I'm not sure I agree re: lawyers, or about how people/society thinks of this. For one thing, I don't think most people are that OK with lawyers - they tend to get a lot of flack, and e.g. criminal defense attorneys will often get pushback from people who identify them with their clients, irrespective of the fact that they know the lawyers don't necessarily condone their clients' actions.
Another thing - most people absolutely hate hypocrisy. I think it's considered a death-blow to most people's arguments. People compliment poli...
"Geometric" intuition is basically the way that the 3Blue1Brown YouTube channel would explain things. I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but their "Essence of Linear Algebra" goes through the broad high-level concepts of linear algebra and explains them, with a very visual/geometric intuition for things like basis change, inverses, determinants, etc.
Unfortunately, they never covered transpose :)
Also, I'll take a look at your blog post, thanks!
Theoretically, I'm most interested in things related to Data Science/Machine Learning/Deep Learning, as that's my day job. However, since this is my day job, it's also the area that I know the most about. So e.g. I've studied Linear Algebra, Probability, Statistics etc quiet a bit.
I'm mostly interested in rounding out my specific knowledge with everything else I need to know to have knowledge equivalent to a well-rounded math major.
In terms of what personally interests me the most, that'd be logic/foundations-of-mathematics type stuff, e.g. Set Theory.
Thanks for the generous offer! What kind of requests would you like to get? Specific questions? Certain subjects? etc.
In any case, I'm going to write a bunch of stuff I'd love to have explained more thoroughly, some general, some more specific, if you can explain any of them that would of course be amazing from my point of view. Most of these are just things that came up for me while (re)learning a bunch of math.
I'll have a go at 4. (I don't know what is and isn't in your brain, so this may be entirely unhelpful. Even if so, it may help make it clearer what would be helpful.)
I think a better perspective on induction is that "regular induction" is just a special case of transfinite induction.
Ordinary induction over the natural numbers
When you first learn about induction, it's usually presented something like this: "To prove that P(n) for all n, prove that P(0) and that P(n) => P(n+1)." But it's not that uncommon to ha...
First of all, I want to join all the others in thanking you for the honesty and for the sharing.
I'm going to give a few of my views of this, as someone who has a fair amount of experience in "startup-land". Some of this will be "criticism", but please don't take offense - it's really hard to get these things right, and we all made and continue to make mistakes. And you seem to have gotten to some of these conclusions yourself - I'm writing this for the hypothetical other people who may want to start a startup, so mak...
Very interesting, and I kind-of agree with the conclusion. However, as a few people pointed out, it wasn't as simple as just buying bitcoin, you had to sell at the right time, etc.. And buying bitcoin was complicated.
But the other problem is that there are thousands of opportunities, things you should do, etc, lying around, with a possibly good payoff in expected value terms. And how many of them do we do? How many of them do we even think about seriously?
Just a few off the top of my head (first two are obvious, then some others):
Why do you want to buy a hat?
Almost all "non-geeky" / "normal" people don't regularly wear hats. If you're trying to look "better" and "more fashionable", the best solution is to skip the hat, and get sunglasses to protect your eyes
Over the last 2.5 years, my co-founder and I grew the Dev Shop we founded (Purple Bit) into a very profitable small company, employing 7 people.
Purple Bit has just been acquired by a former client of ours, Autodesk Inc. Autodesk are the makers of AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max, Maya and many other professional 3d software products.
(Note: this didn't happen this month, but it wasn't public until now).
So, do you have a specific marketing plan for getting the word out there about these books?
More specifically, you have access to an entire community rooting for you... how can we help?
(Also, I've been convinced by other commenters here - I normally don't buy physical books anymore, but here I'll make an exception for '"fanboyism" and "gifting" purposes).
I remembered it too. Found the quote you're referring to, I think:
"He ran a quick self-predictive model. There was a ninety-three per cent chance that he’d give in, after a kilotau spent agonising over the decision. It hardly seemed fair to keep Karpal waiting that long."
Egan, Greg (2010-12-30). Diaspora (Kindle Locations 3127-3129). Orion. Kindle Edition.
