troll comments on Rationalists Are Less Credulous But Better At Taking Ideas Seriously - Less Wrong

43 Post author: Yvain 21 January 2014 02:18AM

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Comment author: troll 31 January 2014 09:40:23AM *  1 point [-]

They don't have actual housing.

There are three rooms and one open space to put beds / storage in.

80%+ of beds are air mattresses people bought at Target.

Living at the office means you have to sign up at a nearby gym if you wish to shower.

It also means no privacy.

The showers in the nearest gym occasionally turn to cold water. (about 1 in 15 times)

The nearest gym is ~7 mins away walking and costs $130 for three months membership.

There are no housing costs.

Lights typically go off at 11 pm - 12 am

Residents have to wash dishes and take out the trash, and generally pick up after themselves.

There are ~15 residents per active cohort.

Food costs are ~$10 / day if you eat out for lunch and dinner, and ~$4 / day if you make food.

Each sleeping space is ~20 square meters. (there are four)

If you sleep in the last sleeping space, you have to move your shit during the day.

Comment author: SaidAchmiz 31 January 2014 01:38:52PM 2 points [-]

Thank you for the info.

I guess the takeaway here is that when someone on LessWrong talks about something being an obvious win, I should take it with a grain of salt, and assume a strong prior probability of this person just having very different values from me.

Comment author: troll 31 January 2014 08:30:27PM 0 points [-]

Possible things to consider are:

It's assumed that you go to App Academy with the interest of getting a high paying job without paying too much for that opportunity, and being very confident of your success.

It's also assumed you want to be able to program, and would imagine it to be fun in the future, if it is not already.

Humans acclimate to conditions relatively quickly.

It's relatively easy to improve your living conditions with earplugs, night eyewear, and a mattress cover.

Having people around you to debug when you are too exhausted to is a significant boon for progression in programming skill.

That said, it's understandable if your values differ.