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passive_fist comments on Open Thread, May 11 - May 17, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: Gondolinian 11 May 2015 12:16AM

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Comment author: RichardKennaway 11 May 2015 07:43:13AM *  9 points [-]

In Praise of Life (Let’s Ditch the Cult of Longevity)

That article would be better titled "In Praise of Death", and is a string of the usual platitudes and circularities.

Overcoming Bias: Why Not?

Why not? Because (the article says) rationalists are cold, emotionless Vulcans, and valuing reason is a mere prejudice.

Prepping for cataclysms, neglecting ordinary emergencies

Maybe there are people who do that, but the article is pure story-telling, without a single claim of fact. File this one under "fiction".

A cryonics novel:

The New World: A Novel Hardcover – May 5, 2015 by Chris Adrian (Author), Eli Horowitz (Author)

The previous links scored 0 out of 3 for rational content, so coming to this one, I thought, what am I likely to find? Clearly, the way to bet is that it's against cryonics. There's only about a blogpost's worth of story in the idea of corpsicles just being unrevivable, so the novel will have to have revival working, but either it works horribly badly, or the revived people find themselves in a bad situation.

Click through...and I am, I think, pleasantly surprised to find that it might, in the end, be favourable to the idea. Or maybe not, there are no reviews and it's difficult to tell from the blurb:

Furious and grieving, Jane fights to reclaim Jim from Polaris [the "shadowy" cryonics company]. Revived in the future, Jim learns that he must sacrifice every memory of Jane if he wants to stay alive in the new world.

Spoiler request! How does it play out in the end?

Tomorrowland: Our Journey from Science Fiction to Science Fact Paperback – May 12, 2015 by Steven Kotler (Author)

Yep, futurological journalism. Pass.

Another of cryonics' founding generation goes into cryo, though under really bad circumstances.

Dr. Laurence Pilgeram becomes Alcor’s 135th patient on April 15, 2015

Shit happens.

Comment author: passive_fist 11 May 2015 10:20:54PM *  -1 points [-]

Just a PSA: advancedatheist has a fixation on dehumanizing rationalists with an especial focus on rationalists 'not being able to get laid'. Here's some of his posts on this matter:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/lzb/open_thread_apr_01_apr_05_2015/c7gr

http://lesswrong.com/lw/m4h/when_does_technological_enhancement_feel_natural/cc09

http://lesswrong.com/lw/m1p/open_thread_apr_13_apr_19_2015/cams

http://lesswrong.com/lw/dqz/a_marriage_ceremony_for_aspiring_rationalists/72wr

It's best not to 'feed the trolls', so to speak.

Comment author: knb 12 May 2015 03:13:30AM 10 points [-]

So why lash out at him for this now when he isn't currently doing that? In any case I don't think he was trolling (deliberately trying to cause anger) so much as he was just morbidly fixated on a topic, and couldn't stop bringing it up,

Comment author: passive_fist 12 May 2015 03:20:39AM 0 points [-]

I'm pointing it out for the benefit of others who may not understand where AA is coming from.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 12 May 2015 04:14:55AM 9 points [-]

I recommend responding to whatever specific problematic things he might say rather than issuing a general warning.

Comment author: passive_fist 12 May 2015 05:01:23AM -1 points [-]

I am responding to quite specific problematic things he's saying. My comment is in response to AAs and is in reply to a reply to his comment. If I were to directly reply to him saying the same thing, my intentions would probably be misunderstood.

Comment author: philh 12 May 2015 09:03:32AM 2 points [-]

Another thing AA seems to do quite a lot is link to pro-death blog posts and articles that he doesn't endorse. I get the impression that's what he was doing with some of the above links. IIRC he's signed up for cryonics, so it seems unlikely that he's trying to push a pro-death agenda.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 12 May 2015 12:20:12PM 1 point [-]

IIRC he's signed up for cryonics, so it seems unlikely that he's trying to push a pro-death agenda.

So, AA, if you're reading down here, why are you signed up for cryonics while posting pro-death links and complaining at length about never getting laid? Optimism for a hereafter, despair for the present, and bitterness for the past. This is not a good conjunction.

Comment author: OrphanWilde 14 May 2015 02:31:32PM 1 point [-]

Maybe he just sees value on challenging the status quo?

Comment author: philh 14 May 2015 05:33:23PM 1 point [-]

I interpret it more as "look at these awful things people are saying about us".

Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 12 May 2015 12:07:14AM 4 points [-]

That's a weirdly weak collection of posts to complain about. It seems more like AA is noting his OWN lack of ability to get laid and has a degree of curiosity on the subject that would naturally result from such a situation. He also (correctly, I expect) anticipates that a noticeable number of people who are or have been in the same boat as him are on LW.

I have seen some really obnoxious posts by AA, but these don't strike me as great examples. I am not about to go digging for them.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 12 May 2015 12:10:50PM 3 points [-]

Just a PSA: advancedatheist has a fixation on dehumanizing rationalists with an especial focus on rationalists 'not being able to get laid'.

I've noticed. While it certainly informs my attitude to everything he posts, he is mostly still at the level of worth responding to.

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