LESSWRONG
LW

by Sarunas
7 min read
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19

If you've recently joined the Less Wrong community, please leave a comment here and introduce yourself. We'd love to know who you are, what you're doing, what you value, how you came to identify as an aspiring rationalist or how you found us. You can skip right to that if you like; the rest of this post consists of a few things you might find helpful. More can be found at the FAQ.

 

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EXTRA FEATURES:
There's actually more than meets the eye here: look near the top of the page for the "WIKI", "DISCUSSION" and "SEQUENCES" links.
LW WIKI: This is our attempt to make searching by topic feasible, as well as to store information like common abbreviations and idioms. It's a good place to look if someone's speaking Greek to you.
LW DISCUSSION: This is a forum just like the top-level one, with two key differences: in the top-level forum, posts require the author to have 20 karma in order to publish, and any upvotes or downvotes on the post are multiplied by 10. Thus there's a lot more informal dialogue in the Discussion section, including some of the more fun conversations here.
SEQUENCES: A huge corpus of material mostly written by Eliezer Yudkowsky in his days of blogging at Overcoming Bias, before Less Wrong was started. Much of the discussion here will casually depend on or refer to ideas brought up in those posts, so reading them can really help with present discussions. Besides which, they're pretty engrossing in my opinion. They are also available in a book form.

A few notes about the community

If you've come to Less Wrong to  discuss a particular topic, this thread would be a great place to start the conversation. By commenting here, and checking the responses, you'll probably get a good read on what, if anything, has already been said here on that topic, what's widely understood and what you might still need to take some time explaining.

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* Normal_Anomaly
* Randaly
* shokwave
* Barry Cotter

A note for theists: you will find the Less Wrong community to be predominantly atheist, though not completely so, and most of us are genuinely respectful of religious people who keep the usual community norms. It's worth saying that we might think religion is off-topic in some places where you think it's on-topic, so be thoughtful about where and how you start explicitly talking about it; some of us are happy to talk about religion, some of us aren't interested. Bear in mind that many of us really, truly have given full consideration to theistic claims and found them to be false, so starting with the most common arguments is pretty likely just to annoy people. Anyhow, it's absolutely OK to mention that you're religious in your welcome post and to invite a discussion there.

A list of some posts that are pretty awesome

I recommend the major sequences to everybody, but I realize how daunting they look at first. So for purposes of immediate gratification, the following posts are particularly interesting/illuminating/provocative and don't require any previous reading:

More suggestions are welcome! Or just check out the top-rated posts from the history of Less Wrong. Most posts at +50 or more are well worth your time.

Welcome to Less Wrong, and we look forward to hearing from you throughout the site!

 

Once a post gets over 500 comments, the site stops showing them all by default. If this post has 500 comments and you have 20 karma, please do start the next welcome post; a new post is a good perennial way to encourage newcomers and lurkers to introduce themselves. (Step-by-step, foolproof instructions here; takes <180seconds.)

If there's anything I should add or update on this post (especially broken links), please send me a private message—I may not notice a comment on the post.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone that helped write this post via its predecessors!

Open Threads
Personal Blog

19

Welcome to Less Wrong! (8th thread, July 2015)
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[-]boatner190

Howdy All!

I’m a post middle-aged, impressively moustachioed dude from Texas, now living in Wisconsin. I moved up here recently, following the work, and now have a fine job in a surprising career path. See, I recently took a couple degrees in Mathematics (which I capitalize out of love, grammar be damned!) hoping to be a teacher for the rest of my time. It turns out, that was not such a good move for me and I was fortunate to receive an offer to get back into private-sector IT. I am now happily managing UNIX systems for a biggish software company here in the tundra.

I’ve been consuming the sequences and lurking in the forum (and newly the Slack cahtrooms) for several weeks. I have no recollection of how I found the site; StumbleUpon would be my first guess, though the xkcd forum is nearly as likely. As I read through the LW site I am struck by the quality of discourse, which is high even among those who disagree.

I am motivated to fill in some gaps in my own thinking on various issues of interest and importance. With the exception of my atheism, I don’t have many strongly held opinions (though at times I do seem to lean quite a ways over on some of them).

So, how did I become a ration... (read more)

Reply
3polymathwannabe
Be welcome, sir.
[-]Salokin190

Hello from Spain! I first found about LW after reading a post about Newcomb's problem and the basilisk last summer. A week after that I found HPMOR and I've been reading and lurking for this whole year. It's been amazing to see how there are other people with ideas like transhumanism and who are trying to become systematically better.

I decided to post here for the first time because I recently atended a CFAR workshop and realized that I could actually help in building a better community. I'm currently translating RAZ to Spanish and hope to create a rationality community in Madrid.

Some other things about me:

  • I'm currently studying Physics at Cambridge but I'm thinking of going into applied Maths and probably into computer science. (I'm very interested in AI risk)
  • I'm trying to find the best way to build healthy relationships and communities of people that help each other be better. (After my experience at CFAR I felt like I'm missing something amazing by not being in an environment like the Bay Area and want to recreate that.)

And that's it! You're all amazing for being part of something like this, hope we can make it even better all together! :)

Reply
5mrexpresso
welcome to LW! Just a question when you think you will finish your translation?
6Salokin
Thank you! :) I'm planning on finishing the first book (The map and the territory) by October but it will probably take longer as I'm not very consistent with my work. The first sequence (Predictably wrong) should be finished this week if I keep my current pace. I'm publishing it here: https://cognonomicon.wordpress.com/ (Everything is in Spanish) I'd appreciate any comments, and if you think that someone you know would benefit from reading rationality in spanish it would be great if you shared it ^^
3Pancho_Iba
I'd gladly read and criticize your translations if you want me to, but it will have to wait until after my topology exam next week. If you want me to do it, please remind me to do so ten days from now or so, since I will most probably forget about it.
0[anonymous]
Cambridge where?
[-]Pancho_Iba190

Regards from Argentina,

Great post. I had started reading through this site randomly while I got more and more into HPMOR, which a friend recommended, and having a little list of posts to start will most probably prove helpful.

