Comment author: Lumifer 12 January 2015 07:51:07PM 4 points [-]

I (hopefully) get my Omega-3/6 fatty acids from cooking oil.

From cooking oil you get too much Omega-6 and not enough Omega-3.

Comment author: harshhpareek 12 January 2015 08:06:25PM *  0 points [-]

I haven't put sufficient effort into identifying healthy cooking oils. I currently use Crisco's Blended Oil supplemented with Omega-3. The question is if it is supplemented in the right amount, and that information is not provided.

Animal fats are low in Omega-6 but I think the Omega-3:6 ratio is a problem for meat-eaters too.

Comment author: sediment 12 January 2015 09:25:20AM *  6 points [-]

Reposting this because I posted it at the very end of the last open thread and hence, I think, missed the window for it to get much attention:

I'm vegetarian and currently ordering some dietary supplements to help, erm, supplement any possible deficits in my diet. For now, I'm getting B12, iron, and creatine. Two questions:

  • Are there any important ones that I've missed? (Other things I've heard mentioned but of whose importance and effectiveness I'm not sure: zinc, taurine, carnitine, carnosine. Convince me!)
  • Of the ones I've mentioned, how much should I be taking? In particular, all the information I could find on creatine was for bodybuilders trying to develop muscle mass. I did manage to find that the average daily turnover/usage of creatine for an adult male (which I happen to be) is ~2 grams/day - is this how much I should be taking?
Comment author: harshhpareek 12 January 2015 07:43:34PM *  5 points [-]

I'm a vegetarian and I looked into this stuff a while back. The Examine.com page What beneficial compounds are primarily found in animal products? is a useful reference with sources and includes the ones you wrote above. An older page with some references is this one.

I currently supplement with a multivitamin (this one -- Hair, Skin and Nails), creatine and occasionally Coenzyme Q-10 and choline, You didn't mention the last two but I have subjectively felt they increase alertness. I (hopefully) get my Omega-3/6 fatty acids from cooking oil. I had a basic panel done and found I was deficient in Calcium (probably due to my specific diet, but it is worth mentioning) and B12. So, I supplement for Calcium too.

I do regular exercise (usually bodyweight and dumbbells) and I had disappointing results without whey protein and creatine supplementation. Excessive amounts of creatine (look up "loading") is recommended for bodybuilders but 5g/day is recommended for vegetarians. See gwern's review and the examine.com review.. The examine.com review mentions that the fear of this compound is irrational and recommends 5g a day for everyone, pointing out that creatine would have been labeled a vitamin if it wasn't produced in the body. (Excessive creatine causes stomach upsets but I wasn't able to find a value at which this happens, and I've never experienced this myself).

I also take a fiber supplement, Metamucil. This one isn't vegetarian-specific, but I highly recommend it.

Comment author: harshhpareek 09 December 2014 06:42:38AM *  5 points [-]

Are there any LessWrongers at NIPS (in Montreal) this week? Perhaps we can have a mini meetup. Send me a PM or reply if you're here. I'm here till Sunday.

Comment author: harshhpareek 19 May 2013 11:38:31PM 1 point [-]

The link doesn't work anymore. Can you host it somewhere else?

I did a superficial search and it seems this is the only android app for browsing less wrong. Are there any others?

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 04 March 2013 02:20:44AM 1 point [-]

I would argue that asking people to lock their shops is a smaller cost to society than the cost of fear and of the possible loss of limbs from this procedure, and the benefit --- being able to keep shops open --- is small.

The costs you mentioned are also small. If the deterrent works few hands actually need to be cut off. Furthermore I would argue fear if being punished for theft (which presumably mostly applied to thieves) isn't a significant cost to society. Furthermore, I think you're underestimating the benefits of high implicit trust.

Comment author: harshhpareek 04 March 2013 02:51:15AM 0 points [-]

My reply is an answer to "Is there a difference between what's right and what works?" I'm not trying to open the can of worms labelled "Are draconian deterrents justified?", merely trying to show through example that what works may fall in moral grey areas. To briefly answer your comments--

If the deterrent works few hands actually need to be cut off

The effectiveness of strong deterrents is questionable#Effectiveness). Considering the links mentioned above, some cases do spring up despite the deterrent, in this particular situation. Speculatively, someone who is unable to make enough money to feed his family otherwise may take this risk.

