All of luff's Comments + Replies

luff380

Why do I get the feeling that you will tease me about the discrepancy between my probability estimates on aliens in the milky way contra the rest of the universe?

1Kawoomba
There are good justifications for putting down very similar probabilities, to the point that they round to the same number.
0[anonymous]
Any answer is consistent as long as P(aliens in universe) > P(aliens in milky way), but the ratio implicitly depends on how densely populated you think the universe is conditional on aliens existing at all, assuming aliens are distributed randomly among galaxies.
gwern160

That's actually probably my favorite single question: when I first took the survey I went 'universe: dunno, maybe 60%, Milky Way: eh, 30%.....wait a second aren't there more than 2 galaxies‽'

6jooyous
I found that section SO hard to answer without wishful thinking getting in the way. So I just left them all blank. I WANT smart alien friends! =/
luff10

Härnösand, Sweden.

luff-40

An enemy is a remedy to a malady in your melody, if you're strong not brittle.

The Cat Empire - Protons, Neutrons, Electrons

luff20

Good. I thought about just writing "Disillusionment is what heroes are made of", to avoid the possibility of confusion, but decided to go with the original quote. It is said by a cynic as an encouragement to a person disillusioned by the behavior of people in groups. It's a call to embrace it. For even if it might be better that the world lives up to your expectations, it would be worse if you didn't have the judgment to realize something is wrong. And it is only the ones who realize something is wrong who will do something about a problem.

luff-10

Disillusionment is what little heroes are made of.

E.K. Hornbeck in Inherit the wind

0PhilGoetz
Are little heroes supposed to be good, or bad?
luff50

With the disclaimer that I'm likely projecting to some extent here, I made this analysis. Hope it's not too offending, it is written with the purpose of having my misconceptions corrected.

Quick summary of what I found interesting.

1) EY asked Greene which he valued most: power or happiness. Greene chose power.

2) EY asked if Greene would imagine a society working if everyone lived after the laws in his book. Greene answered no, but that's not a problem, since most people won't.

3) Greene asked what would motivate people in the absence of the sense of urgency ... (read more)

3CannibalSmith
Actually, there's still urgency when you're immortal. The kinds of fun you can have depend on the era. For example, competitive athletics may soon cease to be a competition of athletes and become a competition of genetic engineers. Being an athlete may soon become less fun or no fun at all. So even if you're immortal you may miss out on opportunities for having fun if you don't hurry up and win the Olympics while they still take place.
0[anonymous]
EY's reply to that whole happy pill thing: http://lesswrong.com/lw/xy/the_fun_theory_sequence/
luff40

Because I want to be right, I love to be wrong. Or more correctly, to realize why I'm wrong. I'm not sure how it came about, my best guess is it has something to do with humor, but every time I realize I'm wrong, I get happy. It gives me a stupid grin across my face and makes me snicker. It also happens when I realize why someone else is wrong. (as in becoming aware of what mistake they have made, or what information they are missing - not just that they are mistaken!)

Sure, most people want to be right, but they hate to be wrong. They get ashamed, frustrat... (read more)

luff20

So after all these post about rationalists having problem cooperating, I am left wondering: Cooperate on what? Are there any existing projects to join? As a student I am not able to support by giving any large amounts of money, but I do have time to spare on a worthy cause.

4Daniel_Burfoot
Rationalist hardliner response: stop slacking off, hurry up and make a lot of money. There must be some way to convert that extra time into wealth. Then donate some of the money to a project, or start your own.
3Paul Crowley
Not everyone agrees with me on this - evangelism has bad associations - but I currently think that spreading rationalism itself enough to change the incentives for politicians would be a worthy goal.
2Eliezer Yudkowsky
There was this post and if you're good at Python we've got plenty of open issues.
2AlexU
Whatever it is you want to do with your life. I can't think of many fields in which a rational outlook wouldn't be of use. This goes back to fundamental values, interests, talents, etc. -- the dictates of rationalism can't decide everything for you.