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Tripitaka comments on One thousand tips do not make a system - Less Wrong Discussion

44 [deleted] 30 November 2012 05:38AM

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Comment author: chaosmage 30 November 2012 12:08:55PM *  9 points [-]

The people who excel at Starcraft don't do it because they follow explicit systems. They do it mostly by practice (duh) and by listening to the advice of people like Day[9].

Day9 is the best-known Starcraft II commenter, with many YouTube videos (here's a random example) and many millions of views. He occasionally does explain systems (or subsystems really) for playing, but what I think he mostly does right is that

  • he entertains and engages his audience really well,
  • he evidently knows what he's talking about,
  • he is relentlessly positive and has a good video about that,
  • he exudes total confidence that luck has almost nothing to do with your results,
  • he can talk way better than anyone I've ever heard talk about rationality and
  • he is easy to like, and easy to want to be like.

I may be missing something, but I think this is most of what he does so right about teaching what he teaches. Anyway, my point is clear: We don't need systems, we need a Day[9] of rationality.

AIs may need systems. We aren't AIs.

Comment author: Tripitaka 30 November 2012 02:36:25PM 1 point [-]

Day9/Sean Plott quite frequently tries to teach systems. When he goes over the new nifty build of Master XY, he`ll explicitly us "if then" constructions. "If you see gas, push at XX:XX, if not, expand". While I agree about the usefullness of a charismatic leader, I disagree about not needing systems.

Comment author: chaosmage 30 November 2012 03:38:24PM 4 points [-]

To say "We don't need systems" was hyperbolic and wrong. Thanks for the correction. Otherwise, we agree.