hamnox comments on Rationality Boot Camp - Less Wrong

73 Post author: Jasen 22 March 2011 08:37AM

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Comment author: hamnox 05 April 2011 04:02:19AM *  10 points [-]

My first thought was a slightly more sophisticated version of "OMG, WANT!". This seems like a brilliant idea, and I'd absolutely love to see it come to fruition. I can taste the sweet hintings of a future rationality dojos, already envision the unfolding of a greater future where more is possible. Ten weeks dedicated strictly to the Art, with other people who will actually CARE DEEPLY about being sane. How could I NOT want to be there? I'm a little iffy on whether or not all of these ideas are really the best, but hey--it's a work in progress.

I open up an application and start typing. But I'm finding myself intimidated by vastly open-ended form questions, and the mention that they're looking for "people who've demonstrated high productivity" and "who already seem like good epistemic rationalists". I have no such qualifications; I'm inexperienced, lazy, and honestly, I've internalized frustratingly little of what I've 'learned' on LessWrong. So I close the window.

But, the only way I can possible be sure that I won't get in is if I don't apply. And I do want to go, I really want this experience. So I open it and start again.

Then close it once more a few seconds later. Open. Close. Open. Close.

I think I may have a problem.

I think I also understand why rejection therapy is part of the curriculum. Unwillingness to put yourself out there is a severe handicap to winning.

Comment author: gwern 09 April 2011 02:01:14AM *  6 points [-]

I open up an application and start typing. But I'm finding myself intimidated by vastly open-ended form questions, and the mention that they're looking for "people who've demonstrated high productivity" and "who already seem like good epistemic rationalists". I have no such qualifications; I'm inexperienced, lazy, and honestly, I've internalized frustratingly little of what I've 'learned' on LessWrong. So I close the window.

Here, I will do you a favor. Here are my answers to those open-ended form questions. I have given you a benchmark - you need only do better than these questions and you know you did not submit the worst answers!

And now for some gratuitous & tangentially-related anime quotations:

Shinji: What should I do?
Gendou: I give you a constraint.
Asuka: Now you have a top and a bottom.
Rei: Now you have lost one degree of freedom.
Misato: Now you have to stand on the ground.
Ryouji: But you obtain a comfort.
Makoto: Your mind becomes slightly easier.
Shigeru: And you walk.
Comment author: wedrifid 09 April 2011 03:35:18AM 0 points [-]

Here, I will do you a favor. Here are my answers to those open-ended form questions.

Well worth a read, purely for the cognitive enhancement discussion. I've seen (and been interested in) your DNB experiences before but hadn't encountered the iodine supplementation research.

Comment author: gwern 29 May 2012 10:54:27PM *  0 points [-]

Update: I've written substantially more on iodine at http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics#iodine (Covering background, children/adult IQ studies, meta-analysis, power calculations, and value of information.)

Comment author: gwern 09 April 2011 04:07:30AM *  0 points [-]

Yeah, iodine is an interesting topic. There's some evidence from Japan (all that seafood & seaweed) that current Western levels are too low and we could get a bit of IQ from boosting iodization, but the really big gains are elsewhere. Some further reading:

(I was actually going to get some iodine for my latest batch of pills, but then Fukushima happened and utterly obliterated the iodine market, obviously.)

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