All of Rad Hardman's Comments + Replies

"Read Sorry I'm Late, I didn't want to come; it will make you laugh, it might make you cry, and it will make you a better person (and a better friend)."

Strangely, when I click the link, it links me to this very post. I think this is an error.

EDIT: This is also true of the "How to Make Friends and Influence People" link.

3hath
Thank you for pointing that out--should be fixed now.

I interpreted it to mean that uncontent characters change things in the words (i.e. that character stories are likely to lead to event stories).

Answer by Rad Hardman30

I personally do not visualize whenever learning or reading STEM material. I think mostly in words. Weirdly, I do find that diagrams and graphs help make things clearer for me, but I don't (or sometimes can't) visualize them myself in my mind's eye (even though I understand the concept).

I hereby pre-commit to finishing and uploading my post on Lojban by 2359h Thursday, my local time. It will cover the basics of Lojban grammar, as well as what I like and dislike about the way it is designed.

I am strongly in favor of this new name you propose. I especially like the alliteration. It is my belief that a good and nice-sounding name is a prerequisite to having something be accepted by Society™. I have long disliked the term "rationalist" to refer to this community for several reasons, but you lay them all out clearly here. Thank you for that.

The concept is amusing to me, but I wonder where exactly this would be useful. I agree with Rana Dexsin's comment that it seems less about "intelligence" and more about culture warring.

Aside: That I had to look up what "Eternal September" made me really confront my youth, hah. I do relate with the sadness that comes with your group's culture being diluted, but I think there are better ways to maintain cultural norms in the face of influxes of newcomers than this.

The fact that the author is advertising here is a little flattering, ignoring the fact that I only passed the test after two wrong tries. Oops. (I did the differentiation by hand and I checked that it was correct -- I got the wrong Matrix answer, apparently.)

I'm convinced too, and also don't have any Apple devices.

With regard to how prediction polls are displayed on LW, the predictions made by others should be hidden until a.) you yourself make a prediction or b.) you press a button (or something like that) to display the results without predicting.

Since the prediction polls aren't trying to be a prediction market, I would much rather they be hidden first to avoid being influenced.

2habryka
We have a setting that allows you to view them exactly that way. But I think too large of a fraction of people reading LW posts are lurkers, and this means that I am hesitant. to force them to press an additional button for every poll, but it seems like a reasonable setting that allows some people to opt into that.

I am curious about how RVs manage waste and wastewater. I have heard people using rainwater collection and filtration for their water needs, and then using dry peat toilets for urine and feces. However, I have not considered the wastewater generated by showers. I read that there are septic tank stations where RV users can dump wastewater in, but I am curious whether there exists some way for them to manage it on their own (without relying on such stations).

1[anonymous]
My sources for this is primarily various youtube videos and a few articles.  (I was considering the obvious idea: live in a van in Bay area while working a software job that would pay 160k+.  Aka, maximum possible salary with minimum possible costs. ) The problem is that a comfortable shower is 1 gallon a minute and lasts about 10 minutes a person for a nice one.  (most 'low flow' heads are 2 gallons a minute but I have found 1 is not too bad)  The issue is that say if there is 1 person, a 10 day supply of water is approximately twice that, or 20 gallons * 10 = 200 gallons, or 1660 lbs.  You also run into the problem that most RVs simply don't have a room for tanks this big anyways. Yes, there are dump stations, and places you can get water, pretty much within some reasonable driving distance of anywhere in the USA.  It's just hassle, it's something I don't have to deal with renting part of a house.   What most people do is they get the peat toilet.  They do have a shower, but their water and wastewater tanks are small, about 30 gallons each.  They solely use the water for the sink and for a very brief shower only when absolutely necessary.  The rest of the time, they shower at 24 hour fitness or similar gyms, and do their laundry at laundromats.  They also don't use many dishes, either cooking extremely basic meals or getting takeout.  

I read KatjaGrace's "Sleep math: red clay blue clay" post. In it, people used either spoiler blocks or ROT13 to obfuscate their answers. Which of the two approaches do you prefer? Personally, I like spoiler blocks more, since LessWrong doesn't have native support for ROT13 en/decryption.

2habryka
I also prefer spoiler blocks

I am a high school student currently living in Singapore. I was brought here from reading Scott Alexander's blog. I am particularly interested in the practice of rationality as a "martial art", and how to apply techniques from it.

I was interested in rationality because I had a quarter life crisis as to what to do with my life. My parents and I are planning to immigrate to the US sometime this year, and I am planning to attend college there. I am interested in how learning rationalist techniques could help me navigate making complex life choices.

Viliam150

I am interested in how learning rationalist techniques could help me navigate making complex life choices.

Have you already found some useful answers?

In my opinion, the greatest value usually comes from a few rather simple techniques, assuming that you actually do them. In other words, the typical failures are "not even trying" and "thinking about what needs to be done (and reading about it), but never actually doing it".

A few simple techniques:

  • actually spend 5 minutes by clock trying to answer the question
  • ask a smart and trusted person
  • use Google (to find a
... (read more)

Minor typos: "are viable cites of collective action in which toe people could organize to overthrow the regime ", "the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). despite a well-funded patronage systme", "the same people who murdered their friends get to keep a their stolen gold, jade and oil"

I especially liked your game-theoretic analysis to explain why the Tatmadaw decided to launch a coup. It's quite refreshing to see it laid out clearly like that (without extra padding some news sites usually do). I look forward to reading your future installments.

S... (read more)

2Tim Liptrot
Thank you! More is coming :) The most likely is a military challenger unseating Hlaing or the military's own party overthrowing them.

The biggest disadvantage of this that I could see is that it prevents you from seeing the entirety of the map at once. This is reflected in the article linked, ""Our map is actually more like the globe than other flat maps," Gott said. "To see all of the globe, you have to rotate it; to see all of our new map, you simply have to flip it over."".

1Yoav Ravid
Right, it's not the sort of map you'd want to put on a wall, it's intended to be interactive and give the benefits of a globe in flat space.
Answer by Rad Hardman10

I would say that comparing rationalism and utilitarianism is comparing apples to oranges. Rationalism is concerned with forming accurate models about the world. Essentially, it's a set of tools used to find "truth". It only deals with positive aspects. Meanwhile, utilitarianism is an ethical system. It only deals with normative aspects. It just happens that many rationalists here are also utilitarians, thus making lots of writing concerning rationalism be couched in utilitarianism.

The two are related in the sense that, since utilitarianism is a form of con... (read more)

1ChristianKl
That's not the way the term is primarily used in this community. We generally orient us more towards decision science. From Jonathan Baron's textbook Thinking and deciding:

I'm one of the purely prudent hedonists you mention, and yes, I would stay in the simulated world with little hesitation. I think it's because I don't value "truth" or contact with reality as an end goal, but only instrumentally. 

Aside: It's kind of funny when I talk about hedonism to other people because they're horrified when I say I would willingly enter an experience machine (in the original set-up Nozick described), or that I would be fine with wireheading. But to me, I feel no such revulsion.