Wiki Contributions

Comments

Sorted by

My opinion is that whatever value of epsilon you pick should be low enough such that it never happens once in your life. "I flipped a coin but it doesn't actually exist" should never happen. Maybe it would happen if you lived for millions of years, but in a normal human lifespan, never once.

Celarix113

She then proceeded to sock puppet it in mock dialogue to the student next to her.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

...

Uh, to contribute something useful: good piece! I love the idea of aiming for any goal in a broader direction, landing even close to an idealized "perfect goal" is probably still OOMs better than trying for the perfect goal, failing, and going "eh, well, guess I'll lay bricks for 40 years".

I also like the section on intrinsic motivation - describing it as "all the things you find yourself doing if left to your own devices". I do fear that, for many, this category contains things that can't be used to support you, though, but then your diagram showing the dots outside the bounds of "video games" but pointing back to it I think nicely resolves that conundrum.

And when all else fails, apply random search.

Hell yes. Speaking from my own experience here, whatever you do, don't get stuck. Random search if you have to, but if you're unhappy, keep moving.

Celarix11

Ah, I think I see where you're pointing at. You're afraid we might be falling prey to the streetlamp effect, thinking that some quality specifically about Western diets is causing obesity, and restricting our thoughts if we accept that as true. I agree, and it's pretty terrifying how little we know and how much conflicting data there is out there about the causes of obesity.

It might very well be that the true cause is outside of the Western diet and has little to do with it, and I could definitely see that being true given how much we've spent and how little we've gotten for research taking the Western diet connection for granted.

Celarix11

Sure, I broadly agree, and I do prefer that people are living longer, even obese, than they would be with severe and long-term malnutrition. I think what you're saying here is "the modern Western diet provides a benefit in that it turns what would have been fatalities by malnutrition into survival with obesity", but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Basically, it is good - very good, one of the greatest human accomplishments - that we have been able to roll back so much suffering from starvation and malnutrition. I think, though, that we can address obesity while also avoiding a return to the days of malnutrition.

Or, in other words, there are three tiers, each better than the last:

  • Planes get shot down and pilots die
  • Planes get riddled with bullets but return safely
  • Planes don't get damaged and pilots can complete mission
Celarix10

We would still have to explain the downsides of obesity, and not just in the long-term health effects like heart disease or diabetes risks, but in the everyday life of having to carry around so much extra weight.

Despite that, I'd still agree that being overweight is better than being underweight.

Celarix43

The visual techniques of TV—cuts, zooms, pans, and sudden noises—all activate the orient response.

 

Anecdote, but this form of rapid cutting is most assuredly alive and well. I saw a promotional ad for an upcoming MLB baseball game on TBS. In a mere 25 seconds, I counted over 35 different cuts, cuts between players, cuts between people in the studio, cut after cut after cut. It was strangely exhausting.

Celarix50

I don’t want to spend ten years figuring this out.

A driving factor in my own philosophy around figuring out what to do with my life. Some people spend decades doing something or living with something they don't like, or even something more trivially correctable, like spending one weekend to clean up the basement vs. living with a cluttered mess for years on end.

Celarix30

Hmm. My family and I always let the ice cream sit for about 10 to 15 minutes to let it soften first. Interesting to see the wide range of opinions, wasn't even aware that wasn't a thing.

Celarix10

My thinking is that the more discussed threads would have more value to the user. Small threads with 1 or 2 replies are more likely to be people pointing out typos or just saying +1 to a particular passage.

Of course, there is a spectrum - deeply discussed threads are more likely to be angry back-and-forths that aren't very valuable.

Load More