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All of Interpolate's Comments + Replies

Open thread, Dec. 22 - Dec. 28, 2014
Interpolate40

I would like to try NSI-189: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSI-189

People's experiences with this drug and suggestions for vendors would therefore be welcome.

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0hyporational
I'd be more interested in behavioral changes in the mice. For some reason not all people with tiny hippocampuses or generally atrophied brains have problems with memory (or mood), and we still can't reliably diagnose progressive memory disorders, or many other neurological disorders for that matter, via brain scans alone.
5skeptical_lurker
Stupid questions time: Given that there is only a certain amount of room inside the skull, how can this be true in adult mice? I can understand how it might increase density, or increase hippocampal volume when administered in adolescence and the skull has not finished growing, but unless there are holes in the brain I can't see how this could be true in adults. I suppose maybe the amount of cerebospinal fluids could decrease, increasing intelligence at a cost of decreasing ability to withstand blows to the head.
3[anonymous]
Thank you very much for the links.
Open thread, Dec. 22 - Dec. 28, 2014
Interpolate10

I haven't read this book myself, but I've read other books in this series and would recommend them:

http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Short-Introduction-Edward-Craig/dp/0192854216/

I like the idea of directing him to the Less Wrong sequences as he would probably benefit more from that. It's available in pdf and other print-suitable forms here so you could print it out and put it in a fancy binder or something:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/37v/sequences_in_alternative_formats/

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Stupid Questions December 2014
Interpolate00

These aren't so much "stupid" questions but ones which have no clear answer, and I'm curious what people here feel have to say about this.

-Why should (or shouldn't) one aspire to be "good" in the sense of prosocial, altruistic etc.?

-Why should (or shouldn't) one attempt to be as honest as possible in their day to day lives?

I have strong altruistic inclinations because that's how I'm predisposed to be and often because coincides with my values; other people's suffering upsets me and I would prefer to live a world in which people are ki... (read more)

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New Year's Predictions Thread (2011)
Interpolate00

I wish I could upvote this more than once.

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Melbourne Less Wrong Meetup for November
Interpolate20

Perhaps this is juvenile, but I think it would be amusing if part of the meetup consisted of zealously handing out "The Twelve Virtues of Rationality" pamphlets (which conveniently is available in pamphlet form: http://yudkowsky.net/assets/pdf/twelve_virtues.pdf); like you see Christians handing out evangelistic paraphernalia in shopping malls, street corners etc. Ideally in some sort of uniform dress, like monastic (Bayesian master inspired: http://lesswrong.com/static/imported/2008/03/27/elimonk2darker.jpg) cloaks.

Or if you could integrate t... (read more)

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Nootropics and Cognitive-enhancement Discussion Area
Interpolate10

Modafinil is something I've wanted to try for some time. How did you acquire it?

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2knb
I told my physician that I have the symptoms of hypersomnia, and I wanted to try Modafinil. My doctor has always been cool about prescribing. :D If your doctor is uncool, there are other ways. The best way is to just use Adrafinil which metabolizes into Modafinil and has apparently identical effects. Unfortunately it takes as long as an hour before the effects start--Modafinil is much faster-acting. Adrafinil (sometimes branded as Olmifon) is completely unregulated and unscheduled in the US and is totally legal to import. However, it is a bit expensive to buy and pay for shipping out of pocket (my insurance covers most of my Modafinil). I believe the US is somewhat unusual in terms of not scheduling Adrafinil, I know New Zealand schedules Adrafinil, as do most countries in Europe. Also, I have a friend who imports Provigil branded tablets from online pharmacies, (no prescription). He said that since Modafinil is Schedule IV the (US) government doesn't make much effort to prosecute importers. In the rare event that the shipment is intercepted, if the amount is obviously for personal use (not resale), the government generally just sends a letter telling you not to do it again.
How to better understand and participate on LW
Interpolate00

The original edit was titled "Prerequisites for understanding and participating on LW", in line with cousin_it's post. The aim is to guide people to relevant information.

Some elucidation of the implicit norms of what kind of posts or comments are worthwhile could be useful to newcomers.

Maybe you could write one?

