Swimmer963 comments on Harper's Magazine article on LW/MIRI/CFAR and Ethereum - Less Wrong

44 Post author: gwern 12 December 2014 08:34PM

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Comment author: Vaniver 13 December 2014 12:18:09AM *  3 points [-]

But how can you take issue with our insistence [Edit: more like strong encouragement!] that people use hand sanitizer at a 4-day retreat with 40 people sharing food and close quarters?

So, I have noticed that I am overhygienic relative to the general population (when it comes to health; not necessarily when it comes to appearance), and I think that's standard for LWers. I think this is related to taking numbers and risk seriously; to use dubious leftovers as an example, my father's approach to food poisoning is "eh, you can eat that, it's probably okay" and my approach to food poisoning is "that's only 99.999% likely to be okay, no way is eating that worth 10 micromorts!"

Comment author: Swimmer963 14 December 2014 03:32:51AM 2 points [-]

Interestingly, I think that when I'm not at work, I'm probably less hygienic than the average population–the implicit thought process is kind of like "oh my god, I have washed my hands every 5 minutes for 12 hours straight, I can't stand the thought of washing my hands again until I next have to go to work." I do make some effort at CFAR workshops but it's ughy.