Comment author: MugaSofer 05 March 2013 08:49:03AM 0 points [-]

To be absolutely clear here: your problem with "objectification" is because it encourages slut-shaming rape victims? Because I'm still unclear after reading your comment as to how there's cause and effect there.

Comment author: Skatche 15 March 2013 10:30:54PM *  1 point [-]

Not quite. One of my problems with objectification is that it implies certain attitudes which -- among other things -- create a favourable environment for rapists. That being said, I wrote the above comment at a time when rape was particularly salient to me, and may have overstated its relevance to this issue; I would now argue, more generally, that objectification openly expressed within a social group signals to women (almost by definition!) that they are regarded as objects and will not receive the status of full personhood within that group. Because these attitudes can be difficult if not impossible for women to correct by speaking out, many make the decision to withdraw from the group, further tilting the power balance toward the men.

Comment author: Benquo 28 June 2011 01:21:24AM *  13 points [-]

I don't have good tips for mind-reading in particular, but if you have a decent sense of how much the typical person already understands, these sub-skills I picked up in college should be able to help you, almost certainly not an exhaustive list:

  • Baby Steps - it's tempting to try to shoot straight for the thing you care about explaining. But if you try to describe it directly, even using very simple terms, you will be moving too fast even if the other person technically knows enough to eventually unpack what you're saying. If you do this your sentences will rot before they can be digested. Instead, spend at least a full sentence or two on each individual step from common knowledge toward your destination.

  • Stopping - this one is really hard, but after you've made each point, actually pause for a few seconds and look at the other person's facial expression and body language. Very few people are trained to explicitly ask with words, "can you unpack that a little?", but they will often say it with their face. This also gives them the chance to ask specific questions, or to process what you just said before you move onto the next thing. You can also ask explicitly whether you're being clear; wait for an answer before moving on.

  • One step forward, two steps back - be ready at any point to move back more than one step if it becomes evident that something hasn't been understood. If you really weren't understood the first time, then it's as if you didn't say it. If you find a different way to say it, it won't sound like you're repeating yourself; it will just sound like you're being clear.

  • Laconicism - if there is a detail that is not important, omit it. It doesn't matter if this means you're saying something that isn't strictly in every detail literally categorically true. (I still have trouble with this one.) All that matters is you move the other person as far as you can toward a true belief. Don't volunteer unimportant details unless they ask. (If they ask, then (a) telling the truth is the right thing to do, and (b) that means they understand the basics well enough to ask the question, which probably means they can handle the complicating detail.) There will always be aspects to a topic that interest you, and may well be important, that you should omit from a beginner's account.

Comment author: Skatche 28 June 2011 10:54:23AM 1 point [-]

Incidentally, I find Leonard Susskind is brilliant at all of these things. So, for a good example, his lectures on physics are well worth watching. Heck, they're worth watching even if you don't care about explaining things to people.

Comment author: Skatche 17 May 2011 04:55:59PM *  0 points [-]

I'm not sure about this "selection space" of universes, but if we're talking about all possible mathematical constructs (weighted, perhaps, according to Solomonoff's universal prior), it bears noting that even some one-dimensional, two-colour cellular automata - extremely simple systems as far as that goes - have been proven to be Turing complete. Doesn't mean they'll necessarily produce life, as a lot depends on initial conditions, but we know at least that they can, in principle, produce life. Given what else I've seen of mathematics, it seems the space of mathematically possible universes is positively teeming with critters.

Comment author: Skatche 14 May 2011 12:00:51AM 10 points [-]

AndrewHickey's comment notwithstanding, it wouldn't surprise me if he did say that, and if he meant it very literally, like in the batshit crazy sense. Famous mathematicians have a long and celebrated history of going off the deep end. Cf. Georg Cantor, Kurt Gödel, Alexander Grothendieck.

Comment author: wedrifid 12 May 2011 10:46:54AM *  4 points [-]

It seems to me that the easement will cost, at most, the amount of money that B could get from A in court for illegally crossing B's land. Given the additional expenditure of time and legal fees, not to mention the uncertainty of the legal outcome, it will probably be somewhat less than that.

I'm not sure how the parent managed to get to +11 votes. It introduces an additional external complication to the problem and then handles it incorrectly. The limit from this new mechanism is actually the amount that B could get from A in court for A trespassing every time A wishes to travel across B's land for the duration of the life of the easement - which appears to be indefinite. The value of a once off trespassing suit is not all that relevant.

Comment author: Skatche 13 May 2011 03:27:41AM *  0 points [-]

Well, of course. But assuming B is a rational agent, and assuming the expected damages awarded in court per trespass are additive, she's going to wait until A has finished building his house, then take him to court for all counts of trespassing, rather than fight each one individually, since that'll save her a great deal on time and legal fees.