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0[anonymous]
I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that yet. I've only been active in LW for about a month and a half. By spending a lot of time here I feel like I've become better at complying with these norms, but don't think I have a clear enough perspective to explicitly write them out.
Nootropics and Cognitive-enhancement Discussion Area
Interpolate10

I was told by a friend who reports to have drastically benefitted from Piracetam that it requires ~2 weeks to take effect, based on his and his housemate's experiences. I abandoned a piracetam regime a few days in because it had little observable effect besides increasing energy, currently a few days into my second attempt.

ETA: Each of us supplemented it with Choline, sourced http://www.nutraplanet.com/product/primaforce/piracetam-choline-citrate-stack-1-1-units.html

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1rastilin
It's been a while since you started, what happened next?
0knb
I haven't been taking choline, and overall I haven't noticed any effect with Piracetam by any metric I'm taking except that I've been late for meetings and classes much less than normal (this has always been a big problem for me.) I'm coming up on two weeks of use (1.6 g per day), so I expected more effect by now. I'll probably try adding choline to my diet and I'll see if that makes a difference. In any case, I'll continue taking Piracetam until I run out since I don't mind swallowing pills anyway. Since I'm about to start using Modafinil, I might not be able to distinguish whether choline makes any difference.
How to better understand and participate on LW
Interpolate20

Not disturbed, just in disagreeance. A simple rewording of the post and title into something like "how to better understand Less Wrong" would stop it being potentially off-putting to new users.

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1[anonymous]
Thanks, upvoted. I changed the title according to your suggestion.
How to better understand and participate on LW
Interpolate30

This is great, thanks. Although I don't agree all of this is prerequisite for reading/participating/benefitting from Less Wrong, I'm sure it will useful for anyone autodidactically inclined, and I like how you've categorised and explained them according to how they pertain to topics discussed here.

I would add to the list: http://academicearth.org/ (similar to, but of a much higher quality than Khan Academy)

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1[anonymous]
Thank you, I added your recommendation to the list.
Melbourne Less Wrong Meetup
Interpolate00

How did this go? I'm not in Melbourne, but I am in Australia so if I ever visit I think I would like to attend one.

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1luminosity
Good attendance. Possibly suffered from a lack of things to do, but I imagine now that we've met up and got a feel for it, we'll have some ideas on what else to do next time.
The Irrationality Game
Interpolate10

I downvoted this, and consider the artistic and cultural contributions of religion to society to alone warrant this assertion.

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3Swimmy
Funny, I upvoted this because of the artistic and cultural contributions of religion. For most of history, until the Industrial Revolution or a little before, human economies were Malthusian. You could not increase incomes without decreasing average lifespans. The implication is that the money spent on cathedrals and gargoyles and all the rest came directly at the expense of people's lives. (A recent Steven Landsburg debate with Dinesh D'Souza explored this line of thinking more; I wouldn't recommend watching much more than the opening statements, though.) I think the positive externalities of having more of those people's descendants alive today would be of higher value than the current benefits of past art--especially since most of that past art has been destroyed.
JoshuaZ120

Note that it is in general very hard to tell if the artistic and cultural contributions associated with religion are actually due to religion. In highly religious cultures that's often the only form of expression that one is able to get funding for. Dan Barker wrote an essay about this showing how a lot of classical composers were agnostics, atheists or deists who wrote music with religious overtones mainly because that was their only option.

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3Will_Newsome
You sound more confident than Eugine, in which case you should upvote. Or does 70% roughly match your belief?
The Irrationality Game
Interpolate60

It does not all add up to normality. We are living in a weird universe. (75%)

My initial reaction was that this is not a statement of belief but one of opinion, and to think like reality.

We are living in a Fun Theory universe where we find ourselves as individual or aggregate fun theoretic agents, or something else really bizarre that is not explained by naive Less Wrong rationality, such as multiversal agents playing with lots of humanity's measure.

I'm still not entirely sure what you mean (further elaboration would be very welcome), but going by a ... (read more)

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Open Thread, September, 2010-- part 2
Interpolate10

I realise he is a med student, which is why I suggested "at work". Maybe this is a personal quirk, but people in surgical scrubs exude compassion and approachibility to me. Conversely, pictures of people at work in an office setting usually seem impersonal and/or trite to me.

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1Alicorn
My dad (a doctor, although he doesn't practice as a physician and does consulting instead) wears scrubs as pajamas, so I don't trust my intuitions about what they mean one bit.
Open Thread, September, 2010-- part 2
Interpolate10

I would make your third picture your display picture.

