case you want to look at things yourself. I’ll have to say likewise—you seem like a decent person, and I’m sure it is, as I’m indeed very flexible. I’ll update you if I find anything relevant.
All done! Surprised since my IQ’s apparently dropped roughly 20 points in the last 2 years. But everyone knows the internet is reliable when it comes to that. Eagerly awaiting results, when can we expect them to appear on the site?
Also, please do not upvote this comment, as I want my karma to reflect when I’ve thought something insightful, and only taking a survey to recieve it does not properly reflect this. “By ancient tradition” makes that the most cultish thing I’ve ever heard lesswrong.
… Maybe topped by “we’re a cult” or something of that effect, but still.