Jabberslythe comments on Collating widely available time/money trades - Less Wrong

17 Post author: RyanCarey 19 November 2012 10:57PM

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Comment author: Jabberslythe 25 November 2012 11:30:30PM 1 point [-]

Modafinil is a highly regarded money for time exchange.

Audiobooks really effective money for time exchange (if you aren't pirating them).

Comment author: [deleted] 03 December 2012 04:46:17PM 3 points [-]

Audiobooks really effective money for time exchange (if you aren't pirating them).

Not sure it would work for me -- I can read much faster than people speak, I can skim written text whereas I can't do anything like that with audio (and text that is too information-dense to be skimmed iss also too information-dense to be listened to it spoken while doing something else), if I don't understand a sentence on the first go I can just read it again but it's non-trivial to rewind a recording by the exact right amount, it's hard to understand spoken text in a loud environment unless spoken very clearly or in a very familiar accent, etc.

Comment author: Jabberslythe 03 December 2012 06:38:37PM 0 points [-]

I can read much faster than people speak, I can skim written text whereas I can't do anything like that with audio

You can speed listen to things and use pitch correction so that it is understandable I listen at 450WPM. I can kind of skim texts by listening to at higher speeds than I normally listen at, but it's not the same as skimming a text because you are still listening to every word.

(and text that is too information-dense to be skimmed iss also too information-dense to be listened to it spoken while doing something else)

Not if that thing uses a different part of the brain (e.g spatial/motor). I also find I can listen to audiobooks while doing something that involve planning, deciding or thinking about something else, just like I can read a book while worrying or thinking about something else (as always happens). I can't do something that requires language comprehension of course.

if I don't understand a sentence on the first go I can just read it again but it's non-trivial to rewind a recording by the exact right amount

Yeah, it's hard to do even with a good audiobook player if you are multi-tasking. I usually just try to brute force it and keep listening through.

it's hard to understand spoken text in a loud environment unless spoken very clearly or in a very familiar accent

Yeah, I don't spend a tonne of time in noisy environments, but your mileage may vary.

Comment author: [deleted] 04 December 2012 11:37:41AM *  0 points [-]

You can speed listen to things and use pitch correction so that it is understandable

Yes, I did that a few times with my iPod touch.

I listen at 450WPM.

I don't think I could listen that fast and understand everything I hear unless I was paying lots of attention or they are speaking about something I already know. (This is 300 words, if this transcript is accurate, and I think that if I hadn't already watched the previous seven seasons of the series I would have been like, ‘Wait... what?’)

you are still listening to every word

I hear them, all right, but they don't actually register unless I'm paying attention (or they are in my native language (Italian)).

Not if that thing uses a different part of the brain (e.g spatial/motor).

I find that I'm very bad at multitasking whenever one of the tasks involves language comprehension at faster than normal speaking rate and the other is anything non-trivial. I guess that's because I tend to think in words much more than in images.

I can read a book while worrying or thinking about something else (as always happens).

Me too, but if I'm reading too fast and on a topic I'm not already familiar with, when I get distracted I often find that the last couple paragraphs I read didn't actually register and I have to read them again. Again, that's probably because I usually tend to think in words.

Yeah, I don't spend a tonne of time in noisy environments, but your mileage may vary.

Me neither, but I mentioned it because one of the advantages I've heard about audiobooks is that you can listen to them while commuting.