LessWrong community, I say hello to you at last!

I'm a first year chemical engineering student in Canada. At some point in time I was linked to The AI-Box Experiment by Yudkowsky, probably 3-1/2 years ago. I'm not sure. The earliest record I have, of an old firefox history file, is Wed Jun 25 20:19:56 ADT 2008. I guess that's when I first encountered rationality, though it may have been back when I used IE (shudders). I read a lot of his site, and occasionally visited it and againstbias. I though it was pretty complicated, and that I'd see more of that guy in my life. Years later, here I am.

One concern I have is whether or not I belong here. Sure, I like to learn on my own and do a lot of rationality-related stuff, but to accurately express how badly I am at rationality, I will compare my own abilities to most republican's ability to understand science. I don't think I'm particularly smart, on top. I argued with teachers and got a ~93% average in High School, though I like to think I understand things more than most students. I have not taken any formal IQ test, but I consistently score a mere 120 on online tests.

My motivation tends to be highly whimsical, and though I'm attempting to track myself on various fronts I keep failing. If I ever get addicted to a drug, I will never escape it. I have horrible dietary habits, though miraculously I have stayed lean enough. I don't exercise and constantly fail to realize how most people around me could kick my ass.

I've read about half the sequences, and taken notes on maybe 15%. I think Gwern's writing is not top-notch but always a pleasure to read. Methods of Rationality is a mediocre story by an author who isn't. It's not even in my top 20 fanfictions. Someday I'll actually send him some feedback, but I think it would all be ignored because he's trying make fanfiction something it isn't. To his credit, it worked much more than I though it would. Three worlds collide demonstrates to me that most of you don't understand the lack of ethics in this world - you should all accept that assimilation is the optimal solution.

On the other hand, I'd fight to the death and beyond to avoid it. I'm not ready to leave everything I am behind. I'm also not ready to sign up for cryogenics, and I have definitely heard all the arguments for it. My pathetic refutations are that I don't want to ruin my life trying to survive forever, I'd rather live a good life now, and that I expect either existence is such a cold, cruel place that civilization will fall soon, or other life will preserve my existence anyway. Possibly with time travel. Or just through everything happening, like in Greg Egan's novel Permutation City.

I think that's about all I can write today. I hope I don't make too many enemies here. Hope to get to know you all!