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gwern comments on Is latent Toxoplasmosis worth doing something about? - Less Wrong
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Phenotype screens off genotype, as the genetic saying goes. Infection reduces Openness? Well, do you have some reason to want to increase your Openness? (Are you also looking into acquiring some psilocybin, which might actually be cheaper than treatment if Morendil is generalizable about it taking 'months' ?)
Slower reactions - would that significantly improve your life? I'm a cat person so I may be infected, but I can't say I often think (outside of taekwondo) 'I wish I had 10% faster reflexes!'
The greater jealousy thing may be an issue.
Car crashes are still responsible for a million deaths and something like a trillion dollars in damages every year. Reducing the number of people on the road with slowed reaction times would only have to make a very small relative dent in that to have a very large absolute effect.
On the other hand, toxoplasmosis treatment is almost certainly not the low-hanging fruit here - better cultural attitudes and vehicle safety features already make driving much safer in some places than in others, and self-driving cars may make the very concept of driver reaction time moot in a generation.
Treatment on a large scale presents different concerns than on a small scale.
So, I'm saying this is very far from a no-brainer on an individual basis, and it's even worse on a population level.
Self-driving cars look like an excellent lever point to increase standard of living and economic productivity. Unfortunately, I strongly suspect they will be regulated out of existence for about a decade after the technology is up to snuff.
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Self-Driving Cars Approved By California Legislature
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/self-driving-cars_n_1845018.html
That would probably make me better at video games...
It explains 10% of the variance. It can take you from the 45th percentile to the3 55th. It's probably decreases it by less than 10%.
Sounds like you should do more Tae Kwon Do.
Yeah. But thinking about it some more, TKD was probably not the best example - I actually have thought, quite a few times, during fencing that 'man I wish I had faster reflexes, he's ridiculous'. (Weapons are a lot faster than legs.)
My fencing coach emphasizes modeling your opponent more accurately and setting up situations where you control when stuff happens. Both of these skills can substitute somewhat for having faster reflexes.