I would like to mention that the thing about this community I found the most astonishing was a comment that read something like "Edit: After reading some responses I've changed my mind and this comment no longer respresents my beliefs." I did not even know that it was possible for a human being to be so greatful and humble upon being proven wrong. And humility is something I most definitely need to learn, and I suspect I will be able to do so here. In fact, I already did, for I acknowledged the fact that someone outside my field (pure math, until recently) has something to teach me. Yes, I am (was?) THAT arrogant in a deep level, but here and now I just feel like a child, craving to learn the art of rationality.

Thank you all for what this site constitutes!

Reply
6Viliam
To me it feels easier to admit mistakes in an environment which does not punish admitting mistakes by loss of status. Where people cooperate to find the truth, instead of competing for image of infallibility. Just saying that how one reacts on being shown errors is partially a function of their personality, but also partially a function of their environment. Changing the environment can help, although sometimes bad habits remain.
5Pancho_Iba
I quite agree, but now I'm wondering how could I change my own environment -not by replacing it, but by changing people's reactions- . It seems the responsability to do so lays upon my shoulders since I am the one who intends to live differently. Do you believe it'd be right to attempt to change people's reactions (if I knew a way), or should I acknowledge the possibility that they are just happy the way they are, and should just let them be?
4Viliam
They probably are. Also, even if hypothetically becoming super rational should be an improvement for everyone, your ability to change them is limited, and it's uncertain whether that degree of change you could realistically achieve would be an improvement. Unless you have superior manipulation skills, I believe it is extremely difficult to change people, if they don't want to. You push; they welcome the challenge and push hard in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, defending your own opinion, however stupid it is, is a favorite hobby of too many otherwise intelligent people. It could be a very frustrating experience for you, and an enjoyment for them. At least my experiments in this area seem hugely negative. If people don't want to be rational, you are just giving them more clever arguments they can use in debates. I hate to admit it, but "people never change" seems to be a very good heuristic, even if it is not literally true. (I hate it because of the outside view it provides for my own attempts at self-improvement. That's why I usually say "people never change unless they want to", but the problem is, wanting to change, and declaring that you want to change, are two different things.) Also, I noticed that when you are trying to change, many people around you get anxious and try to bring you back to the "old you". If you want to change your own behavior, it is easier with completely new people, who don't know the "old you", and accept your new behavior as your standard one.
3Pancho_Iba
I know it would be hard, and most likely nearly impossible to change people without a very good idea very well executed, but perhaps a tiny possibility is reason enough to attempt to do it nonetheless. I wish to take your advice on trying to change myself among new people, and so I ask if you have any suggestion on a particular environment on which to try to do so.
2Viliam
The obvious new environment is the nearest LW meetup, if available. Otherwise... I don't know, maybe some public lectures. (I am not the right person to ask about meeting new people. My own social sphere is very small.)
2CCC
People try to do that all the time. One of the best ways is to simply ask other people to change their reactions, and explain why - some people will listen (especially if you point out how the new environment will benefit them as well) while others won't. (Mind you, even the ones that listen will probably be slow to change their reactions... habits are not easily broken) I'd also suggest, at the same time, changing your reactions to match your preferred environment; give everyone around you an example to follow. If you have a position of authority (e.g. a university lecturer in a classroom) you could even use that authority to mandate how students are allowed to react - again, it would help to point out how the ability to change your mind is helpful to the students. I think that it can be right to attempt to change peoples' reactions, if that change is to their benefit and the means employed to effect the change are ethical (i.e. ask them to change, don't put a gun to their head and force them to change).
0Pancho_Iba
Just asking seems a little to plain to work, but I do know some very few people who would listen. The thing is that, by doing so, they are somewhat already reacting rationally. Now I'm thinking maybe I should gather a couple of those people and someone who is less inclined to change his mind and try to "convert" him by providing an environment in which it is ok to be mistaken and good to be corrected... Then I just repeat this process inductively until we take over he world, don't I? I don't have it, but I will have it soon enough and see how it goes.
0CCC
If the simplest solution works, then, well, it works. And if it doesn't... I don't really see any negative consequences of failure. It'll work for some people, not for others. You could try, I guess, but people change slowly so it could take a while. I think that trying to force it could have ethical problems. But inviting someone to have a chat with you and your friends shouldn't have any such problems. Good luck!
[-]jordansparks180

Hi, my name is Jordan Sparks, and I'm the Executive Director of Oregon Cryonics. I work very hard every day to improve cryonics technology and to attract potential cryonics clinicians.

Reply
[-]Yaacov180

Hi LW! My name is Yaacov, I've been lurking here for maybe 6 months but I've only recently created an account. I'm interested in minimizing human existential risk, effective altruism, and rationalism. I'm just starting a computer science degree at UCLA, so I don't know much about the topic now but I'll learn more quickly.

Specific questions:

What can I do to reduce existential risk, especially that posed by AI? I don't have an income as of yet. What are the best investments I can make now in my future ability to reduce existential risk?

Reply
5endoself
Hi Yaacov! The most active MIRIx group is at UCLA. Scott Garrabrant would be happy to talk to you if you are considering research aimed at reducing x-risk. Alternatively, some generic advice for improving your future abilities is to talk to interesting people, try to do hard things, and learn about things that people with similar goals do not know about.
5Squark
Hi Yaacov, welcome! I guess that you can reduce X-risk by financing the relevant organizations, contributing to research, doing outreach or some combination of the three. You should probably decide which of these paths you expect to follow and plan accordingly.
4Viliam
If you choose the path of trying to make a lot of money and supporting the organizations who do the research, 80000 hours can help. If you choose to contribute by doing the research, you can start by reading what's already done.
[-]chalime180

Hello LW!

Been lurking for about three years now- it’s time to at least introduce myself. Plus, I want to share a little about my current situation (work problems), and get some feedback on that. I’ll try and give a balanced take, but remember I’m talking about myself here…

First, for background, I’m 23, graduated about a year and a half ago with degrees in finance, accounting, and economics (I can sit still and take tests), and I also played basketball in college (one thing I can definitively say I’m good at is dribbling a basketball).

Brief Intellectual Journey
I didn’t care much about anything besides sports until I got to college. Freshmen year, I took a micro class and found it interesting, so I went online and discovered Marginal Revolution. I’ve been addicted to the internet ever since.

