All of RicardoFonseca's Comments + Replies

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Gvzr geniry furanavtnaf va guvf puncgre:

1.

Uneel fyrrcf jvgu gjb gbr evatf nggnpurq, bar bs juvpu vf gur Genafsvtherq obql bs Urezvbar. Syvgjvpx pbzrf vagb gur ebbz naq jnxrf Uneel, gryyvat uvz gung gur urnqznfgre jnagf gb frr uvz vzzrqvngryl. Uneel fybjyl fvgf hc va orq naq, orarngu gur pbiref, qvfperrgyl erzbirf Urezvbar'f obql'f gbr evat naq yrnirf vg gurer va gur orq. Ur sbyybjf Syvgjvpx gb frr gur urnqznfgre.

2.

Uneel qryvorengryl yvrf va nyy dhrfgvbaf nobhg gur ybpngvba bs Urezvbar'f obql, rkprcg gur bar... (read more)

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Gvzr geniry furanavtnaf va guvf puncgre:

Uneel ragref gur fgberebbz jurer Urezvbar'f obql vf. Ur jrnef gur Pybnx bs Vaivfvovyvgl naq jnvgf sbe n juvyr. Fpnag zvahgrf yngre, nabgure Uneel nccrnef, bcraf gur qbbe naq rkvgf gur fgberebbz. Vafvqr, gur svefg Uneel urnef Zvarein bhgfvqr frnyvat gur qbbe fuhg. Gung Uneel cebprrqf gb Genafsvther Urezvbar'f obql vagb n gbr evat jvgu gur fnzr funcr nf uvf bgure bar gung pbagnvarq n cbegxrl. Guvf gnxrf n srj ubhef. Nsgre ur vf svavfurq, ur Genafsvtherf fbzrguvat vagb fbzrgu... (read more)

Harry didn't want to say in front of Professor McGonagall that the existence of brain damage implied that there were no such things as souls.

Harry is wrong here. Yes, the existence of brain damage implies that there are no such things as souls, but that is true only in worlds where we don't observe people behaving like their normal selves in the absence of their (uninjured) brains.

In this magical universe, we do see people behaving like their normal selves in the absence of their brains, just take a look at Animagi for example. And while just say... (read more)

4Emiya
Also, from what Harry knows about how magic works, if a dark wizard expected himself to have a soul and created a dark ritual to anchor it to an object and avoid death, magic could plausibly just make him a "soul" for the occasion.  Brooms working by Aristotelian physics and aguamenti are also a giveaway that magic doesn't care how the universe would ordinarily work. 

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Uneel unq nfxrq jul Cebsrffbe Dhveeryy pbhyqa'g or gur bar gb cynl gur cneg bs gur Qnex Ybeq, naq Cebsrffbe Dhveeryy unq cbvagrq bhg gung gurer jnf ab cynhfvoyr ernfba sbe uvz gb or cbffrffrq ol gur funqr bs Ur-Jub-Zhfg-Abg-Or-Anzrq.

V guvax V sryg na hetr gb qevax Pbzrq-Grn evtug orsber V ernq guvf cnffntr...

(Sigh. Ignore this. Just one more comment that insists in running away from the correct chapter due to some glitch...)

The thirtieth defensive Charm that Quirrell performs in the empty showroom but not in Mary's Room must be an anti-Time-Turner Charm, but Harry doesn't know those exist apparently.

(Ignore this. Yet another comment that got posted to the wrong chapter due to some glitch)

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Dhvgr n srj vagrerfgvat guvatf va guvf puncgre. Yrg'f frr...

1.

"V unq cynaarq gb nfx lbh gung dhrfgvba gbqnl va nal pnfr, naq fvzcyl pubfr na bccbeghar zbzrag. V unir fhfcrpgrq fvapr Qrprzore, va snpg -"
"Qrprzore?" fnvq Uneel. "V sbhaq bhg lrfgreqnl!"
"Nu, fb lbh qvq abg ernyvmr gur Fbegvat Ung'f zrffntr gb lbh jnf va Cnefrygbathr?"

