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Television and Movies Thread
In response to
August 2013 Media Thread
Pacific Rim pleasantly surprised me. I could list the manifold ways this movie dramatizes how to correctly deal with catastrophic risks, but I don't want to spoil it for you.
Plus it is awesome, in both senses of the word.
In response to
comment
by
on
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 25, chapter 96
There has previously been some speculation that the dark lord in Harry's birth prophesy is death rather than Voldemort.
Voldemort's name means "full of death". (Maybe "thief of death".) Perhaps Voldemort made himself a personification of Death in order to personally avoid it, seeking for himself alone what the Peverells sought for all?
In response to
comment
by
on
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 25, chapter 96
Google Translate gets me "flight of death" or "wants death". "Flight of death" might refer to AK. More interestingly, "wants death" would make no sense in reference to himself wanting death, but it would make sense in reference to Voldemort wanting the deaths of others. There's some possible support for your interpretation there.
I don't read mainstream news sources, and I don't participate in social networks, but I do read technical, professional and scientific news.
Here's how I get the news: If a mainstream story is important, I'll hear about it from co-workers or family. Also, high-magnitude stories (e.g. Snowden / NSA, or yesterday's 5 year sentence for AlexeI Navalny) usually appear on non-mainstream news sources.
The point of quitting news is not stopping being aware of what happens around you. The point is to avoid their negative effects (scrambling the mind, incorrectly perceiving the environment as more dangerous than it is / overestimating the probability of dangerous events happening to me, cortisol release, etc).
Here are some good articles on the topic (you may recognize some of the authors):
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli
- http://joel.is/post/31582795753/the-power-of-ignoring-mainstream-news
- http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001226
Also, I don't think quitting news is an anti-akrasia tactic. It's more similar to hygiene, or not eating fast food.
Your heuristic for getting the news checks out in my experience, so that seems worth trying.
I wouldn't be surprised if we've both seen plenty of Snowden/NSA on Hacker News.
Thanks for the links.
And while I agree with you that quitting the news would likely be intellectually hygienic and emotionally healthy, it would probably also work as an anti-akrasia tactic in the specific case of cutting out something I often turn to to avoid actual work. Similar to the "out of sight, out of mind" principle, but more "out of habit, out of mind".
In response to
Akrasia Tactics Review 2: The Akrasia Strikes Back
Thanks for doing this, though I suggest moving it to the Discussion section in the hope of getting more responses there.
In response to
Akrasia Tactics Review 2: The Akrasia Strikes Back
Things that worked for me for at least two years:
Smartphone GTD app: +10. The track record is 3 years or so. Absolutely indispensable. My primary app used to be Astrid, and when Yahoo killed it, I switched to Wunderlist (mostly because their Astrid import worked on the first try, and they imported all my recurring tasks correctly). I'm also playing with Remember the Milk, and really I like their user interface so far.
Automating life with recurring tasks in a smartphone GTD app: +9. Again, 3 years or so. I have a lot of recurring tasks in my app, with various recurrence periods, ranging from daily (e.g. pills) to once-in-several-days (usually checking up on important processes) to weekly (usually shopping and household chores) to monthly (administrative duties, banks, taxes and payroll) to yearly (dentist check-ups, important birthdays etc). The problem with this is that not all GTD apps do recurring tasks properly, or at all, and that there's no smartphone GTD app on the market that fully satisfies all my requirements regarding recurring tasks. Because of that, I'm seriously thinking about rolling my own app / service.
Trello: +8. I've been using it since the beginning (about two years ago), and it has become essential for my workflow. I use two kinds of board organization, a project-based one (e.g. "Ideas", "Next up", "In development", "Testing", "Done"), and a freeform structure for personal and idea-capture boards. I wish their Android app was more convenient though.
Several promising things that not yet passed the 2 years test:
No mainstream news / social media: +10. I've been doing this since the last December, and it worked great so far, so I'm not going back.
GTD contexts: +6. I'm just discovering this, so the official track record is less than a month. Essentially, I separate tasks in my GTD app into groups, where a group corresponds to what GTD calls context, for example "Before going to work", "At work", "Shopping", "Before sleep". The implementation of lists / tags / contexts in my previous GTD app, Astrid, was atrocious, so I, without realizing it, was organizing my tasks into makeshift contexts using priorities, e.g. Red = before work, Yellow = at work, Blue = anytime, Gray = before sleep. When I switched to Wunderlist, I liked their approach to lists a lot more, and when I named the lists, I realized that they correspond to contexts.