It's less the "why do they act that way", more "if you had this superpower, what kind of really weird but powerful stuff could you do with it".
Worm is full of people using superpowers in really inventive ways, in a way that Steelheart/Firefight aren't.
Tl;dr of my post: If you liked Steelheart, I heavily recommend reading Worm.
Long version: So, Sanderson is in my top 5 favorite authors, I think almost every book of his is amazing, and I loved Steelheart.
But shortly after reading it, I started reading the (now finished) online web serial Worm (from Yudkowsky's recommendation on HPMOR). It has a very similar premise to Steelheart, at least initially.
And let's just say, Worm makes Steelheart look terrible in comparison. Worm is just so much better.
Again, I'm a huge fan of Sanderson, and I still like the Ste...
FYI, you're mostly right, at least based on my experience. I tend to have a much harder time listening to Audiobooks of SF/fantasy, and a harder time listening to any fiction vs. non-fiction.
I also have a much easier time listening to SF/Fantasy when it's in a setting I already know (e.g. sequels, books I've read before, etc). Also easier to listen to books from authors I read a lot (but that may be true in general, come to think of it).
I still highly recommend anyone who can to listen to Audiobooks, at least of non-fiction, as one of the best and easiest hacks around.
Do you listen to Audiobooks at all? Are you only specifically against SF as an Audiobook?
I ask because I'm a huge fan of Audiobooks, but I've long believed that SF (and fantasy) are both particularly hard to like in Audiobook format. Non-fiction is by far better.
(I do still listen to some SF/Fantasy on Audiobooks, but it's usually authors I already know, or in worlds I already know).
Thanks! Fixed in comment.
Ray Dalio. Businessman, founded Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world. He is one of the richest people in the world.
From descriptions of Bridgewater, he seems to run it very much in line with most LessWrong principles.
In fact, if you want an instrumentally-rational and (slightly) business-oriented version of LessWrong, Ray Dalio's principles are it. You can read here, I highly recommend it: http://www.bwater.com/Uploads/FileManager/Principles/Bridgewater-Associates-Ray-Dalio-Principles.pdf .
He is also trying to spread his take on how ...
I agree. Perhaps this should be qualified as "most important habits that are only recommended in the Rationality community". Otherwise there are plenty of other skills we can add (another example - start saving money early, etc).
Backed!!
This is amazing news, both that the book is coming along, and that there will be a professional Audiobook version. This will make it easier to spread the sequences, and may even mean that I'll actually finish the sequences myself, something I still haven't done.
Btw, two logistical questions (for Luke mostly):
Something I'm looking for:
A list of habits to take up, to improve my life, that are vetted and recommended by the community. Preferably in order of most useful to least useful. Things like "start using Anki", "start meditating", etc.
Do we have list like this compiled? If not, can we create it? I'm a big believe in the things this community recommends, and have already taken up using Anki, am working on Meditation, and am looking for what other habits I should take up.
FYI, I thought of this as I was reading gwern's Dual N-Back article, i...
Did the survey. It felt much shorter this year.
(I'm Edan Maor)
Thanks a lot to all of you! I really appreciate both getting a gift, and the way you did it - I agree with you in wishing that more people would make donations as a gift.
You guys made my day! :)
I'm not sure where, but I remember Eliezer writing something like ~"one of the biggest advances in the economy is the fact that people have internalized that they should invest their money, instead of having it lying around".
I'm looking for 2 things:
Question for anyone that's taking the course: is it worthwhile for the average LW'er? I assume most of us have an above-average familiarity with these topics.
Isn't that just technological progress? Except for asking people for advice, nothing else there changes how people think, so it's hard to call it a rationality technique IMO.
I believe there are meaningful things people believe/do nowadays that they didn't 300 years ago (e.g. using the scientific method).
Unfortunately, for all these things, they're either: a) adopted only by some people, not the majority. b) As DanArmak says, adopted only because of "peer pressure" or other social reasons.
Now, that's not to say CFAR's mission isn't still worthwhile - raising the sanity waterline of just certain segments of the population, e.g. the top X% in terms of intelligence, is still of great importance.
But if there really aren't...
