stcredzero

Karma: 592

stcredzero 29 May 2010 23:29 UTC
133 points
0
in reply to: pdf23ds’s comment on: The True Prisoner’s Dilemma
I suspect that the True Prisoner’s Dilemma played itself out in the Portugese and Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica. Some natives were said to ask, “Do they eat gold?” They couldn’t comprehend why someone would want a shiny decorative material so badly, they’d kill for it. The Spanish were Shiny Decorative Material maximizers.

stcredzero 1 Jul 2013 20:31 UTC
28 points
on: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 19, chapter 88-89
From Chapter 6:

Harry was examining the wizarding equivalent of a first-aid kit, the Emergency Healing Pack Plus. There were two self-tightening tourniquets. A Stabilisation Potion, which would slow blood loss and prevent shock. A syringe of what looked like liquid fire, which was supposed to drastically slow circulation in a treated area while maintaining oxygenation of the blood for up to three minutes, if you needed to prevent a poison from spreading through the body. White cloth that could be wrapped over a part of the body to temporarily numb pain. Plus any number of other items that Harry totally failed to comprehend, like the “Dementor Exposure Treatment”, which looked and smelled like ordinary chocolate. Or the “Bafflesnaffle Counter”, which looked like a small quivering egg and carried a placard showing how to jam it up someone’s nostril.

From Chapter 89:

“Fuego!” / “Incendio!” Harry heard, but he wasn’t looking, he was reaching for the syringe of glowing orange liquid that was the oxygenating potion, pushing it into Hermione’s neck at what Harry hoped was the carotid artery, to keep her brain alive even if her lungs or heart stopped, so long as her brain stayed intact everything else could be fixed, it had to be possible for magic to fix it, it had to be possible for magic to fix it, it had to be possible for magic to fix it, and Harry pushed the plunger of the syringe all the way down, creating a faint glow beneath the pale skin of her neck. Harry then pushed down on her chest, where her heart should be, hard compressions that he hoped was moving the oxygenated blood around to where it could reach her brain, even if her heart might have stopped beating, he hadn’t actually thought to check her pulse.

The oxygenation potion also slows circulation. Did Harry accidentally kill Hermione? Would the potion have unintentionally prevented blood flow to her brain by retarding flow in her carotid artery, while unhelpfully oxygenating her neck? It makes sense that a potion designed to prevent the spread of poison would prevent movement of the blood. It’s also stated that it works on “a treated area.” If it’s primarily meant to slow the spread of poisons from bites, the spell’s “treated area” might be defined as the volume of flesh a certain distance away from the injection site.

Also, giving CPR to someone when their heart is still beating is definitely not good for them.

stcredzero 7 May 2009 15:10 UTC
28 points
in reply to: MichaelVassar’s comment on: Beware Trivial Inconveniences
Also, penning in sheep is a lot easier than penning in wolves.

In fact, this reminds me of the magnetic traps (Penning traps?) that are used to cool a couple of hundred atoms down to near-absolute zero. There is a potential barrier that keeps most of the atoms inside. Occasionally, one atom is jostled enough to gain enough energy to escape. This has the effect of carrying energy away from the group, cooling it as a whole.

I think the analogy is compelling. An activism that works off of a discontented fringe only serves to strengthen the current regime. To get real change, one needs to energize the populace as a whole, and often the only forces capable of such widespread influence have economic and deep cultural foundations. Both Gandhi and MLK knew this.

I think the Chinese government also knows this, but I am not sure they can exploit this in the long term.

stcredzero 18 Jun 2012 16:43 UTC
26 points
on: Thwarting a Catholic conversion?
My formerly agnostic girlfriend of over 5 years just joined a local Catholic congregation.

The best thing you can do for your friend, is to be a friend. Listen to her and support her as a fellow human being. If you have an agenda for what you want her to be, she will most likely be able to sense this.

Just be her friend and accept her for who she is. If she finds that the Catholic community doesn’t accept her wholeheartedly, be there for her. If she finds acceptance there, then accept that too.

