I started posting on Less Wrong in 2011, learned about effective altruism, and four years later landed in the Bay Area. I was an ICU nurse in my past life, did several years of EA direct work in operations roles, and in 2022 spent a year writing for Vox Future Perfect.
You can find my fiction here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swimmer963
I find it reassuring sometimes to look at other people’s accomplishments, especially those in areas where I’ll probably never push my brain to its full potential, which probably wouldn’t meet their potential anyway. (Composing music is an example.) It’s reassuring to look away from everyday life, where everyday people seem to spend so much of their time just surviving and not really outputting anything, and see that it IS possible to output something incredible. A beautiful piece of music can be enjoyable in itself, but it’s also an inspiration to me to produce something equally amazing in another area.