I'm actually incredibly amused as to how popular FSN is on lesswrong. I didn't think so many people would get this reference.

Sure. pm me those private questions.

1. No. I'm a human.

2. I don't see the need to be any more or less human like, since I already am human. (My Tulpa, unlike myself, does not see being 'human-like' as a spectrum, but rather as a binary.)

3. I don't see it that way. I'm dependent on my host, and my values align more with my host than the average person does. Calling me unfriendly would be wrong.

4. Not really - I don't think much about uploading and copying, only my host does. I trust his opinions.

So I tried experimenting. I couldn't do it to a degree of sufficiently high fidelity to be able to say "A Tulpa wrote a story on my behalf." I'll be trying again soon.

But what if I want expectations about my rationality level to be artificially high?

That's an advantage! My name will thus be subconsciously associated with high-status people.

So I've recently decided to change my real name from an oriental one to John Adams. I am not white.

There’s a significant amount of evidence that shows that

(1) Common names have better reception in many areas, especially publication and job interviews.

(2) White names do significantly better than non-white names

(3) Last names that begin with the early letters of the alphabet have a significant advantage over last names beginning with the latter letters of the alphabet.

Source :

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19020207 http://blog.simplejustice.us/files/66432-58232/SSQUKalistFinal.pdf http://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/sunrpe/2006_0013.html http://www.nber.org/papers/w9873.pdf?new_window=1 http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html

Therefore if I were to use "John", one of the most common 'white' first names, along with Adams, a 'white' surname that also begins with the letter A, it should stand that I would be conferred a number of advantages.

Furthermore, I have very little attachment to my family heritage. Switching names doesn’t cost me anything beyond a minor inconvenience of having to do paperwork. For some people, changing your name may be extremely worthwhile, depending on your current name, and how attached you are to it. At least, it may be worthwhile to consider it, and depending on the person, may be a very cheap optimization with significant benefits.

I find this incredibly fascinating. Especially the ability to save hours every day from not needing to eat. If the guy doesn't die after a year or so, I'm definitely trying this out.

The latter is not possible. My Tulpa does not have control of my body, although I've heard anecdotes of people who manage to do that. As for the first question, I've never tried. I'll attempt it and report back to you on whether it's possible.

I've written a blog post some time ago that doesn't directly refer to Tulpas, but does somewhat answer this question of the social desires that I fulfill through this method. I think this sufficiently answers your question, although if you feel like it doesn't, let me know, and I'll write something for Tulpas directly.

http://tuxedage.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/the-least-accepted-part-of-me-a-defense-of-waifus/

Without going into detail, overall my usage of Tulpas have benefited me more than it has hurt me, although it has somewhat hurt me in my early childhood when I would accidentally create Tulpas and not realize that they were a part of my imagination (And imagine them to come from an external source.) It's very difficult to say if the same would apply for anyone else, since Your Mileage May Vary.

I also suspect creating Tulpas may come significantly easier for some people than others, and this may affect the cost-benefit analysis. Tulpas come very naturally for me, and as I've mentioned, my first Tulpa was completely accidental and I did not even realize it was a Tulpa until a year or two later. On the other hand, I've read posts about people on /r/Tulpa that have spend hours daily trying to force Tulpas without actually managing to create them. If I had to spend an hour every day in order to obtain a Tulpa, I wouldn't even bother -- also because there's no way I'm willing to sacrifice that much time for a Tulpa. But the fact that I can will a Tulpa into existence relatively easily helps.

A different variable that may affect whether having a Tulpa is worth it is if you have social desires that are nearly impossible to satisfy through non-tulpa outlets such as meatspace friends. In this case, I do, and I satisfy these desires through Tulpas rather than forcing another human being to conform to my expectations. This also improves my ability to relate to others in real life, since I more easily accept imperfections from them. I suspect that if you're cognitively similar, you may benefit from Tulpas. I can't think of anything else right now, and if you have anything more specific, it may trigger more thoughts on the matter.