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Question: what are the good ways to help a person in a stressful situation (work/relationships/life in general) ? What help would rationalist prefer, and how does that differ from someone who may be less rational in times of emotional turmoil? Thanks!
In response to
Open thread, 11-17 March 2014
Have you tried asking them if there's any way you can help, and/or expressing generic sympathy?
"Hey, you seem to be going through a lot lately, are you holding up okay? Anything I can do?"
In response to
Open thread, 11-17 March 2014
Request for some career advice:
I am planning on pursuing computer science as a double major (along with art). I'm doing this mainly for practical reasons - right now I feel like I don't really care about money and would rather enjoy my life than be upper-class, but I want to have an option available in case these preferences change. I enjoyed CS classes in high school, but since coming to college, I have found CS classes, while not profoundly unpleasant, to basically be a chore. In addition to this, my university is making it needlessly difficult for me to choose CS as a second major. This has lead me to rethink - is CS really worth it? After researching it a bit, it seems like CS genuinely is worth it. From what I hear, programming jobs pay very well, are easy to find, have good working conditions, and seem to relatively easily facilitate a 4-hour-workweek lifestyle, should one choose to pursue it. No other career path seems to be able to boast this.
Am I correct in thinking this? Is a computer science degree worth it even if it means a lot of drudgery during college? Conventional wisdom seems to be no - "don't try to major in something you don't enjoy" is something I've heard a few times. But that seems kind of idealistic.
The alternatives would be econ or math, both of which I am fairly unfamiliar with and find sort of interesting but don't exactly have a passion for.
For reference, my current preferred careers are, in order:
- something with video games (Lifelong Dream is to be in that hideo kojima or satoshi tajiri role where I am the man with the vision in charge but I don't even really know how you work your way up to that position?)
- something with art or illustration where i can be creative
- something with graphic design where i am less creative and am doing something boring like designing logos for people or whatever
- some sort of programming thing
Consider reading some of Cal Newport's writing on careers. Here's a possible starting point.
A lot of what he writes boils down to: "Do what you love to do" is a bit of a fallacy. Getting really good at something pretty much always involves putting in a ton of work, not all of which will be pleasant. But if you do that and get extremely good at what you do, then you'll get lots of jobs you'll enjoy, because 1) being good at what you do is fun and 2) if you provide lots of value to other people, they will provide it back.
IOW, just going after what is the most "fun" when you start doing it probably isn't the best idea. I wouldn't take the fact that your CS courses are a bit drudge-y as a slamdunk indicator that you shouldn't do CS by a long shot.
Also, you may have heard this before, but the video game industry for programmers is kind of a shitshow, because lots of people want to do it, enough so that they're willing to be paid less and endure crappy conditions. Being an indie developer might be a better bet, if you can make it work; I have no idea what the odds of success there are.
In response to
Optimal Exercise
So I'm currently doing Starting Strength: no upper pulls, and different set/rep counts than what you say is optimal. Do you think it's worth transitioning to what you recommend here, and if so, any suggestions on how to do that transition?
"The man Newsweek claims is the founder of Bitcoin denies he had anything to do with the digital currency.
In an exclusive two-hour interview with The Associated Press Dorian S. Nakamoto, 64, said he had never heard of Bitcoin until his son told him he had been contacted by a reporter three weeks ago."
says AP
That's good to know. It's not much evidence either way, though. The real Satoshi would probably say something very similar to that.
I was pretty surprised about blood donation.
Males tend to have iron overload which is bad for you. The easiest way to fix it is to bleed on a regular basis.
Women don't have that problem.
Hmm. Do the studies account for this?
Also, that would mean women on medication that stops their period also might have this problem.
In response to
Open Thread February 25 - March 3
To illustrate dead-weight loss in my intro micro class I first take out a dollar bill and give it to a student and then explain that the sum of the wealth of the people in the classroom hasn't changed. Next, I take a second dollar bill and rip it up and throw it in the garbage. My students always laugh nervously as if I've done something scandalous like pulling down my pants. Why?
Because destroying money is viscerally aversive and surprising?
In response to
Testing my cognition
20 min sample of tests from Cambridge brain sciences site: spatial span, double trouble, object reasoning, rotations, hampshire tree task, spatial slider.
I observed a significant training effect when I did these. Could be a problem with other tests too.
The way to handle this is probably to do the tests for a while, plotting the results, wait until they appear to be flatlining, then start the experiment.
In response to
Open Thread for February 11 - 17
Does anyone have advice for getting an entry level software-development job? I'm finding a lot seem to want several years of experience, or a degree, while I'm self taught.
If you have the skills to do software interviews well, the hardest part will be getting past resume screening. If you can, try to use personal connections to bypass that step and get interviews. Then your skills will speak for themselves.
Thanks. Fixed.
I bet wouldn't too much
Off by one.
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I did not know that, thanks.
Anyway, I would rather be involved on the artistic side, but I don't really know anything about that career path either, so.... ¯|_(ツ)_/¯
The iconic "working in video games is awful" story: EA Spouse