It started with the George Mason econ guys (Kling, Caplan, Roberts—that’s my bias), then I got interested in the psychology behind our beliefs and our actions (greatest hits being The Righteous Mind (Haidt), Thinking Fast and Slow (Kahneman), Mark Manson’s blog, Paul Graham’s blog). Somewhere during that time I stumbled across Lesswrong, SSC, HPMOR, and the rest of the rationality blogosphere, an... (read more)

Reply
[-]Fluttershy110

Hi chalime,

Welcome to LW!

There are many of us here who share your views on the financial services industry, and index funds with low expense ratios have been strongly recommended in nearly all of the financial advice threads posted on LW. I once went to a career information session hosted by a botique wealth management firm myself, and ended up not even sending them my resume because of similar reasons regarding my personal fit with the field, and value of services provided by advisers.

The 80,000 Hours blog has historically mentioned that the good done by donating a small part of one's income to excellent charities likely outweighs any harm done by a career in the financial services industry. However, if working for a wealth management company doesn't feel like a good fit to you, you certainly shouldn't feel morally obligated to stay with them for earning-to-give reasons!

Reply
3chalime
Thanks for the reply Fhuttersly- Yes, I’ll be honest, my mind is made up. There is no way I can continue to do this every day- it’s just not sustainable. It’s a little scary because this is already my second job since graduating, and even if I think I have good reasons for leaving, that stuff is not easy to explain.
7Vaniver
Welcome! So, presumably you're familiar with companies like Vanguard, Wealthfront, and Betterment, which are much more customer-aligned than the rest of the financial services industry. But part of that is spending much less attention on individual clients--and, consequently, employing considerably fewer people, and different sorts of people. (I would expect that Wealthfront needs more web programmers than economists, for example.) You might consider applying at those places, but my suspicion is you'll end up in another field entirely.
9chalime
Yep, I've actually already applied to all three of those places. Vanguard would be my first choice of the three because I could do more outside of focusing strictly on investments, and actually have an advisor type relationship with people. You're right though in that I do have hesitations about being in this industry at all, because: * I am too anti-fee (e.g. why pay a fee on an IRA account at Wealthfront/Betterment? Yes, it’s better than what most people would do on their own, but it’s still not the optimal… I go back and forth on this one, because I do put a high value on the simplicity of it). * The business is based on meeting with lots of people and selling to them, and the people I would get along with the best are probably doing this stuff themselves * There’s tension between what this would be focused on (manage money effectively, accumulate wealth) vs. my desire to be more EA and act on the knowledge that I have enough, and many others do not. I haven’t heard back from any of the applications, so it’s a moot point right now.
3Viliam
Maybe someone on LW could recommend you a better job. Either here (but you would have to tell us at least what country are you from) or at a local meetup.
3chalime
Well, I pulled the trigger yesterday. While it felt great to actually speak my mind and have a real discussion regarding all of these issues (it was actually pretty amazing- no yelling or anyone getting upset- there was actual discourse), I will now be jobless in a month, and I really don’t know the answer to what’s next. I’m debating between staying in my current area which would be a finance/accounting/operations type of role or just scrapping that whole path and try to go the programming route (close to zero expertise as of now). I’ve spent a lot of time working towards different credentials (CPA being the main one) so it’s hard to walk away from that even though I don’t think I’m learning anything all that useful. I’ve never met anyone from these communities (Lesswrong/EA), but I spend a lot of time here, so yeah I would definitely be open to talking with anyone here about general strategy (I’ve read all of 80000 hours) or specific opportunities if someone stumbles across this and has an idea. I will use more conventional methods as well, but I wanted to at least put this out there.
5Viliam
You may want to post your question in an Open Thread. Maybe it would be more strategic to skip the current one which already contains over 200 comments, and wait for the new one to appear on Wednesday 19th; so more people will see it. Better than here in a thread that started three weeks ago. I know almost nothing about the situation in "finance/accounting/operations type of role". I have mostly been a programmer, so now my availability bias screams at me that "everyone is a programmer, and everything outside of IT is super rare", which is obviously a nonsense. If there is a website in your country with job offers, perhaps you could try to imagine that you already have 3 years of experience, and look how many opportunities are there for each option and how well they pay. My experience with programming in Java was that about 50% of jobs available are programs for some kind of financial institutions. (But this may be irrelevant for you; I am describing Eastern Europe.) The companies usually need some analyst to talk with the customer and explain their needs to the programmers. If you have a good financial backgroud, this could be the right job for you. Programming could be risky, because it's not for everyone. You should probably try it first in your free time. (Hint: If you don't like programming in your free time, then the job probably is not the right one for you.) Also, after a few years the programmers usually hit the salary ceiling, and want to switch to managers or analysts. (Again, in Eastern Europe; I don't know how universal this is.) If you could start as an analyst, you would be already ahead of me in the IT career, and I am almost twice your age with about 20 years of programming experience. I have a friend who works in IT and makes more money than I do despite being a worse programmer, because he is a specialist: in his case it is finance and databases; also he is willing to travel to a customer in a different country whenever necessary. So the lesso
3Lumifer
I thought you had issues with the financial services industry -- if you are an accountant you can work as an accountant in any industry you want including non-profits.
[-]mrexpresso170

Hey less wrong.

I am Vicente and I am new here, i have been lurking here for one or two months and I have just created an account two or three weeks ago.

And right now I am reading Rationality: From AI to Zombies from Eliezer Yudkowsky.

some facts about me:

  • I live in Quebec city, Canada
  • I am under 18 but you will never know my age
  • I love computer science and I know php a little bit of c and html css (but those are not real programming languages)
  • I love and use free software (like in freedom)
  • the distro that I use is Debian gnu/linux

and that it!

and also:

i wanted to know howto have a bio in your user page like eliezer page.

Reply
[-][anonymous]120

Hi Vicente!

To make an user profile, set up an account on the Wiki, with the same name as your LessWrong account. Then make a user page for it. After a day, LW will automatically use that to make your profile page

How did you found out about Less Wrong? What's been the most interesting part about the writings so far?