I'm curious (nonjudgementally): do you get your news now from non-mainstream sources, or do you stay away from news altogether? I ask because I am considering trying this anti-akrasia tactic myself, but am unsure regarding the details.
In response to
Meetup : Cincinnati: Financial optimisation
This sounds promising. As a LWian living many states away, I'd love to see a synopsis posted if it's not too much trouble. There is a hunger for more instrumental rationality on this website.
In response to
Summary of "The Straw Vulcan"
To add to Principle #5, in a conversational style: "if something exists, that something can be quantified. Beauty, love, and joy are concrete and measurable; you just fail at it. To be fair, you lack the scientific and technological means of doing so, but - failure is failure. You failing at quantification does not devalue something of value."
What do you want to be more rational about?
I suppose the first step would be being more instrumentally rational about what I should be instrumentally rational about. What are the goals that are most worth achieving, or, what are my values?
In response to
"Stupid" questions thread
Reading the Sequences has improved my epistemic rationality, but not so much my instrumental rationality. What are some resources that would help me with this? Googling is not especially helping. Thanks in advance for your assistance.
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I'm curious about your line of thought. Would you be willing to post it in rot13?
Good idea. (Note, if you haven't seen the film, here's a spoiler-heavy synopsis).
My line of thought:
Gur pngnfgebcuvp (yngre erirnyrq gb or rkvfgragvny) evfx bs gur svyz vf gur svpgvbany bar bs tvnag zbafgref, be xnvwh, nggnpxvat uhzna cbchyngvba pragref, ohg greebevfz hfvat shgher jrncbaf, nagvovbgvp erfvfgnapr, pyvzngr punatr, rgp. pna pyrneyl or fhofgvghgrq va.
Tvnag zbafgref pna jbex nf na rfcrpvnyyl ivfpreny qenzngvmngvba bs pngnfgebcuvp evfxf, nf abg bayl Cnpvsvp Evz ohg gur bevtvany, harqvgrq, Wncnarfr-ynathntr irefvba bs gur svyz Tbwven (gur frzvany xnvwh zbivr) qrzbafgengr. V jbhyqa'g or fhecevfrq vs jr vafgvapgviryl srne ynetr, ntterffvir cerqngbef zber fb guna, fnl, punatrf va nirentr grzcrengher gung nttertngr bire gur pbhefr bs qrpnqrf, be cnegvpyrf fb fznyy jr pna'g frr gurz jvgubhg zvpebfpbcrf.
Tbqmvyyn'f (uvtuyl tencuvp, crbcyr ohea nyvir) qrfgehpgvba bs Gbxlb ercerfragf gur Jbeyq Jne VV Nzrevpna sverobzovat bs gung pvgl naq gur ahpyrne nggnpxf ba Uvebfuvzn naq Antnfnxv. Gur punenpgref bs Tbwven rkcyvpvgyl yrnir bcra gur cbffvovyvgl bs shgher xnvwh (ernyyl jnef, ahpyrne rkpunatrf, naq gur raivebazragny rssrpgf bs ahpyrne jrncbaf grfgvat) jrnevat uhznavgl qbja hagvy gurer vf abguvat yrsg.
Ubjrire, gubhtu Tbwven raqf ba n crffvzvfgvp abgr, Cnpvsvp Evz qbrf abg. Urer, pbbcrengvba vf fhssvpvrag gb birepbzr naq ryvzvangr gur guerng. Gur zbivr'f gvgyr vzcyvrf gur arprffvgl bs vagreangvbany pbbcrengvba, ohg gur vzcebivat eryngvbafuvcf orgjrra gur Wnrtre cvybgf nyfb qrzbafgengr gur gurzr bs pbbcrengvba qbja gb gur vagrecrefbany yriry. Guvf vf rfcrpvnyyl qenzngvmrq ol gur pbaprcg bs Qevsgvat, gur qrrcyl crefbany, pnershyyl rkrphgrq, OPV-ranoyrq flapuebavmngvba (ba nyy yriryf: zragny, rzbgvbany, naq culfvpny) arprffnel gb cvybg Wnrtref naq guhf qrsrng gur xnvwh.
