There are a number of science fiction stories about uncomfortable utilitarian choices. "The Cold Equations" is the most famous. I think Heinlein wrote a novel that had a character who was in charge of a colony that ran out of power, and so he killed half of them in order for the remaining life support to be enough to let the others live until relief arrived. No one stopped him at the time, but after they were safe, they branded him a war criminal or something like that.

I wonder how common it is for the opposite to be true. I think visible logos on clothig are phenomenally tacky and have a strong immediate negative reaction to the people wearing them when I see them. This isn't really a reaction to certain brands, but to the idea of advertising them.

On the other hand, I might assume that these people are wealthier.

An irrationality quote from Samuel Johnson via Boswell:

After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it -- "I refute it thus."

My Omega uses Solomonoff induction. Its beliefs about the next bit are defined mathematically and depend only on the previous bits.

I've been thinking about this on and off for half a year or so, and I have come to the conclusion that I cannot agree with any proposed moral system that answers "torture" to dust specks and torture. If this means my morality is scope-insensitive, then so be it.

(I don't think it is; I just don't think utilitarianism with an aggregation function of summation over all individuals is correct; I think the correct aggregation function should probably be different. I am not sure what the correct aggregation function is, but maximizing the minimum individual utility is a lot closer to my intuitions than summation (where by "correct" I mean compatible with my moral intuitions). I'm planning on writing a post about this soon.)

In some professions, an employer will accept three years of experience in lieu of a college degree, and in some professions they won't. So, I would suggest that the most productive way to continue this conversation would be to provide one or more answers to the following two questions.

• In what profession is experience treated as being as good or better than a degree?
• How can you gain that experience and get paid doing it?

Three possible answers to the first question are journalist, restaurant chef, and computer programmer. Some corresponding answers to the second question should be obvious. A fourth answer to the first question would be political campaign operative. I don't know of a corresponding answer to the second question for that profession. (Maybe start out in paid interest-group fund-raising?)

Any other answer pairs?

I think I am at least a standard deviation out on this, but my college experience had a lot of very good both theoretical and practical training which served me extremely well as a grad student and is continuing to do so in my current job. While I could imagine having done it in less than four years, the idea of learning all that I did and getting the practice applying it that I did in less than two or three years is insane. While college does have a very high signaling value, it can also be very good at what it is nominally for: teaching students. Although individuals looking to get the best jobs may find that the signaling value is what matters in achieving that goal, on a society wide level, it probably makes more sense to spend effort on increasing the quality of education.

That being said, don't underestimate the other reasons that people of most classes in the US go to college, namely, the social experience both for itself and for networking later in life.

I've been pretty consistent about rock climbing and martial arts for multiple short periods in my life, and it is always glorious. Currently I am climbing (bouldering, which has a simplicty top-roping does not) multiple times a week, and weightlifting and getting cardio exercise as well for a few months. I am probably in the best cardio shape of my life (which is pretty mediocre!) and it is pretty great. I've got a group I go with, which is good for motivation.

Anyone who doesn't touch-type: If you don't need to type faster, don't learn to touch-type to type faster. Just learn it.

The writer seems unaware of the right-hand turn.