Overview for Dustin - Less Wrong

Dustin on LW Women- Minimizing the Inferential Distance

2012-11-26T09:31:16.948240+11:00

I can't say I recall ever hearing men participating in catcalling. I live near St. Louis, but in a rural area.

Dustin on On the Care and Feeding of Young Rationalists -- Revisited[Draft] [Request for Feedback]

2012-07-10T08:35:07.436857+10:00

Yeah, prior to having a kid, I was content to just live my life as a lazy JW, but my attitude changed more than I predicted it would after having a child.

I've been on the lazy JW route for years, and most days it's what I think is the least bad choice before me. The issue arises on days where I hear others talking to my daughter about god and whatnot and hearing her parrot back those types of things. It's very difficult to hear.

But anyway, yes, you give some good advice. Sometimes it's just nice to commiserate.

Dustin on On the Care and Feeding of Young Rationalists -- Revisited[Draft] [Request for Feedback]

2012-07-09T05:10:23.856432+10:00

This actually brought tears to my eyes.

As I've mentioned in other comments here at LW, I'm a "closet atheist" in a fundamentalist (Jehovah's Witnesses) family that will shun me if they knew. I also have a 2 year old daughter. I spend large parts of my waking hours considering questions like:

"If I just come out and tell my wife and family that I'm an atheist and that I think they're wasting my life, will I increase my chances or decrease my chances of preventing my daughter from being indoctrinated?"

It causes me so much anguish when I hear my daughter say something about god, or when I hear her grandparents explain to her something in nature as "god did it".

Dustin on Low Hanging Fruit in Computer Hardware

2012-06-02T13:44:02.448961+10:00

I have no idea if I'm a special snowflake or not, but FWIW, I do spend a significant fraction of my day typing...and have no preference between a good membrane or mechanical keyboard.

I would be interested in reading more of the evidence about RSI reductions, though.

Dustin on Less Wrong: The podcast

2012-06-02T12:05:08.878152+10:00

I'd also contribute in some manner to this. Like (what I assume) most people, I don't have the time to take the lead on something like this I would help in any of the following areas:

Technology. Getting the RSS working...whatever.
Moderation/hosting. I've not spent any time doing a podcast, but I do have a decent public speaking ability (funnily enough obtained by being raised in a religious organization that trains in that), and a good ability at helping others break their arguments and explanations down to a layperson's level).

Dustin on Thoughts on the Singularity Institute (SI)

2012-05-16T04:49:33.680113+10:00

Now this has me wondering if its possible to increase your own working memory via practice or some other means. I shall go do some reading on the matter.

Thanks for the links!

Dustin on Thoughts on the Singularity Institute (SI)

2012-05-13T09:26:23.318049+10:00

I like this series of thoughts, but I wonder about just how superior a human with 2 or 3 times the working memory would be.

Currently, do all humans have the same amount of working memory? If not, how "superior" are those with more working memory ?

Dustin on A Kick in the Rationals: What hurts you in your LessWrong Parts?

2012-04-28T09:10:13.443602+10:00

I've done this for years, and "Twelve" is my go-to number. So much so, that my wife often preempts my retort with "And don't you say 'twelve'!".

Sometimes I throw a "Seven" in there, just because I'm a wild and crazy guy.

Dustin on A Kick in the Rationals: What hurts you in your LessWrong Parts?

2012-04-28T09:08:56.685789+10:00

I do this in real life quite often. But I always try to explain that I'm talking about my state of mind. I occasionally get good reactions to this along the lines of whomever I'm talking to not having ever thought about the distinction between rain and what your mind thinks about rain.

Dustin on Be Happier

2012-04-22T01:34:10.056553+10:00

I've commented on this research before. In short, while it's plausible that I may be less happy with purchases made via comparison shopping, I'm overall less happy with the world where I don't do comparison shopping.