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buybuydandavis comments on Enjoy solving "impossible" problems? Group project! - Less Wrong
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There's no reason to interpret that as "Never set out to do the impossible." Eliezer begins with "The virtue of tsuyoku naritai, 'I want to become stronger', is to always keep improving—to do better than your previous failures, not just humbly confess them." It is THAT spirit that I refer to - "I want to become stronger" If you don't relate to the desire for impossible problems because you want to become stronger, then it's simple - this thread is not your cup of tea. I am not going to sit around waiting for an opportunity to become stronger. I'm going to seek them out. If you don't relate to taking initiative when it comes to getting a challenge, then go find some other thread you do relate to.
That's fine, but attempting to bench press your car is not the most effective way to increase your bench press. You don't try to lift an impossible weight, you select a possible weight that stresses your capabilities.
Also, I think the "I want to get stronger" ethos is taken in terms of incremental improvement, not in terms of "I want to be all powerful today".
I completely redid my description in the original post. I think all your concerns have been addressed. Let me know how I did?
You removed reference to "get stronger" so that no longer applies.
I think you have a point about whether one can know if something is impossible. Also, even if you can't think of a solution, the attempt may allow you to solve some lesser problems.
Thanks for the feedback. Look what I found. Love it.
I was doing a search for people on LessWrong saying "is impossible" so I could come up with some other examples of how thinking things are impossible is biased by coming up with ways to do them. I was surprised to see you say the same thing as I did! No wonder this thread attracted your attention. (:
I almost put your comment in the quotes discussion, before realizing that LW comments are forbidden for some reason. (:
Any ideas for how to make this thread more successful?