Thanks!
I over-solved the problem by meditating a lot and woke up enough to find merely existing to be pretty pleasant. Then exercise was not so bad, because it’s also just existing.
How long did this take you (i.e., how many years or hours of meditation)? :)
Some people think that computer chess players are already near the standard where they could draw against God.
It is known that God likes tabletop games as long as they do not involve dice.
I understand the second part of your post. But I do not understand the first part:
It’s cheaper, you can customize your HRT regimen to your specifications
Why does crypto enable this?
Valid points. Thanks.
That makes sense. Thanks!
This was a very good explanation (the part about people in countries with unstable currencies). Thanks! Upvoted.
I did not understand your last paragraph, though.
I agree that many rationalists are way too libertarian for my liking.
IMO at least one other respondent addressed a strawman of my argument, but ironically I think that your take here makes a strawman out of the cryptophiliac rationalist...
1 Bitcoin is currently worth about AUD$108,000. The current total value of all Bitcoin is around $1.5 trillion USD; of all Ethereum, around $280 billion USD. If only I had some of this negligible value for myself!
I did not mean market value. I meant the kind of value that makes the world better.
Perhaps you deplore that rogue states and organized crime are among the holders of cryptocurrency. May I nonetheless point out that the majority of paid evil that has been done in the world, was and is paid for using old-fashioned national currencies?
This argument seems invalid to me. It is the equivalent of saying: “Perhaps you deplore that some criminals have guns. May I point out that the majority of crime is committed without guns?”
If you want to clean up the Augean stables of world finance, crypto probably isn’t very high on the list.
This sounds as though you have some kind of action in mind. What do you suggest?
Thanks for the reply.
I feel that way about currency too.
I did not understand this part. How do you feel about currency?
Thanks for the reply. Can you please elaborate on the “bullshit” and “risks” you mention?
Could you please elaborate on this? What are the benefits on crypto in this context? Is it illegal to buy estrogen where you live, or do you need to hide your identity?
That was how I read your “you would rather feel superior to the “normies” than understand them.
Ah, I understand how I gave that impression.
IMO there is a big difference between trying to feel superior to normies and trying to look superior to normies. The latter could be a status grab.
Your post above did not look like a status grab to me, because IMO it did not make you look good. I did not imagine that anyone on Less Wrong would think: “Wow, this guy looks down on ‘normies’ - he is so cool!”
Thanks! This does make sense.
Scott Alexander’s article also mentions that people want to avoid looking like low-status people. Do you recognize this? If so, can you please say something about how that feels like?
Thanks. I have heard the evolutionary-psychology explanation before, but I struggle to understand how it works in terms of practical psychology.
Your explanation is very theoretical. I was more fishing for a phenomenological explanation—or at least a behaviorist explanation in detail.
I apologize for sounding dismissive, but you sound like someone who has read about how humans operate rather than someone who has experienced life as a human. I was hoping that someone more extroverted and more neurotypical than I could explain how status signalling (and especially fashion) feels when you are in the midst of it.
What? No, I did not mean to imply that your comment was a status grab.
May I ask what you mean by that “sigh”? Intuitively I interpret it as a passive-aggressive jab meaning something like “you are too stupid to understand me”, but I might be wrong.
Thanks for the reply, but this feels like strawmanning and not particularly rational. I get the impression that you would rather feel superior to the “normies” than understand them.
Thanks for the reply.
This is because people with lots of money/power/influence have an outsized ability to influence you (for good or bad), so it’s often worthwhile to be in their good graces.
I already mentioned that in the OP. But what about fashion? Why do people feel a desire to do nice things for people who follow the newest fashion?
Alas, I suck badly at ballgames and most sports, and I have been severely soured against team sports in school. :(