Dhveeryy fnlf gung ur fhfcrpgrq Uneel jnf n Cnefryzbhgu fvapr Qrprzore, juvpu vf boivbhfyl snyfr, ohg gur vagrerfgvat guvat urer vf ubj ur e... (read more)

2TheWakalix
V qvfnterr gung Dhveeryy jbhyq unir arprffnevyl urneq gur zrffntr: "Uneel jnf fgvyy gelvat gb cebprff rirelguvat gung unq unccrarq qhevat gur Vapvqrag jvgu gur Fbegvat Ung. Abg gur yrnfg bs juvpu jnf jung unq unccrarq gur vafgnag Uneel unq yvsgrq gur Ung bss uvf urnq; va gung zbzrag, ur'q urneq n gval juvfcre nf gubhtu sebz abjurer, fbzrguvat gung fbhaqrq bqqyl yvxr Ratyvfu naq n uvff ng gur fnzr gvzr, fbzrguvat gung unq fnvq, "Ffnyhgngvbaf sebz Ffylgureva gb Ffylgureva: vs lbh jbhyq ffrrx zl ffrpergff, ffcrnx gb zl ffanxr."" Gung'f n *gval juvfcre,* naq fvapr Uneel vf cerfhznoyl abg fgnaqvat qverpgyl arkg gb Dhveeryy (be ryfr gur QBBZ jbhyq unir unccrarq), Dhveeryy jbhyq cebonoyl abg or noyr gb urne gur juvfcre. (Vs vg jrer ybhq rabhtu gb urne sebz sne njnl, gura vg jbhyq unir orra zhpu zber yvxryl gung gur frperg jbhyq unir orra qvfpbirerq orsber Uneel'f gvzr, fb ol Onlrf, gur snpg gung vg unf fheivirq gur praghevrf vf rivqrapr gung vg jnf uvqqra orggre guna gung.)

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Gur pbairefngvba orgjrra Uneel naq Yhpvhf bayl znxrf frafr vs Yhpvhf guvaxf ur'f gnyxvat gb n Ibyqrzbeg gung "ervapneangrq" va gur obql bs Uneel Cbggre. Yhpvhf vf greevsvrq orpnhfr ur'f gelvat gb cebgrpg uvf fba sebz cbffvoyr unez naq gelvat abg gb nagntbavmr Ibyqrzbeg ng gur fnzr gvzr.

The living room was every bit as large as it had looked from outside, with a huge vaulted ceiling dangling a gigantic chandelier, and a Christmas tree that must have been murder to maneuver through the door. The lower levels of the tree were thoroughly and carefully decorated in neat patterns of red and green and gold, with a newfound sprinkling of blue and bronze; the heights that only a grownup could reach were carelessly, randomly draped with strings of lights and wreaths of tinsel.

This is probably the cutest exposition I've read in the whole book.

(Ignore this. Another comment that appeared in the wrong chapter due to a glitch...)

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Nyy gur fghqragf jub jrer abg npghnyyl va n svefg-lrne nezl jrer pnzcrq bhg arneol naq jngpuvat ba fperraf gung Cebsrffbe Dhveeryy unq frg hc. Rkprcg sbe guerr Telssvaqbef va gurve sbhegu lrne, jub jrer pheeragyl fvpx naq pbasvarq gb urnyre'f orqf ol Znqnz Cbzserl. Nfvqr sebz gung, rirelbar jnf gurer.

Vs guvf ersrerapr gb guerr Telssvaqbef orvat pbasvarq gb urnyre'f orqf vf nal jnl fvtavsvpnag, gura bs nyy gur gurbevrf V'ir ernq nobhg gur bar gung frrzf zbfg yvxryl vf gung gubfr guerr jrer fvpx be uheg juvyr... (read more)

1TheWakalix
V oryvrir, va guvf pnfr nf jryy nf frireny bguref, gung ersreraprf gb haanzrq Telssvaqbef ner bsgra vzcyvrq ersreraprf gb pnaba!Uneel-naq-sevraqf.

I'm having trouble commenting via mobile. The interface is a bit glitchy, sometimes what I see in the editor is different from what is posted. I have to be really careful and not try to delete words too quickly or it breaks...

3Kevin Lin
It's being partially transfigured of course
2TobyBartels
Yeah, I've been having some issues too.

(Ignore this. Apparently a comment on a later chapter appeared here for some reason)

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Gbb onq Uneel qvq abg sbyybj hc ba abgvpvat uvf pbashfvba, bgurejvfr ur jbhyq unir qrqhpgrq gung vg jnf sne zber yvxryl gung fbzrbar hfrq n Snyfr-Zrzbel Punez ba Evgn guna nyy gur vzcebonoyr guvatf fur fnvq fur jvgarffrq...

