Hello, LessWrong. This is a personal introduction diary-ish post and it does not have a thesis. I apologise if this isn't a good fit for the website; I just needed to unload my brain somewhere and this seemed like the spiritually correct place.
I write to you from the Lighthaven campus in fabulous Berkeley, CA. It's my first time here and I am enchanted.
After one week of full-body immersion, I am completely fascinated with the Rationalist philosophy, culture, community. I do not know whether I 'belong' here, as such, and I am writing this post in the hopes of interrogating the feelings I'm experiencing.
After all, why do I feel so positively about the above when I've barely scratched the surface and know almost nothing of what it is I'm looking at? Do I just feel warm because of positive vibes and an ornately-decorated campus? Do I just feel alive because coming to Berkeley feels like an adventure compared to the monotonous university-working life that I've come from?
In other words: do I like the ideas, or do I just like the vibes?
Maybe. I think that's a bias worth challenging.
I do not know if this type of post is appropriate for LessWrong. I only created my account this morning (though I've lurked LW on and off for the last few weeks).
I hope this post is at least a little interesting for some of you. Think of me as an outsider looking in.
Who am I?
My name is Philip Harker. I am a 23 year old human male; born, raised, and educated in Toronto, ON. I market/PR video games for a living. I have many interests but lately I'm allocating a lot of time and energy to reading and writing science fiction and fantasy.
Why am I at Lighthaven?
I am a Resident at the Inkhaven Writer's Residency this April. You may have seen some of us floating around on LessWrong and elsewhere in the last week. From 1-30 April we are required to write and publish one 500+ word post per day or get kicked out.
So what am I doing here?
I am an enormous fan of Nicholas Decker's Homo