That's a very good point, although I think a good a first stage is to find what techniques people are actually using, then try and understand why.
Perhaps, but I'm trying to convince intelligent people that there are real changes we can introduce that will be adopted by most people, so I'm not sure the lottery fits the bill.
" This is obviously and offensively wrong. Does the risk of robbery improve living conditions? Does the risk of death improve life? Also, a future society where consent is optional appears to be a terrible dystopia: assuming a free democratic government, lack of consent implies that advertisers and corporations could force consumers to buy things. This quote needs A LOT of additional justification and qualification (and ideally deletion) to avoid implying that "raising the sanity waterline" means "abolishing liberty and ethics."&qu...
I agree that textbooks are undervalued, but I'm still unsure that textbooks that meet my requirements exist.
Do you have any examples of textbooks that help a layperson understand economics in the way I envision that's better than a more "popularized" book?
Relatedly, The Law of Superheroes is a funny look at applying Law to pretend cases that could happen in a world with superheroes. Very recommended.
It works well for what I want, but isn't in-depth enough to really leave me feeling that I've learned law. But the law is tricky in that, afaict, it's a lot of details and unofficial know-how, so many it's not a field where a book like I describe could exist.
I don't think that's the right approach.
A textbook is in many ways the opposite of what I want. In-depth look at a narrow part of the field. I want just the opposite. Also, something that's more about giving the story behind the field and making the field interesting.
Another good example - Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics taught me enough to understand the idea behind economics, the basic vocabulary, how an economist approaches things, etc. To learn more, I'm now looking at textbooks on Economics, but I definitely wouldn't have started there. And for the va...
I once read "I will Teach you to be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. It went into a fair bit of detail on this.
I didn't finish the book and can't really recommend it, since most of the advice was very US-centric (e.g. optimizing credit scores isn't relevant for me). But it might be a starting place.
Reading "The Selfish Gene" teaches enough evolutionary biology to understand what the field is about, to understand the basics of the field, and to be able to converse on it intelligently.
What book can I read that will do the same for me in:
Medicine/biology/physiology (e.g. able to understand the very basic concepts of what a doctor does)
Law (e.g. able to understand the very basic concepts of working as a lawyer).
Bonus points - if the book on Law explains the practical difference between common-law and civil-law.
Thanks!
Metafilter has a classic thread on "What book is the best introduction to your field?". There are multiple recommendations there for both law and biology.
I find most interesting the question of which God/religion to believe in. How do they deal with the fact that the actual, historical reason that they believe in their specific God/religion is because they were born into it (most likely - not true for everyone). Have they ever considered switching religions? What was their reason not to do so?
This usually leads to very interesting discussions on the "proofs" of their religion. And they tend to be interesting indeed.
Also, I might start the debate off by more general questions, e.g. "how do you...
Like Anatoly, I also really liked the book. It's not very deep in my mind, but it's just good ol' fashioned fun, for the kind of people who love hearing of highly technical matters (about which they honestly know little, at least in my case).
Glanced at the "Have a nice day" article. I'm absolutely shocked by how much can be said about a banal expression, especially how much negative stuff and criticism people level at it. Wow.
What made you stumble on it?
It gets worse. Most of his fantasy novels are actually connected into one world (called the Cosmere).
He guesses there will be a total of 30-40 books in this world.
Btw, for anyone that doesn't know, Brandon Sanderson was chosen as the author of the final Wheel of Time books, the ones that came out after the original author Robert Jordan passed away. So yeah, he knows what happens to people who start 10-book series.
What I meant by that was:
The magic system is basically comparable to him inventing a world with extra laws of physics. The magic is usually well understood, at least eventually, and is basically treated like just more physics.
E.g. (ROT13'd for minor spoiler): Bar bs uvf obbxf pbagnvaf n flfgrz gung, jura crbcyr qevax inevbhf xvaqf bs zrgny, gurl ner noyr gb "ohea hc" gur zrgny gb tnva pregnva cbjref, sbe rknzcyr, gryrxvarfvf. Guvf vf irel jryy haqrefgbbq naq hfrq, lbh haqrefgnaq gur zntvp, gur yvzvgf, vg erdhverf fbzr xvaq bs ryrzrag gb cbjre vg,...
