primbin

No, there's no single "optimal play" for math, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were a set of fundamental mathematical structures which would be consistently rediscovered by a wide variety of different "math playing" algorithms (of sufficient math-playing skill).

I can't tell whether this was very well done or if I'm just very gullible

It was good! I'm surprised to hear that this was your first piece of short fiction! As a writer I'm inexperienced, but as a reader I thought the dialogue felt pretty naturalistic and well-paced. And I too liked the bat's tendency to interrupt Dwarkesh, lol

Six months ago I read this and thought, "Yeah, this is obviously true of me."

For example, a thing I'd do is ruminate for days on a difficult conversation I needed to have, in order to devise a way to deliver the information while causing the other person the least pain — but that's not always possible. If, for instance, I need to break up with someone, there's no way for me to guarantee they will not be hurt. By breaking up with someone, I am *by nature* inflicting a painful experience on them! The information itself is painful! The task is impossible, but... (read more)