Comment author: Skatche 11 May 2011 11:01:39PM 10 points [-]

It seems to me that the easement will cost, at most, the amount of money that B could get from A in court for illegally crossing B's land. Given the additional expenditure of time and legal fees, not to mention the uncertainty of the legal outcome, it will probably be somewhat less than that.

Comment author: ksvanhorn 06 May 2011 03:03:10AM 1 point [-]

Working up to one or two hours per day, every day, is a good goal.

Therein lies the rub. That's a pretty significant investment of time for a busy person, given the uncertain benefits. And I have to do this for a year or two before I know whether it's doing me any good?

Comment author: Skatche 06 May 2011 04:16:27AM 2 points [-]

This may vary from person to person, but I found I didn't need a rigourous schedule to make enough progress to determine that meditation was beneficial for my mental well-being. Doing about half an hour once every few days (when I remembered to) was enough, within a few months, to grant me relaxation and greater clarity of mind. Those aren't really the point, but it's reason enough to push forward and see what else there is to see.

Comment author: Sniffnoy 06 May 2011 01:57:36AM 3 points [-]

You seem to have left out the part of the proof where you do the actual work! ROT13'd:

Fxngpur fubjf gung gurer zhfg or neovgenevyl ybat cnguf; gur ceboyrz abj vf gb fubj gung gurer vf na vasvavgryl ybat cngu. Jr pbafgehpg guvf cngu nf sbyybjf: Fvapr gurer ner vasvavgryl znal cnguf, gurer ner rvgure vasvavgryl znal cnguf fgnegvat jvgu 0, be vasvavgryl znal cnguf fgnegvat jvgu 1. Vs gur sbezre ubyqf, fgneg jvgu 0, bgurejvfr fgneg jvgu 1. Fvapr juvpurire qvtvg jr cvpxrq, gurer ner vasvavgryl znal fgnegvat jvgu vg, jr pna ybbx ng gur arkg qvtvg naq ercrng guvf cebprff. Fvapr jr pna ercrng guvf neovgenevyl, guvf trgf hf na vasvavgryl ybat cngu. Va trareny guvf nethzrag trgf lbh jung'f xabja nf Xbavt'f Yrzzn.

Comment author: Skatche 06 May 2011 02:39:31AM 0 points [-]

Sorry, I have a bit of a skewed perspective about what's obvious. :P Once I perceived the connection to binary trees it seemed plain as day.

Comment author: Alicorn 06 May 2011 12:25:58AM 2 points [-]

The proof is obvious. (If it isn't obvious to you, work it out!)

I deem this obnoxious.

Comment author: Skatche 06 May 2011 01:09:38AM 1 point [-]

A proof in ROT13:

Gb rnpu cbffvoyr rapbqvat bs n pbhagnoyr frg ol svavgr ovg fgevatf gurer pbeerfcbaqf n ovanel gerr: ng gur ebbg abqr lbh tb yrsg (fnl) vs gur svefg ovg vf n mreb naq evtug vs vg'f n bar, gura ng gur arkg abqr lbh tb yrsg be evtug vs gur frpbaq ovg vf n mreb be bar, naq fb sbegu. Gur npghny vagrtref pbeerfcbaq gb grezvany abqrf, ernpurq ol n svavgr ahzore bs oenapuvatf. Znysbezrq ovg fgevatf, gbb, pbeerfcbaq gb grezvany abqrf, ng gur rneyvrfg cbvag gung jr pna gryy gurl'er znysbezrq. Ubjrire, fvapr gurer ner vasvavgryl znal vagrtref, naq bayl svavgryl znal cbffvoyr ovg fgevatf bs nal tvira yratgu, gurer zhfg or ng yrnfg bar vasvavgryl ybat cngu va gur gerr, naq vs jr srrq guvf frdhrapr bs mrebf naq barf vagb bhe pbzchgre, gur pbzchgre jvyy unat.

Apology for delay and [link] rationality comic

3 Skatche 04 May 2011 07:08PM

Link.

To provide some background: Kimiko, the main character, is moving to Nephilopolis, where all empiricism is strictly regulated by the Department of Inquisition: "You couldn't so much as make an observation based judgment without a license."  Since her bag is lost, she has no references, so she was rejected and is attempting to appeal.

My first reaction was that the Department is acting ridiculous.  But on further consideration, given the futuristic setting, it would actually be quite plausible that she's a hologram or an automaton or something of the sort (I do wonder why they don't mention this hypothesis).

So, discuss!  Just how ridiculous are they being?  What do you think of this "credibility score" idea?  Or, if you were to implement such a score, how would it be determined and how would it be administrated?

 

This comic was also a convenient excuse to offer my apologies for delays getting started on the sequence I posted about.  I've been having a really rough time with some house issues, though it looks like the worst of it may blow over in the next day or two.  I'm going to cautiously say the first post will be out early- to mid-next week.

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