Just finished Brandon Sanderson's book "Words of Radiance". It is the 2nd book in a (projected) 10-book series, and came out last month.
I thought it was a wonderful book. It developed the story from "The Way of Kings", some parts in obvious ways, but also in some new and unexpected ways. The world that Sanderson developed for this series is clearly huge, with many different actors and sub-stories going on.
Also, one sub-story in particular was very fun for me as an LW'er. I'm talking about: Gneninatvna, naq uvf VD punatvat rirel qnl (rot...
The biggest problem I have with this thinking is that it's a false dichotomy - it's not "Salary or startup" at all, and the fact that most young software professionals see those 2 as their only options saddens me.
There are plenty of other routes to go - freelancing, for one, which done well can give both higher earning potential, as well as more flexibility in terms of how much money you can earn. An effective altruist may well decide to work slightly longer hours for more money, something that isn't as possible in a normal salaried position.
Anot...
General information-getting (most of this is general "stuff I recommend to anyone", but some of it does require money):
Amazing how the basic pillars of rationality are things other people so often don't agree with, even though they seem so dead obvious to me.
IS this a good book to start with? I know it's the standard "Bayes" intro around here, but is it good for someone with, let's say, zero formal probability/statistics training?
I agree with VAuroch that this won't help much, because in general taking the inside view is a bad idea.
But if you want a few examples of places you've gone wrong - both getting a good idea, and executing a business, any business, are much harder than you imagine. For example, you wrote:
"Failure to think specifically about benefits." "The big issue here is the first bullet point. As spelled out by Eliezer's article, people are horrible at thinking specifically about the benefits that their idea will bring customers. They're horrible at movin...
Your post is exactly why "how many startups can I conceivably do" is an important question. If failed startups take on average 5 years to fail, which is a reasonable assumption for a semi-successful but ultimately failed startup, then doing 4 startups takes 20 years of your life. For most people, working 20 years at a startup and making relatively low wages is not feasible or desirable.
This is a topic I care a lot about, thank you for bringing it up
I've been an entrepreneur for 5 years. I started out like most Software Developers - by starting a startup. After a few years, I became convinced that this is NOT the best way to achieve the outcome you're talking about (financial independence, aka ~5mil USD).
My basic problem with your post is simple, and others have pointed it out - you can make up all the numbers you want, but empirically, MOST startups fail. The usual figure given is 10% of startups fail, but this is a gross simplification,...
That's great, thanks for the info!
Can I take this opportunity to ask about HIIT? What kind of HIIT workout do you recommend? I ask because you're putting it on the same plane as Anki, so it must be truly amazing.
At present time, I do 12 sets of 20 seconds work and 20 seconds rest, alternating between push-ups and squats (2 set of squats, 1 of push-ups). When I started, a bit more than a year ago, I did 6 sets. I average 14 squats and 12 push-ups in a set. 20/20 is different from the Tabata protocol, which advocates 20/10, but I found that one too hard. I may start lowering the rest time at some point.
HIIT is amazing for me in a sense that, just like Anki, it became a habit I enjoy doing (~3 times a week) AND it led to a significant body changes (less fat, more mus...
So, we're what's called a "Professional Services" firm. This term is usually used when talking about e.g. Accountants, Lawyers, etc, but is just as relevant for a Software Consultancy. I'll go a little into the idea behind professional services firms in general, then get back to talking about us in particular.
There are many, many different types of Professional Services firms, but the basic business model is usually the same - you're selling your time for money, and people pay because of your expertise and experience in the field.
But here's where...
Great overview!
I can give a few words of advice on where to continue from here, if you're interested. My own background is as a software dev for many years (13 years professionally plus a few years as a kid). I'd bene involved in many different fields, from embedded systems to web development, and recently ran a team of algorithms researchers in 3d printing, so was mildly exposed to computer vision and 3d concepts, but had no serious machine learning. Then a few years ago, I started to get much more seriously interested in ML/DL/Data Science, and... (read more)