Jura uhznaf nggrzcg gb svtug tvnag zbafgref (naq pngnfgebcuvp evfxf) nybar, gurl ghea bhg rvgure qrnq be onqyl qnzntrq, obgu culfvpnyyl naq cflpubybtvpnyyl. Nf gur qverpgbe, qry Gbeb, chg vg va na vagreivrj: (ersreevat gb bar bs gur pbasyvpgf orgjrra gur Wnrtre cvybgf): "Gung thl lbh jrer orngvat gur fuvg bhg bs gra zvahgrf ntb? Gung'f gur thl lbh unir gb jbex jvgu svir zvahgrf yngre" naq (zber trarenyyl) "Rvgure jr trg nybat be jr qvr".
Ng svefg gur uhznaf qb fb jryy ntnvafg gur xnvwh gung, bs pbhefr, gurl trg birepbasvqrag naq pbzcynprag, naq gura gur gvqr bs jne gheaf ntnvafg gurz nf gur xnvwh nqncg gb uhzna qrsrafrf. Vafgrnq bs vzcebivat gur nyernql rkcrafvir Wnrtre cebtenz be nggrzcgvat bgure npgvir nccebnpurf gb gur xnvwh ceboyrz gung zvtug cbffvoyl snvy, srneshy tbireazrag ohernhpengf pubbfr gur "fnsr" cnffvir bcgvba naq ortva pbafgehpgvba bs znffvir jnyyf nebhaq nyy gur znwbe pvgvrf bs gur Cnpvsvp Evz.
Jura vg orpbzrf pyrne gung guvf fgengrtl jvyy abg jbex, fbzr crbcyr qrfcnve, fbzr svtug rnpu bgure, fbzr ergerng gb nabgure ynlre bs jnyyf pbafgehpgrq shegure vaynaq, naq fbzr ernpg jvgu nccebcevngr, gubhtu qrfcrengr, npgvivgl. Nf bar punenpgre, Fgnpxre, chgf vg: "Unira'g lbh urneq? Vg'f gur raq bs gur jbeyq. Jurer jbhyq lbh engure qvr? Urer, be va n Wnrtre pbpxcvg?" Guvf vf gur pbeerpg erfcbafr gb pngnfgebcuvp naq rkvfgragvny evfxf.
Gur synfuonpx fprar vaibyivat gur ivbyrag qrngu bs Znxb'f snzvyl jura fur vf n fznyy puvyq, gur oyrnx, qrinfgngrq Gbxlb naq ure greevslvat arne-qrngu nf n tvnag zbafgre gnxrf n cnegvphyne vagrerfg va ure rssrpgviryl fubjf gur uhzna pbfg bs pngnfgebcuvp evfxf ba na rzbgvbany yriry, nf fpbcr artyrpg vf bs pbhefr na vffhr urer.
Hygvzngryl, jung'f yrsg bs na haqrefgnssrq, haqreshaqrq Wnrtre cebtenz (n snzvyvne ceboyrz sbe rkvfgragvny evfx betnavmngvbaf) fhpprffshyyl chefhrf abg bayl na npgvir qrsrafr ohg na bssrafvir fgengrtl vagraqrq gb raq xnvwh nggnpxf bapr naq sbe nyy. (Erzvaqf zr bs gur Sevraqyl NV nccebnpu gb abg bayl HSNV ohg gb pngnfgebcuvp naq rkvfgragvny evfxf va trareny). Gurl qb fb va bccbfvgvba gb gur pbairagvbany jvfqbz, jvgu pbbcrengvba, jvgu pbhentr, jvgu zngurzngvpf, naq jvgu fpvrapr naq grpuabybtl.
"Gbqnl ng gur rqtr bs bhe ubcr, ng gur raq bs bhe gvzr, jr unir pubfra gb oryvrir va rnpu bgure. Gbqnl jr snpr gur zbafgref gung ner ng bhe qbbe, gbqnl jr ner pnapryyvat gur ncbpnylcfr!" N zrffntr gung, gubhtu purrfl, cyrnfnagyl fhecevfrf naq vafcverf zr guebhtu vgf bcgvzvfz va guvf ntr bs plavpvfz.