nitrat665 — LessWrong

LESSWRONG
LW

Replying toLesswrong 2016 Survey

nitrat66510y

Lesswrong 2016 Survey

I have taken the survey

Replying toLesswrong 2016 Survey

nitrat66510y

Lesswrong 2016 Survey

I feel like some questions could use a way to provide an explanation for the answer, or the "other" option. Like, for example, my answer for the immigration question would be "no restriction on immigration for educated and culturally compatible people, extreme restrictions for non-educated and culturally incompatible ones", but I ended up putting in the "no options" one, as it was more like the average between "no restrictions" and "strong restrictions"

Replying toThe Best Popular Books on Every Subject

nitrat66511y

The Best Popular Books on Every Subject

Can anyone recommend good books on teaching (preferrably not kids, but adults) ?

Replying toAstronomy, space exploration and the Great Filter

nitrat66511y

Astronomy, space exploration and the Great Filter

We haven't seen anything like evidence that our laws of physics are only approximations at all. If we're in a simulation, this implies that with high probability either a) the laws of physics in the parent universe are not our own laws of physics (in which case the entire idea of ancestor simulations fails) or b) they are engaging in an extremely detailed simulation.

It depends on what you consider a simulation. Game of Life-like cell automaton simulations are interesting in terms of having a small number of initial rules and being mathematically consistent. However, using them for large-scale project (for example, a whole planet populated with intelligent beings) would be really expensive... (read more)

Replying toOffense versus harm minimization

nitrat66511y

Offense versus harm minimization

I feel there are some significant differences between drawing Mohammed and showing the British person a picture of the salmon:

In case of Britain affected with the salmon ailment, it is not actually necessary to stop depicting salmon. For example, if you are a proud owner of a salmon-fisher’s blog, it is sufficient to put up a “CONTAINS SALMON” warning on the front page to prevent some unlucky Brit from wandering inside and getting a jolt. We do not stop selling peanut products because some people are allergic to them and might actually die from consuming those – we just put a highly visible “CONTAINS NUTS” label on the packaging. However, if you

nitrat66511y

Avoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points

Religions' centuries-long endurance is an interesting topic to think about. However, there are simpler explanations for the longevity of religious beliefs than attributing them to some sort of supernatural causes - ones involving some sort of memetic selection. I am pretty sure there are good and detailed studies out there in the internet that you could read for a more detailed argument on that, maybe even on this site, but as for a simple explanation, here is a hypothesis that I could come up with in about 5 minutes of thinking:

Here is a list of certain traits that are common to many long-surviving and wide-spread religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the... (read more)

Replying toBook Review: Naïve Set Theory (MIRI course list)

nitrat66511y

Book Review: Naïve Set Theory (MIRI course list)

Nice review! I am actually reading through this one now. I've always felt like set theory is one of those one-point wonders of science - digging in deeply doesn't give you much benefit, but the basic stuff is the stuff you are going to run into pretty much everywhere. Guess I'll have to see what I think after I read all the way through.

Replying toAvoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points

nitrat66511y

Avoiding Your Belief's Real Weak Points

One of the problems with this argument is that the such perseverence is not unique to Christianity in particular and religion in general:

Many religions have stories of believers' faith persisting against all odds, so this particular property can't be easily attributed to Christ exclusively.
Religion in general does not have a monopoly on perseverance either - people have been known to keep their ideas about the superiority of their country / government / lord / general political idea even with an overwhelming amount of evidence pointing in the other direction or even when threatened with death or torture.
Perserverance is not limited to noble acts, like keeping your faith in god or loyalty to your political leaders either. I am pretty sure many of us have personally observed people keeping some sort of belief (non-religious and non-patriotic) that was detrimental and unprofitable to them (even sometimes to such an extent that holding on to such belief leads to severe harm or death).

Replying toHow has lesswrong changed your life?

nitrat66511y

How has lesswrong changed your life?

I was able to evaluate some of my behaviors in a more rational fashion, from a better cost/benefit viewpoint, and I was able to cognitively model and evaluate my behavior better, which was a significant help in getting rid of some unhealthy habits.
LessWrong helped a lot with my self-education too, being a source of inspiration and motivation and pointing me towards some cool educational resources I didn’t know about previously.
Found quite a lot of interesting fiction to read through LessWrong, too.
Useful advice on combating akrasia.
Helped me to systematize what I know about philosophy.

Overall, I feel that LessWrong made a noticeably significant positive impact on my life.

Replying toMeetup : April Rationality Discussion: Life planning vs. the coming technology explosion.

nitrat66511y

Meetup : April Rationality Discussion: Life planning vs. the coming technology explosion.

I wonder if any of the meetups set up a broadcast via Skype or a webinar of some sorts - I would be very curious to listen in on this one, if there is such an opportunity.