In high school I declared that free will is an illusion and everything is predetermined. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t go over well in class. Some topics are best reserved for fellow rationalists, whom I’d like to meet and have more discussions with. I’m broadly interested in AI alignment, futurism and metaphysics. I subscribe to Crocker’s Rules. Based in Hong Kong.
Vincent Li
Karma: 10
Sounds like a good tradition to keep for this year and going forward.
Vincent Li’s Shortform
Impossible Trinity for Being Nice
A/N: I have corrected wording which were’t accurate previously, but I still stand by the post. Would appreciate comments on areas you don’t agree with or propose counterexamples.
TL;DR: One can’t be nice, comparatively intelligent and demanding all at once (in an interactional context; 3 adjectives are defined below). At any moment, the best you can do is two of the three.
In my finance career I’ve met many individuals who are usually not nice or simply rude, and whom I often observed to be highly intelligent individuals. What surprised me though, was how some of these same people became warmer and compassionate when speaking off-work. I realized what was the missing piece: goal-orientation, whether they demand something from me in that moment.
I’ve tested this trilemma hypothesis with my observations over the years and believe it has withheld the test. If my colleague wants results badly from me, I’d better respond intelligently which is the effective way to control the dialogue. If someone I deem more intelligent is consistently nice to me, chances are they demand little from me. And yes, there are nice people who do demand things from me, but I typically have the intelligence advantage in these situations.
Definitions and clarifications:
Nice means genuinely and consistently nice, not temporarily polite or suppressing emotion for strategic reasons (e.g. juniors to seniors)
Intelligent is defined relatively and perceived by that person: i.e. one believe that they are more intelligent than the other party they’re engaging with, in the context that matters (a manager can still be rude to a smarter employee who misunderstood instructions)
Demanding refers broadly to wanting something from the other party directly, not necessarily in a negative way as the word may sound (is there a better adjective?)
This is why families and true friends are usually the nicest to you. They want nothing in return, and hence have no limits in being both nice and intelligent in interactions.
Can We Hack Hedonic Treadmills?
Some suggestions for a rationalist study / entertainment room:
Replace monitors with a large TV of at least 65 inches. Put TV+mac/PC/consoles on/in a TV stand instead of your table. Now you can keep a distance to screen which helps lower eye strain, and when you need larger screen space / immersive experience, you can easily bring yourself closer to the screen (cannot do with a monitor)
Use a height adjustable desk. The option to stand up once an hour helped my spine A Lot. I use a small desk since I only need to place my keyboard, mouse (both wireless), snack and drink. I’ve enjoyed the flexibility of moving around etc.
I found HM Aeron as the most comfortable chair. New ones are very pricy, but second hand prices are much more acceptable and in same quality (they are durable). If you live close to a city there should be copious supply of second hand from offices. Use an Atlas headrest
Use an ikea utility cart to store things you need from time to time, larger things put on shelves
This set up has evolved over years and now it makes me a bit happier each time I step in it.
I happened to have my newborn circumcised just last week. Meticulous research was conducted before the decision was made, as any rationalist would do for a surgery. My finding from medical studies (results have varied so take them as indicative ranges): 1) 5-10% of male have congenital conditions that for sure need circumcision, but identifiable only after puberty, 2) ~50% uncircumcised male encounters medical conditions that may or may not be relevant to foreskin, e.g. infection or cancer, evidence is not significant, 3) father with those 5-10% congenital conditions may increase son’s similar conditions 2-3x, evidence is not significant.
However, I’m the unfortunate 5-10%. I’m not from a culture where circumcision is common or culturally required, but I had mine at 17 and suffered both physically and psychologically. He will suffer greatly too if he finds out those conditions later. After calculating the odds and going through details of the procedure with the pediatrician, we went through the surgery. My son is now fully recovered, much faster than me at 17, but I do believe he suffered from pain especially in the first 24h after anesthesia.
For the non-5-10% fathers without cultural considerations, it seems there are only weak and insignificant evidence so far for a circumcision, as was agreed by 2 pediatricians. All surgeries incur sufferings—instead of arguing on infant abuse, I believe better medical data is the way to justify newborns circumcisions or not in the future.
I’d like to flag a few points—even though this was the most amazing reading I’ve had in a long time:
Trivial point first: If wizards typically live to 150+ years, Lords of Ancient Houses such as Malfoy should typically be the great-grandfathers of Draco/Vincent/Gregory, instead of their fathers’ generation. Peak age of wizards seem to be 100+ (Albus, Alastor and Amelia), not ~50
The question of what is death and soul wasn’t answered. I thought death is the final enemy here, and even though it’s not defeated yet, I hoped EY would lay out a fundamental theory on how Harry will tackle death, rather than simply relying on Philosopher’s Stone. So how Hermione was revived, how horcruxes work etc. were not clear and I really want to know what’s EY’s take on these questions
Lastly but disputably, is Fear of Death one of EY’s egocentric biases? Death has driven evolution and shaped all life forms to date, so while it’s understandable for our hero & heroine to seek immortality, is it rational to get rid of death in humanity for good? I also find this hint of bias in other works/comments from EY but I’ll read more before saying anything further
Nevertheless, thank you, Eliezer, for this wonderful work. I’ll be enthusiastically sharing it with others.
He is a PC, and they are wallpaper.
This line is legendary.
Comed-Tea is officially my favorite drink in all fictional works
I’m new to LW and simply surprised to find INFJ here (also reached this far in this novel), I’m having the impression LW users are exclusively INTPs… Time to update my understanding of the world a bit
Bring in a ton of silver, change to Sickles (and pay 5%), change the Sickles for Galleons, take the gold to the Muggle world, exchange it for more silver than you started with, and repeat.
As econ major I’ve thought out the arbitrage plan habitually before reading this. Laughed out loud when seeing it’s actually written out here. It’s brilliant
Thanks. I believe this trichotomy works better in the Asian finance circle which I’ve stayed probably too long. Recent LessOnline experience revealed a much diverse possibilities in personalities of intelligent people, and I no longer endorse this shortform.