Hating people for being wrong is a seductive and tricky thing and can lead to unproductive situations. Limited but generous forgiveness and acceptance are optimal strategies in an imperfect world with imperfect communications channels and fallible actors. (Refer to: Axelrod’s Prisoner’s Dilemma tournament, and a Tit-For-Two-Tats.)

There’s always the possibility she will change her mind again. Ask yourself, would you want to be permanently shunned because you didn’t come to the correct conclusion fast enough? What would you think of a community with members that acted in that fashion?

stcredzero 21 Jun 2012 18:21 UTC
16 points
on: Leading Discussions: Addressing Time Monopolizers
I came here expecting suggestions for ways to spend less time on sites like LessWrong.org.

stcredzero 30 Apr 2009 12:20 UTC
15 points
in reply to: CronoDAS’s comment on: Generalizing From One Example
There’s a lot of great music that’s gotten into videogames. Anything that people can listen to for hours on end and not get sick of must have some merit.

(Anyhow, the only true measure of taste is what people like years hence. And even supposedly great musicians can be unreliable predictors.)

I think a lack of aural imagination explains a lot of mediocre musicians who are beginners, and who stay beginners, in traditional music. They are only trying to waggle their fingers in the right magical sequence to get the tune to somewhat come out. They’re not hearing the tune in their head and letting it come out.

stcredzero 30 Apr 2009 12:13 UTC
15 points
0
in reply to: cousin_it’s comment on: Generalizing From One Example
My experience in my non-academic work life, is that many programmers can’t visualize verbal descriptions of subsystems, but they learn how to make convincing “I got it” noises to mollify their coworkers. It’s not just programmers, it’s all sorts of coworkers. I have no idea how an adult can avoid this pitfall.

stcredzero 5 Jul 2012 16:35 UTC
13 points
in reply to: aelephant’s comment on: What have you recently tried, and failed at?
The administrative admin of the group I was working with told me something that started my habit of brushing and flossing: “It’s simple. You only have to floss between the teeth you want to keep.” This evokes lots of images for me.

That was 15 years ago, and my habit is still strong to this day.

stcredzero 18 Jun 2012 16:54 UTC
13 points
in reply to: Paul Crowley’s comment on: Thwarting a Catholic conversion?

That is very scary. Leah is a pretty well known atheist blogger. It gives me that “there but for the grace of God go I” feeling.

Does she understand the difference between belief and belief in belief?

I sometimes got a desperate vibe from the weekend street-corner preachers when I lived in South Carolina. It’s like they were trying so hard, because they wanted so much to believe.

Could there also be a wishful belief in disbelief?

stcredzero 10 Jul 2012 18:57 UTC
11 points
on: Low hanging fruit: Websites that significantly improve your life?
Sounds silly, and it’s not very hip, but Fly Lady has worked very well for my girlfriend. Basically, they send you messages giving you mostly short (like 3 minute) tidying and cleaning missions. Your place gets messy a minute at a time, so they keep you cleaning for short intervals to counteract that.

http://flylady.net/

When my girlfriend is participating, the difference is dramatic, and it stays that way for weeks at a time.

stcredzero 6 Jul 2012 20:51 UTC
11 points
in reply to: sixes_and_sevens’s comment on: What have you recently tried, and failed at?
Simply switch to using it as a punishment on the days that you have little appetite. :)

stcredzero 10 Jul 2012 21:35 UTC
10 points
on: Dual N-Back browser-based “game” in public alpha-testing state.
I wonder if a DDR version of Dual-N-Back could be devised?

stcredzero 5 Jul 2012 16:33 UTC
10 points
on: What have you recently tried, and failed at?
Giving up porn for an entire month.

stcredzero 16 Jun 2012 9:45 UTC
10 points
in reply to: private_messaging’s comment on: Brief response to kalla724 on preserving personal identity with vitrification
Yes, my takeaway from this is that it might be better to chop up my brain (provided it could be done with minimal damage) and freeze the pieces. The person recovered isn’t going to be exactly me. Will he be as close to me as myself waking the next day? Could we conceive of an empirical measure of such distance, even if we can’t implement one yet?

stcredzero 14 Jun 2011 19:49 UTC
10 points
in reply to: wedrifid’s comment on: Epistemic Viciousness

There will be a correlation between the effectiveness of a fighting technique and success in battles but it is not a simple one. You will end up identifying the technique that is optimal for the most physically capable combatants, not the optimal fighting technique in general.