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Gvzr-gheare furanavtnaf ner bar bs zl snibhevgr guvatf va guvf fgbel.

Vg vf gvzr gur Pybnx jnf erghearq gb lbh, vgf urve. V unq gubhtug gb znxr guvf n Puevfgznf cerfrag, ohg vg jvfurq gb pbzr onpx gb lbhe unaq orsber gura. Vg frrzf gb rkcrpg lbh gb unir arrq bs vg. Hfr vg jryy.

Abgvpr gur cneg bs guvf dhbgr nobhg gur Pybnx "jvfuvat" gb pbzr onpx gb Uneel'f unaq rneyvre guna rkcrpgrq. Abj, erzrzore gung Nyohf yngre qvfphffrf gur riragf bs Zbaqnl jvgu Uneel naq cbvagf bhg gung Uneel pbhyq abg unir cresbezrq rir... (read more)

1Motasaurus
Guvf qbrfa'g jbex. Fvapr yngre ba jr yrnea gung lbh pna'g fraq nal vasbezngvba onpx zber guna 6uef, vg frrzf zber yvxryl gung Qhzoyrqber jnf hfvat gur pybnx gb genvy Uneel sbe gur ragver qnl (naq nyzbfg pregnvayl ba gur genva, naq creuncf rira va qvntba nyyrl). Juvpu zrnaf gung qhzoyrqber, va gur pybnx, jngpurq uneel, va gur pybnx, uryc uneel orsber ur tbg gur pybnx naq xarj ur unq gb tb onpx 6uef gb rafher gung uneel tbg gur pybnx 5uef rneyvre.

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

V pna gryy lbh vf gung vs guvf jrer n evqqyr, gur nafjre jbhyq or gung gur tnzr vf yvsr, naq gung juvyr jr qb abg znxr nyy gur ehyrf bhefryirf, gur bar jub njneqf be gnxrf cbvagf vf nyjnlf lbh.

Unu! Ornhgvshy.

1Ved Kedia
Why does your text show up jumbled?

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Uneel vaunyrq uvf bja fnyvin naq jrag vagb n pbhtuvat svg whfg nf nyy rlrf ghearq gbjneqf uvz. Ubj gur uryy! Ur unqa'g zrg Qhzoyrqber'f rlrf ng nal cbvag... ur qvqa'g guvax. Ur pregnvayl unqa'g orra guvaxvat nobhg Dhvqqvgpu ng gur gvzr! Ur unqa'g gnyxrq gb nalbar ohg Eba Jrnfyrl naq ur qvqa'g guvax Eba jbhyq unir gbyq nalbar ryfr... be unq Eba eha bss gb n cebsrffbe gb pbzcynva? Ubj ba Rnegu...

Vf guvf zrnag gb or n pyhr? Yvxr, sbe fubjvat gung Nyohf gnxrf na rkgerzr vagrerfg va rirelguvat nob... (read more)

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Frrvat gur ybbx bs ubeebe ba Uneel Cbggre'f snpr, Serq Jrnfyrl gubhtug snfgre guna ur rire unq va uvf yvsr. Va n fvatyr zbgvba ur juvccrq bhg uvf jnaq, juvfcrerq "Fvyrapvb!" naq gura "Punatrzlibvprvb!" naq svanyyl "Iragevyvdhb!"

"Whfg xvqqvat!" fnvq Serq Jrnfyrl. "TELSSVAQBE!"

Nu, fb gung'f ubj Nyohf qvq vg... (j/k)

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Gjb puncgref ntb Zvarein cresbezrq n "qvfthvfr fcryy" ba Uneel gb fuvryq uvz sebz crbcyr erpbtavmvat naq obgurevat uvz. Gur fcryy oyheerq uvf ivfvba sbe n zbzrag naq gura Uneel pbhyq frr svar ntnva. Vs gur fcryy jrer n punez, jr zvtug vzntvar vgf rssrpg orvat gb oraq yvtug be fbzrguvat rdhvinyrag sbe qvfgbegvat Uneel'f vzntr, naq gur zbzragnel oyheevarff va Uneel'f ivfvba jbhyq or gur fcryy "sbphffvat vgf yraf" sbe n frpbaq. N fvzcyre rkcynangvba vf gung gur fcryy vf n genafsvthengvba bs Unee... (read more)

3TheWakalix
V guvax gur Qhzoyrqber ulcbgurfvf vf cynhfvoyr, ohg gurer vf AB JNL gung Zvarein jbhyq unir genafsvtherq n YVIVAT ORVAT'F SNPR: ""Naq nobir nyy," fnvq Cebsrffbe ZpTbantnyy, "lbh jvyy abg Genafsvther nal yvivat fhowrpg, rfcrpvnyyl lbhefryirf. Vg jvyy znxr lbh irel fvpx naq cbffvoyl qrnq, qrcraqvat ba ubj lbh Genafsvther lbhefrys naq ubj ybat lbh znvagnva gur punatr.""

