Great post. With respect to your final statement, I was wondering if using the results of your research to contribute to Wikipedia isn't the obvious thing to do? Not speaking to you specifically, lukeprog, but concerning the general topic.

Also, it would be interesting if your post here inspires other people here to also pursue similar research enterprises, which makes me think that this will involve a lot of duplicated effort. This is against efficiency, which makes me wonder if there's a good place for people to correspond when they are involved in similar research topics. But then I think the answer to this is also Wikipedia.

Here is another question, regarding the basic methdology of study. When you are reading a scholastic work and you encounter an unfamiliar concept, do you stop to identify the concept or continue but add the concept to a list to be pursued later? In other words, do you queue the concept for later inspection or do you 'step into' the concept for immediate inspection?

I expect the answer to be conditional, but knowing what conditions is useful. I find myself sometimes falling down the rabbit hole of chasing chained concepts. Wikipedia makes this mistake easy.

I live in Philadelphia now, but I'm a former Toledoan (hopefully also a future Toledoan, if my career permits). I used Toledo area craigslist with some success. Another possibility would be attending public lectures at UT or BGSU. You could even enroll in classes if time and money permit.

There also seem to a fair number of Ann Arbor Less Wrongians. If you don't mind the drive, you could try to coordinate a meetup with them.

This bothered me too. If 'omnipotent' is defined as 'able to do things which can be done', we're all gods.

For several years I was working entry-level jobs (retail; telephone tech support) and living by myself. The "trick" was that I shopped around for a place with low rent. (This may be harder where you live. I'm in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.)

Right now I'm a computer programmer, despite not having any degree.

Good luck (and sorry about your grandfather).

I'm probably in the minority with this opinion, but I think for non-homeschooled people (and especially the male kind), taking time off between high school and college can be a really good idea. It can be a period of discovering the self. Rediscover the love of learning. Mature socially. Do. Be.

I did such a thing (took time off in the middle) and found that even the meager 3 years in age between me and my fellow classmates made a huge difference. My ability to really think and focus was miles what it was before I took a break. I was also less affected by social pressures. Before my break I went to classes reluctantly when I went at all. Afterwards, I really really wanted to be there. What professor wouldn't prefer the latter student?

Many people are not ready for college right away--and it could be argued that this is more the case for the exceptionally bright. The education industry can be an unforgiving factory-like process. And, of course, there are people that do quite well without prolonged schooling at all.

I realized that I could lose a lot by not making the effort of trying to reach out and meet people.

post upvoted for this initiative.

I've had terrifically good luck making friends on OKC. Of course, my definition of luck in this case is five or so really good friends (or potentially really good friends) that live really, really far away... after writing to 100+ people.

I know this sounds sarcastic, but it was totally, TOTALLY worth the effort.

...though these friendships aren't or wouldn't be entirely romance-free. I don't personally see the need to compartmentalize friendship and romance, or friendship and sex. The lines can and do blur.

I don't think you need to limit yourself to the LW community. I'm fairly certain that you can relate to a lot of other people. Start checking out meetup.com for local groups near you that sound interesting, and make some friends. I don't know how grown ups make friends, though.

I met my fiancée through OKCupid, but it just so happened that she was big into science; that's not why I messaged her. The site isn't exactly taylored to finding people with similar views as yours, but it will get you a head start on whom to ask the right questions. It will, for instance, not generally try to match you with religious people if you say that you're not into that.

It turned out I just didn't like being a kid. I simply had nothing else to compare it to until I attained and got to try out being an adult. (Which is awesome.)

Hasn't worked out very well for me... maybe I just still haven't managed to achieve adulthood in spite of having lived for 28 years? (I'm still dependent on my parents for food and shelter and feel limited in my ability to refuse demands they make of me.)