I wonder if there’s something like this at work in programming?

stcredzero 30 May 2010 18:31 UTC
10 points
0
in reply to: Anders_Sandberg’s comment on: How to Seem (and Be) Deep
I suspect that this sort of algorithm was unconsciously internalized by many scriptwriters of Kung Fu films. I did the same thing, unconsciously, during the period I was reading Smullyan’s books. That’s what I did to come up with, “There’s neither heaven nor hell save what we grant ourselves, neither fairness nor justice save what we grant each other.”

I suspect that this sort of algorithm was used as a sort of filter by the more savvy Taoist masters—just sit back and see who gets trapped in this particular local maxima.

stcredzero 25 Apr 2009 17:21 UTC
9 points
on: Cached Procrastination
My solution—take breaks only as 15 minute “naps” where I rest and do nothing. I’ll just go and lie down and do nothing. This either refreshes me enough that I can work, or it increases my guilt enough that I can’t help but start working.

stcredzero 29 Jun 2012 20:23 UTC
8 points
in reply to: novalis’s comment on: The Fiction Genome Project

In my experience, Pandora simply doesn’t tend to give me music that I like even when I put in an artist that I like.

Yes, Pandora does give me music with qualities in common with the music I like. It’s just that those aren’t the qualities that make me really like the music. Instead, I just get ho-hum dopplegangers of bands that I like.

stcredzero 23 Jun 2012 0:45 UTC
8 points
in reply to: RobinHanson’s comment on: Two Cult Koans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult

A few things to look for, gleaned from the Wikipedia article:

In Cults, coercive Mind Control is said to take these forms:
```
- People are put in physically or emotionally distressing situations;
- Their problems are reduced to one simple explanation, which is repeatedly emphasized;
- They receive what seems to be unconditional love, acceptance, and attention from a charismatic leader or group;
- They get a new identity based on the group;
- They are subject to entrapment (isolation from friends, relatives and the mainstream culture)
```
Cults also seem to involve the adulation of charismatic leaders, who become corrupted by the power the situation brings them. The most common complaints against cults involve sexual abuse of members. Cults have also been known to cause harm through getting members to forego medical care.

I think this is ok for a place to start.

stcredzero 13 Jun 2012 21:08 UTC
8 points
in reply to: bradleyt’s comment on: Glenn Beck discusses the Singularity, cites SI researchers

I grew up Mormon and attended BYU for a few years, and a lot of descriptions of Mormons I read on here are completely foreign to me. Knowing that the LDS Church was literally true was always an extremely important aspect of the religion when I grew up—it wasn’t just about the community.

I think this is rather typical and also age and personal development related. As a child, I was a staunch believer of my Catholic Sunday school teachings, to the point where I found my parents to be alarmingly lax and contrary. This changes for lots of people as they get older. In my 30′s I had a girlfriend who described herself as a “cultural Catholic” and basically went to church because it’s what most of the people she knew did.

In any case, at the local Hackerspace, I found that most everyone professed beliefs in the importance of science and rationality, but much of this is indistinguishable from professing a preference for a genre of music or a type of gaming. As far as people rigorously applying rationally grounded beliefs to their own lives, I don’t think much was done which couldn’t be comfortably explained as people generally doing what their peers do.

I suspect that the types of Mormons that people on LessWrong tend to come in contact with are very much outside the mainstream.

My Mormon colleagues were all working for software companies.

While I can see that Mormon theology can be twisted to support a sort of trans-humanism, in my experience the typical Utah Mormon would find this very bizarre.

The typical human being finds trans-humanism bizarre. Most people are just doing what those around them are doing, saying what those around them are saying, and generally just getting on with their day to day lives.

Perhaps we should hold our leaders to a higher standard.