SilasBarta comments on Open Thread: July 2009 - Less Wrong

3 [deleted] 02 July 2009 04:00AM

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Comment author: SilasBarta 02 July 2009 09:50:37PM 6 points [-]

Crono, that's a horrible, horrible state to be in, and in asking for advice, you're asking completely the wrong question. For your own sanity, you need to find something you enjoy doing, not just something that can soften the pain for one more day.

I've been in your position before. In some respects, I still am. I thought I couldn't get a job and any job I'd get I'd be unable to handle. I had no connections, but finally was able to find one in my field.

Maybe a standard day job isn't right for you, but you need to look for something more ambitious than living with your parents, even if you enjoy the amenities. There are many things you can try. Just keep churning through them, or resign yourself to worsening sadness.

If you think you can do well at Intrade, I'll loan you the money if you can put up your karma as collateral.

Comment author: CronoDAS 03 July 2009 03:09:58AM 5 points [-]

Crono, that's a horrible, horrible state to be in, and in asking for advice, you're asking completely the wrong question. For your own sanity, you need to find something you enjoy doing, not just something that can soften the pain for one more day.

Well... I think I like playing Magic, or, at least, I like winning at Magic. (When I lose a lot, I have a tendency to take it pretty hard.) For some reason, video games start to become a lot less appealing when I don't have some homework to put off. But, yeah, to paraphrase something I once heard about drug addiction, I don't play video games to games to feel good, I play them in order to feel normal.

Maybe a standard day job isn't right for you, but you need to look for something more ambitious than living with your parents, even if you enjoy the amenities.

Let me put it this way:

If I won a huge lottery jackpot tomorrow and could easily afford to maintain my current lifestyle with no effort, independent of my parents' financial support, I still probably wouldn't move out, because I like living with my parents. What bothers me is that I'm dependent on them for financial support, so whenever they ask me to do something, there's always an undercurrent of "if you make us angry enough, you'll be out on the streets." (It still beats working, though.)

There's only one thing that I want that I can't get by living at home, and that's a cat. It might be a bit silly, but I feel as though if I had a cat, I wouldn't have to be lonely or sad any more.

Comment author: Alicorn 02 July 2009 10:13:38PM 4 points [-]

If you think you can do well at Intrade, I'll loan you the money if you can put up your karma as collateral.

That sounds flagrantly inappropriate. If you are confident that CronoDAS trying his hand at Intrade would be a good risk, why don't you just loan him the money and ask for interest or some percentage of what he makes? If you aren't confident that he'd do well enough to pay you back, isn't this just outright karma purchase?

Comment author: SilasBarta 03 July 2009 03:14:41AM 1 point [-]

Just a hedge against any akrasia that might pop up.

Comment author: Alicorn 03 July 2009 03:17:41AM 0 points [-]

Replace "do well enough" with "make any effort at all", then.

Comment author: SilasBarta 03 July 2009 03:39:45AM 1 point [-]

"make any effort at all" =/= "no akrasia"

Comment author: Alicorn 03 July 2009 03:44:34AM 0 points [-]

If you expect that he'd make some effort, and be defeated by akrasia, then clearly, you are not confident that he would do well.

My point isn't that, however. My point is that karma is inappropriate collateral, even if there were some easy way to move it from one person to another.

Comment author: wedrifid 04 July 2009 11:40:32PM 1 point [-]

"Even if"? Are you serious?

The only thing inhibiting such a transfer is the very fact that those who consider it innapropriate would prevent it politically. Even then, if someone wants to and is uninterested in said social judgements beyond their political implications then it would not exactly be hard to make the transfer subtly.

Comment author: CronoDAS 03 July 2009 12:41:45AM 1 point [-]

I wouldn't think that I know more than anybody else about most of the topics on Intrade, although betting against cold fusion seems like a good idea.