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Uneel'f fznyy abgr bs pbashfvba jnf cebonoyl gur "Lbh ner gur bayl crefba rire gb fheivir" cneg. Vg'f sne zber yvxryl gung gur gnyr Zvarein gryyf vf jebat guna Uneel orvat gur bayl crefba rire univat fheivirq na hafgbccnoyr xvyyvat phefr. Bs pbhefr, xabjvat gur gehr fgbel znxrf guvf rnfvre gb tenfc.

3[anonymous]
Be zber fvzcyl: Ubj qbrf Zvarein guvax fur xabjf jung fur guvaxf fur xabjf? Bayl Uneel naq gur Qnex Ybeq jrer gurer.
3TobyBartels
I think that you can probably rewrite this comment without the rot13, except for the last bit.

(Discussion with spoilers in ROT13)

Gura ure snpr oevtugrarq. "Ab, V'z fher guvf jba'g or n ceboyrz - V'yy svaq n fbyhgvba va gvzr."

Shaal ubj Zvarein ng guvf cbvag jnf nyernql jvyyvat gb yraq n gvzr-gheare gb Uneel. Fur zhfg unir orra pbaivaprq ur jnf erfcbafvoyr rabhtu.

Abcr. V erzrzore ernqvat (naq er-ernqvat) guvf puncgre gjb be guerr gvzrf orsber gur svany rknz puncgre jnf cbfgrq naq gung cernzoyr unf nyjnlf orra gurer.

Vs zl fnlvat fb vf abg rabhtu, purpx bhg na nepuvir bs guvf puncgre va snasvpgvba.arg (gur byqrfg V pbhyq svaq, sebz 2012): uggcf://jro.nepuvir.bet/jro/20121025133306/uggcf://jjj.snasvpgvba.arg/f/5782108/1/Uneel-Cbggre-naq-gur-Zrgubqf-bs-Engvbanyvgl

Nice! Good to know the information is (more) reliable after all :)

Right now, it seems that "passionate love" is measured in a discrete scale based on answers to a questionnaire. The "Passionate Love Scale" (PLS) is mentioned in this blog post and was introduced by this article in 1986.

In my other reply to my original comment I showed a study%20Reduced%20cognitive%20control%20in%20passionate%20lovers.pdf) that finds that "high levels of passionate love of individuals in the early stage of a romantic relationship are associated with reduced cognitive control", in which they use the PLS.

Here is a study finding that "high levels of passionate love of individuals in the early stage of a romantic relationship are associated with reduced cognitive control": free copy%20Reduced%20cognitive%20control%20in%20passionate%20lovers.pdf) / springer link

Also, while I was searching for studies, I found a news article saying this about a study by Robin Dunbar:

"The research, led by Robin Dunbar, head of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University, showed that men and women were equally likely to lose their... (read more)

5[anonymous]
It's not necessarily that the study was retracted. The news article from the Guardian you linked mentioned that the study was submitted to the journal Personal Relationships; this means it had not yet been accepted for publication. And indeed it looks like that study never got published there despite all the media coverage. Actually it has finally come out, 5 years later! Burton-Chellew, M.N and Dunbar, Robin I. M. (2015). Romance and reproduction are socially costly. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 9(4), 229-241. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000046 From the abstract

Why do you think "a person being primed for feeling pain when being separated from their new partner" matters here?

Are you thinking about studies that, at the very least, suggest the possibility of such a separation being an option that the subject will experience based on the outcome of some action/decision being studied? :( that's horrible ):

1LessRightToo
An objectively verifiable indication that an animal has pair-bonded would be a visible indication of distress when forcibly separated from his/her mate. I'm not suggesting that this is the best way to determine whether an animal has pair-bonded. For example, an elevated level of some hormone in the blood stream (a "being in love" hormone) that reliably indicates being pair-bonded would be a superior objectively verifiable indication (in my opinion) because it doesn't involve causing distress in an animal. I'm not a biologist - just an occasional recreational reader of popular works in biology. So, my opinion isn't worth much.