Reply
9mrexpresso
I found out about LW in a french video and then i just remembered the site name, Two or three months later I came visit the site and i read some post and i found it interesting so after that I came back and discover that the site was power by Reddit code and I check the reddit source code on github and then I discover it was a fsf(free software foundation) approved license so I decide to create an account plus I already was on reddit. well for the reading i am only at the page number 23 (I just started) but so far: why true, book 1 section 1 sub-section 3 Feeling Rational, book 1 section 1 sub-section 2 And for the help thanks I will try later. NOTE: why your username is asd has it some thing to do with Autism spectrum disorder?
6[anonymous]
It's interesting that you took such a note from the fact that LW is powered by reddit, why was that so interesting? No, not at all. It's a version of "asdf" which is the first thing you write if you start to write nonsense on your keyboard, and it doesn't have any explicit symbolism.
4mrexpresso
Because i try to avoid non-free software and sites but I make some exceptions for sites like google and etc because there are no good free alternative. But if there where I will be the first to switch. NOTE: free as in freedom
1[anonymous]
That's very interesting code of honour! Do you have anything in mind on how you'd like to contribute on LW or do you have such plans?
3mrexpresso
I think I will be contributing to the discussion section and maybe when I get enough karma I will see what I can post in the main section.
-1Lumifer
I understand the concept of libre and non-libre software, but what are "non-free websites"?
4mrexpresso
non-free websites are websites that use non-free code (non-free license or are Proprietary) but my philosophy is that if there not any free alternative then I will use the site anyway. But any good free alternative I will be the first to switch. NOTE: free as in freedom
[-][anonymous]150

Hi everyone.

I'm about to start my second year of college in Utah. My intent is to major in math and/or computer science, although more generally I'm interested in many of the subjects that LessWrongers seem to gravitate towards (philosophy, physics, psychology, economics, etc.)

I first noticed something that Eliezer Yudkowsky posted on Facebook several months ago, and have since been quietly exploring the rationality-sphere and surrounding digital territories (although I'm no longer on FB). Joining LessWrong seemed like the obvious next step given the time I had spent on adjacent sites. I'm here solely out of curiosity and philosophical interest.

Thanks to Sarunas and predecessors for the welcome page, and the LW community more generally. I look forward to being a part of it.

Reply
6Stephen_Cole
Exciting! If I were in your place I would look at the growing field of causal inference which lives at the interface of statistics, computer science, epidemiology and economics. The books by Hernan and Robins (causal inference) and Pearl (causality), as well as the journal edited by Judea Pearl and Maya Petersen (causal inference).
5[anonymous]
Thanks for the recommendations (esp. Hernan and Robins). I'll definitely take a look.
3Vladimir_Nesov
And if you did in fact have a secret agenda, you wouldn't reveal it.
7[anonymous]
Psst, it's way more fun to treat everyone on LW as having a secret agenda.
[-]Della150

Hello! I'm Alex, from Maryland, but I go to college in Ithaca, NY, where I am working on my math major/computer science minor. Way back when, a few of my friends kept talking about how great HPMOR was, so I started reading and I loved it. It is one of my all-time favorite stories. As I was reading it, I was very interested by all the ways Harry knew how to think right, and then one of my friends recommended the sequences and I read them all! Except for metaethics and quantum stuff.

I really enjoyed the sequences. They changed how I think. I managed to climb out of the agnostic trap of "you can neither prove nor disprove the existence of a deity". I plan on becoming even more rational. I've heard CFAR is a good resource.

I had been reading the posts on the main page for a while when I saw the most recent census and felt guilty about taking it without an account, so I made one but haven't used it until now. I didn't feel right commenting in other places when I hadn't introduced myself, but I am finally done putting it off!

Reply
[-]anna_macdonald140

Hi LWers.

My brothers got me into HPMOR, I started reading a couple sequences, switched over to reading the full Rationality: AI to Zombies, and recently finished that. The last few days, I've been browsing around LW semi-randomly, reading posts about starting to apply the concepts and about fighting akrasia.

I'm guessing I'm atypical for an LW reader: I'm a stay-at-home mom. Any others of those on here?

Reply
6Alicorn
I'm not a mom yet but I'm effectively a house spouse :)
4Gram_Stone
There are definitely a lot of parents on LessWrong. I'm sure there are at least a few stay-at-home moms. In fact, 18.4% of the participants in the 2014 LW Survey have children, and 0.5% (8 people) describe themselves as 'homemakers.'
4anna_macdonald
Thanks for the link! I made a (brief, low effort) attempt to find that post earlier, but only came across the census surveys, not the results. Heck, there's even one survey respondent who has more kids than I do. Cool beans.
2Vaniver
Welcome! How many kids, and how old are they?
4anna_macdonald
6... 7 if you count my adult step-daughter (who I didn't really help raise). Ages 12, 11, 9, 7, 5, and 7-months.
1Vaniver
Impressive! Both of my parents came from huge households (7 and 8), but I had the more typical upbringing with only one sibling, who was only slightly older.
1anna_macdonald
My mom was one of 11, my dad one of 4; I am one of 7 myself. It definitely makes having a big family feel more natural.
[-]csandon140

Hi, I am a graduate student who is working on getting a PhD in math. My journey here started when I took a moral philosophy course as an undergrad that made me think about what I should do. I decided that I should do my best to improve the world, and I eventually decided that existential risk mitigation was the highest priority improvement. Researching that lead me here, I lurked for a few years, and now I have finally made an account.

I am hoping to get some insight here as to whether it would be most effective for me to work on the AI friendliness problem, donate money, or something else. I am also interested in learning how to manage routine aspects of my life better.

Reply
[-]riparianx140

Hi, I'm Alexandra. I'm turning 18 tomorrow, and I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that I have GOT to be more rigorous in my self-improvement if I'm going to manage to reach my ambitions.

I'm not quite a new member- I've lurked a lot, and even made a post a while back that got a decent number of comments and karma.

I discovered Less Wrong through HPMOR. It was the first time I'd read a story with genuinely intelligent characters, and the things in it resonated a lot with me. This was a couple of years ago. I've spent a lot of time here and on the various other sites the rationalist community likes.

