All of Exiles's Comments + Replies

Exiles00

Someone seems to have downvoted all of my comments. And, surmising by what I said to him, it seems to have been private messaging.

(If there is some way to check this and) this is true, this is an abuse of the karma system. I do not have many comments, so it is not so much a big deal, but I liked my comments, except the one I retracted (note it is the only one which did not get any downvotes just now), and I don't like unfairness.

This person has been rightly accused of trolling and causing needless drama and insufficiently epistemic prudence, and he definit... (read more)

0Nornagest
This would imply a bug or exploit if you're right about the perpetrator: users get a pool of downvotes equal to 4x their karma (upvotes aren't capped), and private_messaging's karma is deeply negative. Given that I've heard downvoted users complaining about this behavior before, I think it's safe to assume that it's at least partly working. private_messaging does have positive 30-day karma, so it may be indicative of a (presumably unintended?) lower bound on karma for this feature's purposes. Alternately you might be dealing with a sockpuppet with better public behavior. Anything more specific depends on technical details I'm not privy to; might be worth asking someone who knows.
9David_Gerard
That reads like "A WITCH! A WITCH! BURN HIM!" Someone with a negative score can't downvote.
Exiles-10

It may improve your working memory, which would help you with those problems, John Maxwell IV, but probably not.

Exiles20

What signal about the efficacy and seriousness of antideathist groups do you think it sends when, of all possible ways to make things happen in that direction, the public is aware of people who go outside and picket and write on facebook walls ?

[This comment is no longer endorsed by its author]Reply
1[anonymous]
To be fair, having a pretty woman do it is much better signaling than any other kind of human. It could halve been (even) worse.
3buybuydandavis
I wish we had a lot more "normal" folks doing it, instead of those seen as weirdo professional cranks. I was disappointed to see that the woman was " leader of Longevity Party", whatever that means. I'd rather have a cashier at Walmart wearing a button "Cure Aging", or putting it on her facebook page.
4turchin
We don't know which way is most effective to fight against death - if we know we would already win. But luck of attention to the problem is an issue here. Most people dont know latest scientific results about life extension and also do not want to live longer at all. The money which goverments spent on life extension depends from public demand of such research. So by growing awareness about the problem, we could help govermnets and reach people to make investments in life extension. Life extension means also reduction of global risks.
Exiles-10

"Please, please, please tell me! I must know"

Perhaps too dramatic for your taste, but it should get the job done.

0ChristianKl
I would guess that the approach would be seen as very aggressive by a person who can't provide a satisfactory answer to the question.

Overly dramatic, sounds patronizingly sarcastic

Exiles-30

I know what you mean. As someone who knows women who have been raped and abused, I am disgusted and horrified by this post. I almost can't believe LW is willing to tolerate such insensitivity.

Exiles260

Do not attempt to transform Less Wrong into r/atheism. Just do not even try.

6RobertLumley
If we're going to become a subreddit, can we become r/nongolfers?
3Zaine
Isn't America also more religious than other developed countries across the world? Regardless, a comparison would be welcome, if the article were posted at all.
palladias120

I don't think this topic is a mindkiller. Atheism isn't a guarantor of good reasoning, especially as the number of atheists grow, and you end up with more people raised atheist who haven't necessarily had experience with actually changing their mind. The demographic expansion points to the weakening power of atheism to signal the correct contrarian circle.

Pablo130

Thanks for the feedback. I wondered whether I should post a link to the Pew study. I decided in favor of it because I assumed that news about changes in religious belief over time would be of interest to rationalists, but if others agree that articles of this sort do not belong here I'd be happy to remove it. Thanks again.

Exiles00

You use only the resources you have, including your judgement, including your metajudgement.

Exiles-30

especially when they insist they aren't doing it after receiving feedback

You underestimate force of habit, prase.

2prase
Can you explain?
Exiles10

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber only allows two people at a time, except for that one time the plot demanded three people be in there, and the non-canon filler scene where four people were in there.

Cool essay otherwise, gwern.