Comment author: [deleted] 02 March 2010 08:38:16PM 2 points [-]

Wow, thanks. And here was me thinking the only thing I had in common with Moore was an enormous beard...

(For those who don't read comics, a comparison with Moore's work is like comparing someone with Bach in music or Orson Welles in film).

Odd to see myself linked on a site I actually read...

In response to comment by [deleted] on Open Thread: March 2010
Comment author: FrF 03 March 2010 05:39:08PM 2 points [-]

You're welcome, Andrew! I thought about forwarding your proposal to David Pearce, too. Maybe it's just my overactive imagination but your ideas about Superman appear to be connectable with his agenda!

Since your proposal is influenced by Grant Morrison's work, I remember that there'll be soon a book by Morrison, titled Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero. I'm sure it will contain its share of esotericisms; on the other hand, as he's shown several times -- recently with All Star Superman -- Morrison seems comfortable with transhumanist ideas. (But then, transhumanism is also a sort of esotericism, at least in the view of its detractors.)

Btw, I had to smile when I read PJ Eby's Everything I Needed To Know About Life, I Learned From Supervillains.

Comment author: FrF 01 March 2010 08:14:53PM 2 points [-]

I enjoyed this proposal for a 24-issue Superman run: http://andrewhickey.info/2010/02/09/pop-drama-superman/

There are several Less Wrongish themes in this arc: Many Worlds, ending suffering via technology, rationality:

"...a highlight of the first half of this first year will be the redemption of Lex Luthor – in a forty-page story, set in one room, with just the two of them talking, and Superman using logic to convince Luthor to turn his talents towards good..."

The effect Andrew's text had on me reminded me of how excited I was when I first had read Alan Moore's famous Twilight of the Superheroes. (I'm not sure about how well "Twilight" stands the test of time but see Google or Wikipedia for links to the complete Moore proposal.)

Comment author: FrF 01 March 2010 07:49:34PM 7 points [-]

"Why Self-Educated Learners Often Come Up Short" http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2010/02/24/self-education-failings/

Quotation: "I have a theory that the most successful people in life aren’t the busiest people or the most relaxed people. They are the ones who have the greatest ability to commit to something nobody else forces them to do."

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 17 February 2010 07:58:44AM 4 points [-]

One Week On, One Week Off sounds like a promising idea. The idea is that once you know you'll be able to take the next week off, it's easier to work this whole week full-time and with near-total dedication, and you'll actually end up getting more done than with a traditional schedule.

It's also interesting for noting that you should take your off-week as seriously as your on-week. You're not supposed to just slack off and do nothing, but instead dedicate yourself to personal growth. Meet friends, go travel, tend your garden, attend to personal projects.

I saw somebody mention an alternating schedule of working one day and then taking one day off, but I think stretching the periods to be a week long can help you better immerse yourself in them.

Comment author: FrF 17 February 2010 10:38:53PM *  1 point [-]

After reading Kaj's pointer, I spent several hours at Steve Pavlina's site. It's fascinating for someone like me who's always in danger of falling apart at the self-discipline front if he's not very vigilant about it. As a lot of self-help authors, Pavlina is very analytic; plus he's open about his experiments in life style -- which he tackles with the same resolve as his other projects -- and Erin Pavlina is a "psychic reader" who apparently does consultations via telephone (preferably land line)!

Comment author: Morendil 08 February 2010 02:14:04AM 4 points [-]

The New Yorker recently had an article titled The Iceman. Judging from the abstract, it's anti- and not very high quality (excerpt: "The consensus appears to be that when you try to defrost a frozen corpse you get mush", a type of argument covered in your post.)

Comment author: FrF 08 February 2010 04:00:32AM 3 points [-]

Hint: Just in case you're not within reach of this issue of The New Yorker, a little bit of Google-fu turns up a scan of said article.

I found the piece not particulary exciting. It's certainly well-written but Jill Lepore obviously wasn't interested in digging too deeply re: the scientific or non-scientific foundations of cryonics. Instead we get a lot of impressionistic descriptions of Michigan (where the Cryonics Institute is located), slightly disdainful accounts of the CI's facilities and many synopses of SF stories .The latter isn't without reason, though, because Robert Ettinger was very influenced by Science Fiction.

Mrs. Lepore does her best to let Ettinger come across as grumpy, though I suspect that this "grumpiness" has to do with him knowing all to well what will very likely come out of it when a general interest magazine visits the CI. In other words, we are witness to a small culture clash: Of course it must be strange to a historian like Lepore that Ettinger has a completely different sensibility!

Comment author: MartinB 22 April 2009 09:55:59AM 2 points [-]

Two or three weeks of continuous reading, reading, reading in awe.

Martin

Comment author: FrF 22 April 2009 03:43:55PM *  0 points [-]

I have always at least a couple of Eliezer's OB posts on my pda. Today I went through some hitherto underexplored sections of OB -- meaning I only read them once -- and I have now dozens of posts on my trusty old Acer N30.

Comment author: FrF 20 April 2009 10:57:45AM *  1 point [-]

Eliezer should write a self-help book! Blog posts like the above are very inspiring to this perennial intellectual slacker and general underachiever (meaning: me).

I certainly can relate to this part:

"It doesn't seem worthwhile any more, to go on trying to fix one thing when there are a dozen other things that will still be wrong...

There's not enough hope of triumph to inspire you to try hard..."

Comment author: FrF 13 December 2008 04:09:47PM *  0 points [-]

I'm very much looking foward to this!

Incidentally, I received my paperback of "Ending Aging" today. For those of you who have the EA's hardback edition: The paperback has an additional 40-page afterword. (This gets probably mentioned in the above interview but I thought it couldn't hurt if I give this comment at least a bit of weight.)

[EDIT in March 2010 for clarity.]

In response to You Only Live Twice
Comment author: FrF 13 December 2008 09:32:00AM 4 points [-]

"You Only Live Twice" is a beautiful, moving post, Eliezer.

Two sentences that stand out:

"If you've been hurt enough, you can no longer imagine healing."

and

"And it [the capital "F" Future] may have a concept of sentient dignity that values your life more than you dare to value yourself."

Comment author: FrF 08 June 2008 09:01:37AM 2 points [-]

I'd like to read/hear an interview with Eliezer where he talks mainly about SF. Sure, we have his bookshelf page but it is nearly ten years old and by far not comprehensive enough to satisfy my curiosity!

Or how about a annotated general list from Eliezer titled "The 10/20/30/... most important books I read since 1999"?

View more: Prev | Next