I think you're underestimating the benefits of high implicit trust.

There are definitely reasons that the system continues to exist. The "trust" induced by harsh laws is one of them.

Comment author: DanielLC 03 March 2013 09:27:23PM 4 points [-]

For big vices, it is important to ask, "What is right?" For small vices, it is perhaps more important to ask, "What works?"

What's the difference?

Comment author: harshhpareek 04 March 2013 12:35:03AM *  0 points [-]

Consider Saudi Arabia which even today implements the Sharia policy of cutting off the hands of those who steal, especially those who steal during prayer times. I have heard anecdotal stories, that even jewelry shops in Dubai are left unlocked during prayer times. The fear of punishment is so high that no one dares steal.

Does this policy work? Yes. Is it right? Debatable. I would argue that asking people to lock their shops is a smaller cost to society than the cost of fear and of the possible loss of limbs from this procedure, and the benefit --- being able to keep shops open --- is small. Of course, there is another implicit benefit, that of being consistent with other Sharia values which I think outweighs all the other points here.

Comment author: harshhpareek 03 March 2013 08:05:37PM *  24 points [-]

The world of the manager is one of problems and opportunities. Problems are to be managed; one must understand the nature of the problem, amass resources adequate to deal with it, and "work the problem" on an ongoing basis.[...] But what if the problem can be fixed? This is not the domain of the manager.

An engineer believes most problems have solutions. The engineer isn't interested in building an organisation to cope with the problem. [...] And yet the engineer's faith in fixes often blinds him to the fact that many problems, especially those involving people, don't have the kind of complete permanent solutions he seeks.

-- John Walker, The Hacker's Diet (~loc 250 on an e-reader)

Comment author: RobertLumley 03 August 2012 06:05:41PM -1 points [-]

I don't understand what you mean, specifically about "my karma" as a factor. Can you give an example? Do you mean whether or not I personally upvoted it? Or my personal karma score? I can't see how either would be particularly relevant. Regardless, if the former is what you meant, I have not voted on the original comment.

Comment author: harshhpareek 03 August 2012 08:05:34PM *  1 point [-]

I meant lukeprog's karma, i.e. the poster of a comment influences how good the comment is.

Comment author: JohnEPaton 30 July 2012 03:07:49AM 0 points [-]

I'm just wondering whether it's true that the Markov property holds for minds. I'm thinking that a snapshot of the world is not enough, but you also need to know something about the rate at which the world is changing. Presumably this information would require the knowledge of states further back.

Also, isn't there an innate element of randomness when it comes to decision making and how our minds work. Neurons are so small that presumably there are some sort of quantum effects, and wouldn't this mean again that information from one step previous wasn't enough.

I don't know, but just some thoughts.

Comment author: harshhpareek 03 August 2012 07:49:52PM *  0 points [-]

(Assuming Mind=Brain, i.e. the entire mind is just the physical brain and no "soul" is involved. Also, Neurons aren't really all that small, they're quite macroscopic -- though the processes in the neurons like chemical interactions need quantum mechanics for their description)

In Newtonian Mechanics, it is sufficient to know the positions and velocities (i.e. derivaties of position) of particles to determine future states. So, the world is Markov given this informatio.

In Schrodinger's equation, you again only need to know \Psi and it's time derivative to know all future states. I think the quantum properties of the brain are adequately described just with Schodinger's equation. You do need to include nuclear forces etc in a description of the brain. You may need quantum electrodynamics, but I think Schrodinger's equation is sufficient.

My physics education stopped before I got here, but Dirac's equation which may be necessary to model the brain seems to require the second time-derivative of the wavefunction -- so you may need the second order time-derivatives to make the model Markov. Can someone who knows a bit more quantum physics chime in here?

EDIT: Reading the wiki article more carefully, it seems Dirac's equation is also first order

Comment author: RobertLumley 03 August 2012 02:12:36PM *  5 points [-]

Am I the only one who is confused why this comment (currently at -3) has drifted to the top when sorted with the new "Best" algorithm? That seems to be either a mistake or a bad algorithm.

Comment author: harshhpareek 03 August 2012 04:27:40PM *  2 points [-]

Not necessarily a bad algorithm. This is possible if it uses your karma as a factor, which is in general not a bad idea (in this case countered by the collapsing negative scores thing)

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