I'm mostly posting this now because I'd like to get more involved. I recently read an article that said the best way to increase competency at a subject is to join a community revolving around the subject. I live in OKC, where I've never even HEARD of another student of rationality. The closest I've gotten is introducing my boyfriend to HPMOR.

I'm a biology student at a community college near my living space. I'm very good at biology, english, philosophy, etc. I'm really, REALLY bad at chemistry/physics and math. I've done some basic research into what makes a person suck at mathematical... (read more)

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3CCC
Hi, Alexandria! Okay... I am one of those people who is really good at math. Of course, I cannot be certain, but I suspect that the trouble here might be that you failed to grasp some essential point way, way back at the early stages of your mathematical education. So, let's see how you handle a non-obvious problem. In answering this question, I'd like you to show me, as far as possible, your entire reasoning process, start to finish; the more information you can give, the more helpful my further responses can be. The question is as follows: John is on his way to an important meeting; he has to be there at noon. Before leaving home, he has calculated what his average speed has to be to arrive at his meeting on time. When he is exactly half-way to his destination, he calculates his average speed so far, and to his dismay he finds that it is half the value that it needs to be. How fast does John need to travel on the second half of his journey in order to reach his destination on time?
2[anonymous]
Hello, Alexandra. I also struggle with the math thing. My secret to success is practicing until I'm miserable, but these things also help: 1. Read layman books about mathematical history, theory, and research. It ignites enthusiasm. I recommend James Glieck's [sp?] book Chaos, and his book The Information. He has a talent for weaving compelling narratives around the science. 2. Learn a little bit of programming. While coding is frustrating in its own right, I find that it forces me to think mathematically. I can't leave steps out. I'm learning Python right now, and it's a good introductory language (I'm told). 3. Explain it to your cat. I'm only mostly kidding. I've found that tutoring lower-level math has helped my skills in calculus and statistics. Learning to walk through the problems in a coherent way, so that a moody sixth-grader can understand it, is tremendously helpful. I'd love to work together on exploring mathematical concepts. If you'd like to collaborate, hit me up sometime. Also: if you like HPMOR, you should read Luminosity. It is a rationality-driven version of Twilight that's actually really good.
1riparianx
I will do that. I think I may actually have a copy of Chaos lying around. I've actually read (most of) Luminosity- I lost my place in the story at one point due to computer issues and never got back to it. I tried CodeAcademy once, didn't find it that interesting. I don't think it used python, though. I'll check it out. Programming is in general very useful. If I can find someone to tutor, I'll try that. It certainly can't hurt. Thank you!
-7ChristianKl
[-]Vamair0130

Hello. My name is Andrey, I'm a C++ programmer from Russia. I've been lurking here for about three years. As many others I've found this site by link from HPMOR. The biggest reason for joining in the first place was that I believe the community is right about a lot of important things, and the comments of quality that's difficult to find in the bigger Net. I've already finished reading the Sequences and right now I'm interested in ethics and I believe I've got a few ideas to discuss.

For the origin story as a rationalist, as it often happens it's all started with a crisis of faith. Actually, the second one. The first was a turn from Christianity to a complicated New Age paradigm I'll maybe explain later. The second was prompted by a question of why I believe some of the things I believe in. While I used to think there was a lot of evidence for the supernatural, I've started trying to verify them and also read religion apologetics to evaluate the best arguments they have. Yup, they were bad. The world doesn't look like there exists a powerful interventionist deity. (And even if the miracles they were talking about that happen right now are true miracles, all of them are better explai... (read more)

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6[anonymous]
Hi there Andrey! I am also a former apologist (aspiring, anyways - teenage girls aren't taken very seriously by theologians). I clung to my faith so hard. It's amazing how much the evidence there is against the classical notion of the supernatural. It's a snowball effect. Every piece stripped away another aspect of my fundamentalism, until I was a socially-liberal Christian. Then, an agnostic theist. Then, an agnostic atheist. I'm also looking forward to getting involved with the community. The high standards for conversation here are intimidating, but it's exciting, too.
[-]PAM606130

Well since I'm procrastinating on important things I might as well use this time to introduce myself. Structured procrastination for the win!

Hello everyone, I have been poking around on less wrong , slater star codex and related places for around three to four years now but mostly lurking. I have gradually become more and more taken with the risks of artificial intelligence orders of magnitudes smarter than us Homo Sapiens. In that aspect, I'm glad that the topic of a super-intelligent AI has taken off into the mainstream media and academia. EY isn't the lonely crank with no real academic affiliation, a nerdy Cassandra of his time, spewing nonsense on the internet anymore. From what I gather, status games are so cliche here that it's not cool. But with endorsements by people like Hawking and Gates, people can't easily dismiss these ideas anymore. I feel like this is a massively good thing because with these ideas up in the air so to speak, even intelligent AI researchers who disagree on these topics will probably not accidentally build an AI that will turn us all into paper clips to maximize happiness. That is not to say that there doesn't exist numerous other failure pathways. ... (read more)

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[-]dglukhov120

Hello all,

I found this site from a link in the comments section of an SCP Foundation post, which consequently linked to one of Eliezer's stranger allegorical pieces about the dangers of runaway AI intelligence getting the best of us. I've been hooked since.

Thanks to this site, I'm relearning university physics through Feynman, have plans to pick up a couple textbooks from the recommended list, and plan on taking the opportunity to meet some hopefully intellectually stimulating people in person if any of the meetups you guys seem to regularly have manage to ever make it closer to the general Massachusetts area.

I recently graduated with a B.S in Chemistry with the now odd realization that I haven't really learned anything during my experiences at university. I hope participating here will alleviate this void of knowledge I could have potentially learned.

Furthermore, if I'm lucky, I might get to contribute to the plethora of useful discussions that seem to populate this site. If I'm even luckier, those contributions will be positive. Let's just hope I learn fast enough to make sure luck isn't the deciding factor for such an outcome.

I am also curious as to the level of regular activity... (read more)

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2Raemon
Welcome!
[-][anonymous]120

Hello!

I became interested in psychology at a young age, and irritated everyone around me by reading (and refusing to shut up about) the entire psych section of my local library. I had a difficult time at that age separating the "woo" from actual science, and am disappointed that I focused more on "trivia learned" and "books read" than actual retention. At any rate, I have a pretty good contextual knowledge of psychology, even if my specific knowledge is shaky. I put this knowledge to good use for seven years while I worked with developmentally delayed children.