Are there any studies that highlight which biases become stronger when someone "falls in love"? (Assume the love is reciprocated.) I am mainly interested in biases that affect short- and medium-term decisions, since the state of mind in question usually doesn't last long.

One example is the apparent overblown usage of the affect heuristic when judging the goodness of the new partner's perceived characteristics and actions (the halo effect on steroids).

4RicardoFonseca
Here is a study finding that "high levels of passionate love of individuals in the early stage of a romantic relationship are associated with reduced cognitive control": free copy%20Reduced%20cognitive%20control%20in%20passionate%20lovers.pdf) / springer link Also, while I was searching for studies, I found a news article saying this about a study by Robin Dunbar: "The research, led by Robin Dunbar, head of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University, showed that men and women were equally likely to lose their closest friends when they started a new relationship." More specifically, the study found the average number of lost friends per new relationship was two. Except there is no publicly published paper anywhere online, despite what the news article says, there are only quotes by Dunbar at the 2010 British Science Festival, which seems a bit suspicious to me, maybe suggesting that the study was retracted later.
1LessRightToo
A study that relies only on self-reported claims of 'being in love' might be interesting to read, but such a study would be of higher quality if there was an objective way to take a group of people and sort them into one of two groups: "in love" or "not in love." Based on my own experience and experiences reported by others, I wouldn't reject the notion that such a sorting is possible in principle, although it may be beyond our current technological capability. The pain associated with being suddenly separated from someone that you have 'fallen in love with' can rival physical pain in intensity. What type of instrumentation would we need to detect when a person is primed for such a response? I have no idea.

All right. Someone tell me if this is decent enough, please. I only did the first section: "Rationality and Rationalization".

Dropbox folder

How I did it:

  • Created an account at Instapaper and used their bookmarklet individually on each article.

  • Used calibre to download the articles from Instapaper and convert them to an ebook (instructions here).

  • Edited the title and other metadata in calibre to make the ebook more relevant and presentable and converted it to epub/mobi formats.

Note that I had to use the Instapaper bookmarklet starting from th... (read more)

4Vulture
Woah, awesome! I would love to see something like this for the whole collection.
5Rob Bensinger
Thanks, Ricardo! In MIRI's ebooks, we've tried linking to the comments section at the bottom of each article. Then people can click through to a website featuring the comments if they're interested; but the ebook itself isn't bloated by the size of the comments sections.

It's funny, when trying to think how could an AI exploit the text interface, I came up with the idea of writing multiple lines of ASCII text in a rapid fashion and produce an "ASCII video" for the human to watch. Unless the AI could only write a new line every second or something like that...

This made me wonder if the AI could also exploit other things such as the sound the machine would do when specific data patterns would be copied into RAM or when certain sequences of computations would be processed by a CPU. Sure, the machine (including the m... (read more)

0artemium
Exactly. Also there are great number of possibilities that even the smartest persons could not even imagine, but powerful Superintelligence could.

So I noticed a few people from Portugal in the public raw data. I am one of those people and from what I saw in the data, the remaining are all lurkers.

Viva pessoal! Want to join the community, even if just to say hi? =)

Right. I was initially confused by your use of "they". I thought it meant multiple people, but now I see it represents your secondary partner.

Here is a complete list of Country counts (ordered by count) (ordered alphabetically).

Note that only countries from people who allowed their results to be public are listed. It is possible for someone from a non-listed country to have completed the survey but chose to remain private.

Inside square brackets are the full counts provided by Yvain (which include private results).

People who have not chosen a country are not listed. People with multiple countries are counted multiple times.

Wait, did the person you said you dated belong to your primary relationship at the time?

5atorm
They had a primary partner, I had a primary partner. We were secondary to each other.

Did it just now. Lone portuguese (from Portugal) here with high certainty.

Hi. I'm Portuguese and live near Lisbon. Are there any LWers out there that live nearby?

The latest survey (2013) shows zero people living in Portugal, and so I feel a bit lonely out here, especially when I read the locations for the LW meetups. They seem so close, only not really...

I guess I could make an effort to start my own meetup in Lisbon or something, maybe, I don't know. I am a little shy and I don't think I am capable of starting something like that on my own.

I work in academia, in the field of computer science, and thus am surrounded by people th... (read more)

3ChristianKl
Getting people to read HPMOR is easier than getting them to read the sequences.