I don't have many specific names/titles listed in the favourites section, but I found that I received more messages when I did.

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Open Thread, September, 2010-- part 2
Interpolate70

I get the sense that your profile content doesn't do you justice - perhaps you could afford to be more arrogant? No one you want to meet would find you boring.

I like most of your pictures, but I would include a few where you look more friendly and approachable, eg. pictures of you at work.

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7Relsqui
That's a brilliant piece of advice about the attitude to take when profile-writing. Don't worry about looking good to people you aren't interested in! It doesn't matter what they think! Given the potential objections below about Yvain's work photos, a photo of him socializing might also fit the bill. Nothing says "I'm approachable" like "Look! These people clearly approached me, and I didn't bite them."
4Alicorn
Yvain is a med student. Pictures of him at work might have him wearing a mask and up to his elbows in blood. Which would be interesting, but not approachable ;)
Intelligence Amplification Open Thread
Interpolate30

Is neorationalist the term we are adopting for the kind of Rationality espoused on LW, to distinguish from Cartesian Rationalism?

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2Emile
Yvain has used x-rationality for extreme rationality.
4Will_Newsome
I sort of wish it were, but I think only one or two people use it. The problem is that it's not really anything like old-style rationalism and so calling it neorationalism is misleading. 'Bayesianism' is normally taken to be the philosophy, 'rationalist' the adherent. Unfortunately, rationality is more than just Bayesianism, so that too is inaccurate. The whole lack of an -ism thing is kind of a downer. 'Evidentialism' or something might work as a description of our epistemology but it fails to connect to the 'winning' part of rationality. Bayesian decision theory-ism is what we're trying to achieve, I think, but we need something more aesthetic. Suggestions?
Should I believe what the SIAI claims?
Interpolate30

I upvoted the original post for:

  • Stimulating critical discussion of the Less Wrong community - specifically: the beliefs almost unanimously shared, and the negativity towards criticsm; as someone who has found Less Wrong extremely helpful, and would hate to see it descend into groupthink and affiliation signalling.

A question to those who dismiss the OP as merely "noise": what do you make of the nature of this post?

  • Stimulating critical discussion of the operating premises of the SIAI; as someone who is considering donating and otherwise co
... (read more)
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-2Aleksei_Riikonen
As someone who thought the OP was of poor quality, and who has had a very high opinion of SIAI and EY for a long time (and still has), I'll say that that "Eliezer Yudkowsky facts" was indeed a lot worse. It was the most embarrassing thing I've ever read on this site. Most of those jokes aren't even good.
Book Recommendations
Interpolate40

There isn't a copy of The MIT Encylopedia of Cognitive Sciences lying around, or is it not specific enough? (For those interested, the surprisingly navigatable pdf version can be downloaded surreptitiously here)

EDIT: Amazon shows Mapping the Mind as a suggestion after viewing MITECS; from a cursory glance it seems topical.

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Open Thread, August 2010
Interpolate30

If he is gifted and interested in science, introducing him to lesswrong, rationality and the Singularity could have a substantial positive impact on his academic development. What would be the worst that could happen?

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0[anonymous]
If I understand correctly, your primary concern is that he may rationalise himself into this "belief in belief" situation, and that this will ultimately delay or deter completely his transition into atheism? "I suspect this is why most people don't come out as atheists until after they've established separate identities from their parents and families. A lot of people never escape from these traps." - What evidence do you have for thinking this? I would think that challenging religious assumptions at a younger age would result in an earlier transition to Atheism (assuming one occurs). More importantly, the risk of rationality and the Singularity inducing a crisis of faith is no greater than that of any science and math book. Visit the science section of any major bookstore and bam - Dawkins.
1wedrifid
How is the above wrong enough to be at -2? I nearly universally reject any assertions that people have a duty to interfere with others but even so I don't have a problem with the above.
6knb
My concern is not just that it would be traumatic, but that it will be so traumatic that he'll rationalize himself into a "belief in belief" situation. I had my crisis of faith when I was close to his age (14) and I wasn't ready to accept something that would alienate me from my family yet, so I simply told myself that I believed, and tried not to think about the issue. (I suspect this is why most people don't come out as atheists until after they've established separate identities from their parents and families. A lot of people never escape from these traps. I think waiting somewhat--until he's somewhat older and more mature--will make him more likely to come to the right conclusions in the end.