I discovered Less Wrong in 2011/2009/2007/I actually have three distinct memories of discovering it at different times, but was turned off by the trend of atheism. I know how ridiculous that is for an aspiring rationalist, to reject evidence because it's uncomfortable. The "quiet strain" was too much, and I found the community exclusive and hard to break into. This site was not responsible for the disintegration of my faith, but it was another nudge in that direction. I don't know how to quantify my beliefs anymore; I think the God/No-God dichotomy is irrelevant. I'm perfectly ... (read more)

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[-]BiasedBayes120

Hello all!

Im a medical student and a researcher. My interests are consciousness, computational theory of mind, evolutionary psychology, and medical decision making. I bought Eliezers book and found here because of it.

Want to thank Eliezer for writing the book, best writing i have read this year. Thank You.

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5hyporational
Welcome! I'm an MD and haven't yet figured out why there are so few of us here, given the importance of rationality for medical decision making. It's interesting that at least in my country there is zero training in cognitive biases in the curriculum.
8Anders_H
I have the Irish equivalent of an MD; "Medical Bachelor, Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of the Art of Obstetrics". This unwieldy degree puts me in fairly decent company on Less Wrong. I may be generalizing from a sample of one, but my impression is that medicine selects out rationalists for the following reasons: (1) The human body is an incompletely understood highly complex system; the consequences of manipulating any of the components can generally not be predicted from an understanding of the overall system. Medicine therefore necessarily has to rely heavily on memorization (at least until we get algorithms that take care of the memorization) (2) A large component of successful practice of medicine is the ability to play the socially expected part of a doctor. (3) From a financial perspective, medical school is a junk investment after you consider the opportunity costs. Consider the years in training, the number of hours worked, the high stakes and high pressure, the possibility of being sued etc. For mainstream society, this idea sounds almost contrarian, so rationalists may be more likely to recognize it. -- My story may be relevant here: I was a middling medical student; I did well in those of the pre-clinical courses that did not rely too heavily on memorization, but barely scraped by in many of the clinical rotations. I never had any real passion for medicine, and this was certainly reflected in my performance. When I worked as an intern physician, I realized that my map of the human body was insufficiently detailed to confidently make clinical decisions; I still wonder whether my classmates were better at absorbing knowledge that I had missed out on, or if they are just better at exuding confidence under uncertainty. I now work in a very subspecialized area of medical research that is better aligned with rational thinking; I essentially try to apply modern ideas about causal inference to comparative effectiveness research and medical decision making
7EHeller
I don't think medicine is a junk investment when you consider the opportunity cost, at least in the US. Consider my sister, a fairly median medical school graduate in the US. After 4 years of medical school (plus her undergrad) she graduated with 150k in debt (at 6% or so). She then did a residency for 3 years making 50k a year, give or take. After that she became an attending with a starting salary of $220k. At younger than 30, she was in the top 4% of salaries in the US. The opportunity cost is maybe ~45k*4 years, 180k + direct cost of 150k or so.. So $330k "lost to training," however 35+ years of making 100k a year more than some alternative version that didn't do medical school. Depending on investment and loan decisions by 5 years out you've recouped your investment. Now, if you don't like medicine and hate the work, you've probably damned yourself to doing it anyway. Paying back that much loan is going to be tough working in any other job. But that is a different story than opportunity cost.
4BiasedBayes
Thanks hyporational ! It is exactly same here. Cognitive biases, heuristics, or even Bayes Theorem (normative decision making) is not really taught here. Also I once argued against some pseudoscientific treatment (in mental illnesses) and my arguments were completely ignored by 200 people because of argumentum ad hominem and attribute substitution (who looks like he is right vs. looking the actual arguments). Most people dont know what is a good argument or how to think about the propability of a statement. Interesting points Anders_H, I have to think about those littlebit.
4hyporational
We were taught bayes in the form of predictive values, but this was pretty cursory. Challenging the medical professors' competence publicly isn't a smart move careerwise, unless they happen to be exceptionally rational and principled, unfortunately. There's a time to shut up and multiply, and a time to bend to the will of the elders :)
7Lumifer
Reminds me of:
2BiasedBayes
Yep :) You are definetely right career wise. Problem for me was the 200 other people who will absorb completely wrong idea of how the mind works if I wont say anything. Primum non nocere. But yeah, this was 4 years ago anyway...just wanted to mention it as an anecdote of bad general reasoning and biases :)
3hyporational
Huh. My experience is somewhat similar to yours in the sense that I never was a big fan of memorization, and I'm glad that I could outsource some parts of the process to Anki. I also seem to outperform my peers in complex situations where ready made decision algorithms are not available, and outperformed them in the few courses in medschool that were not heavy on memorization. The complex situations obviously don't benefit from bayes too much, but they benefit from understanding the relevant cognitive biases. The medical degree is a financial jackpot here in Finland, since I was actually paid for studying, and landed in one of the top 3 best paying professions in the country straight out of medschool. Money attracts every type, and the selection process doesn't especially favor rationalists, who happen to be rare. It just baffles me how the need for rationality doesn't become self evident for med students in the process of becoming a doctor, not to mention after that.
2Lumifer
Is it just a matter of terminology? I would guess that all med students will agree that they should be able to make a correct diagnosis (where correct = corresponding to the underlying reality) and then prescribe appropriate treatment (where appropriate = effective in achieving goals set for this patient).
2hyporational
Whatever the terminology, they should make the connection between the process of decision making and the science of decision making, which they don't seem to do. Medicine is like this isolated bubble where every insight must come from the medical community itself. I found overcoming bias and became a rationalist during med school. Finding the blog was purely accidental, although I recognized the need for understanding my thinking, so I'm not sure what form this need would have taken given a slightly different circumstance.
[-]JosephRogero110

Hello from Houston, Texas! I've been following LessWrong for several years now, slowly working my way through the Sequences. I'm an aspiring fantasy/sci-fi writer, martial artist, and outdoorsman and I am overjoyed to be a part of the LW community. It's hard for me to say exactly when I first 'clicked' on rationality, but the Tsuyoku Naritai post certainly struck a chord for me.

A few months ago, I attended a LessWrong meetup in Austin. I enjoyed the meetup immensely, not least because it also happened to be a Petrov Day celebration. I'd like to attend LW meetups more frequently, but I live in Spring (north Houston) and the Austin meetup is a 3+ hour drive for me.

So, I've decided to start a Houston meetup group. According to some (admittedly old) statistics, the number of visitors to LessWrong from the Houston area is over 9000, and I think this is more than enough to create an enjoyable meetup group.

Our first meetup will be Saturday, February 20 at the Black Walnut Cafe in the Woodlands, TX. It will start at 1:00PM and go until 4:00PM (or later, if enough people show up and are interested in staying).

If you're interested, please reply below so I know who to expect!

Reply
2[anonymous]
Hi, and welcome! I'm hoping to start a Meetup group sometime this spring or summer. If you're amenable to it, I may bug you afterwards and see how your meetup went.
0JosephRogero
Gladly! Of course, if you're interested, you are also welcome to attend this one.
0[anonymous]
It'd be quite a drive, I'm in Idaho, but I'll keep that in mind next time I'm in Houston.
[-]curtisrussell110

Hello everyone! Came to less wrong as a lurker something like a two years ago (Perhaps more, my grasp on time is... fragile at best), and binged through all of HPMOR that was up then, and waited with bated breath for the rest. After a long time spent lurking, reading the blogs and then the e-book, I decided I wanted to do more than aimlessly wander through readings and sequences.

So here I am! I posted to the lounge on reddit, and now I'm posting here. The essence of why I'm posting now is simple: I want to start down a road towards aiding in the work towards FAI. I graduated a year and a half ago, and I want to start learning in a directed and purposeful way. So I'm here to ask for advice on where and how to get started, outside of standard higher education.

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5John_Maxwell
Welcome! MIRI created a research guide for people interested in helping with FAI.
0ChristianKl
In what discipline?
[-]EngineerofScience110

I joined lesswrong because my friends suggested it to me. I really like all the articles and the fact that the comments on the articles are useful and don't have lots of bad language. This really surprised me.

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[-]cameroncowan110

I think I've caused enough kerfluffles around here that many people know me but I'm Cameron. I've been on the site almost a year I think. BA and MA in Political Science. I have a regular interest in philosophy and I found out about the site from a disparaging article on Slate.com. I'm one of the weird spiritual people on her practicing western esoterica. In the past I've worked in media and PR. Currently, I'm a novelist in Tacoma, WA, USA and host of The Cameron Cowan Show, every monday and friday on youtube (fresh shows in August!) For more information, clips and All The News You Need To Know In 10 Minutes or Less (and why you should care about it), see me at CameronCowan.net! Thanks for reading!

Reply
[-]htimsxela100

Hello LW,

My name is Alex, and while I first discovered LW 2-3 years ago, I have only visited the site sporadically since then. I have always found the discussion here intriguing and insightful, but never found myself motivated enough to dedicate time to joining the community (until now!).

I'm a 26 year old Canadian with an undergraduate degree majoring in chemistry and minoring in philosophy (with a healthy dose of physics on the side). I have always been very analytical and process driven, and I have used that to fuel my creativity, and develop a more thorough understanding of the world we find ourselves a part of. I have been self-employed since graduating, with the eventual goal of returning to school for a graduate degree.

In my undergrad, my strengths and interests were in synthetic/materials chemistry, as well as organic chemistry. I spent time working for a research group that specialized (largely) in group 14 nano-material chemistry, which I enjoyed immensely. The areas of philosophy I concentrated on were philosophy of science, computing & AI, theory of mind, and existentialism. In short, I avoided the 'historical overview' philosophy courses in favour of those which we... (read more)

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[-]phl4390

Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD candidate at Cornell, where I work on logic and philosophy of science. I learned about Less Wrong from Slate Star Codex and someone I used to date told me she really liked it. I recently started a blog where I plan to post my thoughts about random topics: http://necpluribusimpar.net. For instance, I wrote a post (http://necpluribusimpar.net/slavery-and-capitalism/) against the widely held but false belief that much of the US wealth derives from slavery and that without slavery the industrial revolution wouldn't have happened, as well ... (read more)

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[-]DryHeap90

Hello all,

South Carolinian uni student. Been lurking here for some time. Once my desire to give an input came to a boil, I decided to go ahead and make an account. Mathematics, CompSci, and various forms of Biology are my intensive studies.

Less intense hobbies include music theory, politics, game theory, and cultural studies. I'm more of a 'genetics is the seed, culture is the flower' kind of guy.

The art of manipulation is fascinating to me; sometimes, when one knows their audience, one must make non-rational appeals to their audience to persuade them. T... (read more)

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1Viliam
Welcome! I partially agree, but I believe there is usually no clear dividing line between "those who know, and use irrational claims strategically" and "the followers who drink the kool-aid". First, peer pressure is a thing. Even if you consciously invent a lie, when everyone in your social group keeps repeating it, it will create an enormous emotional pressure on you to rationalize "well, my intention was to invent a lie, but it seems like I accidentally stumbled upon an important piece of truth". Or more simply, you start believing that the strong version of X is the lie you invented, but some weaker variant of X is actually true. Second, unless there is a formal conspiracy coordination among the alpha lizardmen, it is possible that leader A will create and spread a lie X without explaining to leader B what happened, and leader B will create and spread a lie Y without explaining to leader A what happened, so at the end both of them are the manipulators and the sheep at the same time.
0DryHeap
Very good point. On a similar note: we often don't consider whether we have empirically tested what we, ourselves, believe to be true. Most often, we have not. I'd wager that we are all 'useful idiots' of a sort.
0niceguyanon
It's sheep all the way up!
0Lumifer
Sheep all the way up, turtles all the way down, and here we are stuck in the middle!
0entirelyuseless
"Or more simply, you start believing that the strong version of X is the lie you invented, but some weaker variant of X is actually true." That's true, but in most cases it is in fact the case that some weaker variant is true, and this explains why you were able to convince people of the lie. That said, this process is not in general a good way to discover the truth.
0Viliam
I would still expect a shift towards the group beliefs; e.g. if the actual value of some x is 5, and the enemy tribe believes it's 0, and you strategically convince your tribe that it is 10... you may find yourself slowly updating towards 6, 7, or 8... even if you keep remembering that 10 was a lie. Anyway, as long as we both agree that this is not a good way to discover truth, the specific details are less important.
0entirelyuseless
I agree with that, and that is one reason why it is not a good method.
[-]aaq90

Hello from Boston. I've been reading LW since some point this summer. I like it a lot.

I'm an engineering student and willing to learn whatever it takes for me to tackle world problems like poverty, hunger and transmissible diseases. But for now I'm focusing my efforts on my degree.

Reply
[-]Marko90

Hello LessWrong!

I'm Marko, a mathematician from Germany. I like nerding around with epistemology, decision theory, statistics and the like. I've spent a few wonderful years with the Viennese rationality community and got to meet lots of other interesting and fun LessWrongians at the European Community Weekend this year. Now I'm in Zürich and want to build a similar group there.

Thanks for giving me so much food for thought!

Reply
0Gram_Stone
Welcome, Marko!
[-]ThePrussian90

Hi everyone.

I've already posted a couple of pieces - probably should have visited this page first, especially before posting my last piece. Well, such is life.

I headed over to LessWrong because I was/am a bit burned out by the high-octane conversations that go on online. I've disagreed with some things I've read here, but never wanted to beat my head - or someone else's - against a wall. So, I'm here to learn. I like the sequences have picked up some good points already - especially about replacing the symbol with the substance.

Question - what's ... (read more)

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6Viliam
My guess is: it is okay, if it would be okay to post the same content here. Please provide a short summary when linking.
2Username
Welcome!
[-]TheOnlyAu80

Hi LW Users,

I apologise in advance for not having more to say initially, but I created an account on this website for one reason. I have one proposition/idea to put forth on the discussion section.

I would prefer to wait until I have twenty karma so that I may post the proposition/idea there, so I hope that your curiosity has been sparked enough, otherwise let me know.

Thanks so much for reading :)

Reply
7gjm
Welcome. You will only accumulate karma by having people upvote your comments, so if your goal is as you describe then I'm afraid you'll have to participate in other ways too before you get to show us your idea. (Of course you could put it in a comment in the Open Thread or something if you can't wait.)
2TheOnlyAu
Where should I be commenting then? Right here? And where is the open thread? Thank you so much for your help and I look forward to it.
0TheOtherDave
The current open thread is here: http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/nns/open_thread_may_30_june_5_2016/ A new one will be started soon.
[-]selador80

Hi LW,

I got interested in rationality from the books Irrationality, some others I can't remember in between and later, fast and slow. Somehow I found HPMOR, which I loved, and through that, found this. Other influences have included growing up with quite strongly religious parents (first win for the power of the question - but why do you believe that, first loss for thinking that because something was obvious to me I could snap my fingers and make it obvious to others.)

What I'm doing: I'm in my twenties, working in the energy sector because I started foll... (read more)

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[-]ShaneC80

Hello from Canada! I study computer science and philosophy at the University of Waterloo. Above anything, I love mathematics. The certainty that comes from a mathematical proof is amazing, and it fuels my current position about epistemology (see below). My favourite courses for mathematics so far have been the introductory course about proofs, and a course about formal logic (the axioms of first order logic, deduction rules, etc). Philosophy has always been very interesting to me: I've taken courses about epistemology, ethics, the philosophy language; I am... (read more)

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2Sarunas
This sounds similar to Coherence theory of truth.
[-]cwl70

Hello LW,

My name is Colton. I'm a 22 year old electrical engineering student from Missouri who found Less Wrong about a year ago through Slate Star Codex and binged most of the sequences.

I have been interested in the study of bias and how to avoid it since I read the book Predictably Irrational a few years back. I also consider myself quite academic for an engineer, with a good deal of physics, math, and computer science theory under my belt.

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[-]crmflynn70

I have been lurking around LW for a little over a year. I found it indirectly through the Simulation Argument > Bostrom > AI > MIRI > LW. I am a graduate of Yale Law School, and have an undergraduate degree in Economics and International Studies focusing on NGO work. I also read a lot, but in something of a wandering path that I realize can and should be improved upon with the help, resources, and advice of LW.

I have spent the last few years living and working in developing countries around the world in various public interest roles, trying to ... (read more)

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[-]masters0270

Hello all!

I'm a graduated International Relations student from London. I took a year off after graduation to learn how to manage my finances and invest in the stock market. Because of that, I came across my life hero, Charlie Munger, the vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. He is a machine of rationality and is by far one of the wisest men (if not the wisest) alive. He wrote an essay called, "The psychology of human misjudgement" (http://law.indiana.edu/instruction/profession/doc/16_1.pdf) which I implore all rationality-seekers to devour. This... (read more)

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2Vaniver
Welcome! One of my primary pieces of exposure to Munger is Peter Bevelin's book, Seeking Wisdom from Darwin to Munger, which I think you might enjoy--as I recall, it draws from the same Heuristics and Biases literature as many other things (like Munger's essay) but has enough examples that don't show up in the more standard works (Thinking and Deciding, Thinking Fast and Slow, etc.) to be worthwhile on its own.
3masters02
Thanks for the recommendation. I've seen Bevelin's book come up many times during my Munger-searches, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I'm sure I'll more than enjoy it.
[-]AleksTK70

Hello LW,

I'm an aspiring rationalist from a community called PsychonautWiki. Our intent it to study and catalog all manner of altered states of continuousness in a legitimate and scientific manner. I am very interested in AGI and hope to understand the architecture and design choices for current major AGI projects.

I'll probably start a discussion for you guys tomorrow.

Aleks

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4Viliam
Hi Aleks! Have you read "Mysticism and Pattern-Matching" at Slate Star Codex? What is your opinion?
1AleksTK
Just read it. Fascinating. https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Geometry You might want to look into level 8B and 8A geometry.
[-]PeterCoin70

Hey y'all, I come here both as a friend and with an agenda. I'm scary.

See I have a crazy pet theory... (and yes it's a TOE, fancy that!)

...