Jordan

Replying toBuild Small Skills in the Right Order

Ah, I should have guessed that 'Immersion Learning' had been co-opted a few times before. My above use is my own coinage. By it I just mean jumping in and being exposed to everything you can and letting your brain sort it out, rather than methodically building a cathedral of understanding, one block at a time.

Replying toBuild Small Skills in the Right Order

Jordan12y

Build Small Skills in the Right Order

This is how I prefer to learn as well. I call it "Immersion Learning".

For example, during my first year of Algebra, I carried a Calculus textbook with me to class, and read whenever I was bored. I read through the whole textbook that semester, and understood maybe 20%. I didn't bother doing any problems, and when I tried I was totally incapable, but that was OK. The next semester I read through a Calc II and Calc III textbook. Afterward I decided I was going to take the AP Calculus exam. I bought a prep book and started doing calculus problems for the first time in my life, and found that mastering... (read more)

Replying toWhite Lies

Jordan12y

White Lies

I do this as well, but I don't "lie" (from the perspective of my core values).

I empathetically accept the other person's ethics and decisions. I allow that common connection to genuinely color my tone and physical expressions, which seems to build rapport just as well as actually verbalizing agreement. When I find myself about to verbalize agreement of something I don't actually believe, I consciously pull back. The trick is being able to pull back without losing your empathetic connection.

Anecdotally, I find that I can verbalize disagreement, but as long as I maintain the tone and physical signals of agreement (or 'acceptance', perhaps, but I think 'agreement' is more true) that the other person remains open.

Replying toCRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

Jordan12y

CRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

Awesome, thanks for the detailed response. After reading about CRISPR's natural role in bacteria I was curious if it would have targeting limitations. It sounds like it does (needs GGG triplet), but that in practice this isn't a big deal.

You still need to get this system into a cell -- that's an issue as always, I agree -- but the reduced chance of unwanted mutation seems like a big step forward over retroviruses.

Thanks again for the great write up!

Replying toCRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

Jordan12y

CRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

I'm very curious how many genes can be targeted usefully. One paper succeeded in targeting 5 simultaneously in a mouse model. Given the purported accuracy that is already game changing, but if we can do 100 or 200 then maybe we can do more than merely eliminate some simple single gene disorders.

CRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

Jordan

12y

I've been hearing around the news about a new genetic engineering method called CRISPR. The method can purportedly edit any gene in a human genome (or other animal or bacterium genome) with very high accuracy. The new method may remove the risks associated with gene therapy, which can introduce undesired mutations by inserting genes into the middle of an existing gene sequence.

Here's a report:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/this-is-a-triumph-of-basic-science-with-huge-implications-crispr-technique-breaks-the-mould-8925323.html

Thoughts? There is already discussion about the use of CRISPR with IVF (in-vitro fertilization) for the purposes of germ-line engineering, but even without this the method may prove very efficacious for gene therapy on non-germ-line cells. What are the ramifications for human engineering? For germ-line intelligence enhancement?

Replying toNonperson Predicates

Jordan13y

Nonperson Predicates

Scary enough for ya?

Sufficiently scary, yes.

That is equivalent to saying you can't understand how mathematics could be a construct; or how mathematical anti-realism could possibly be true.

I assign a respectable probability to anti-realism, and hold no disrespect for anyone who is an anti-realist, but I don't understand how anti-realism can be true. I've never heard a plausible model for why one thing should exist but not another. Tegmarkism sweeps away that problem, leaving the new problem of how to measure probability (why do we have the subjective experience of probability that we do when there are so many versions of myself?). I don't have a satisfactory answer for that question, but it feels like a real question, with meat to get at, whereas in an anti-realist universe the question of why some things exist and other don't seems completely hopeless.

Replying toFirewalling the Optimal from the Rational

Jordan13y

Firewalling the Optimal from the Rational

I had a similar experience the first time I supplemented magnesium. Long lasting, non-jittery energy spike. I felt stronger (and empirically could in fact lift more weight), felt better, and was extremely happy. The effect decreased the next few times. After 4 doses (of 50% RDA, spread out over 2 weeks) I began to have adverse effects, including heart palpitation, weakness, and "sense of impending doom".

I wonder if there is a general physiological response to a sudden swing in electrolyte balance that causes the positive effect, rather than the removal of a deficiency.

Replying toPlastination is maturing and needs funding, says Hanson

Jordan14y

Plastination is maturing and needs funding, says Hanson

If you wipe out the chemical gradient information then how do you know what sorts of ways that the dendrites should regrow in the weeks and months post-resuscitation?

If I wake up and I feel like myself on a second to second basis, I will not be upset if my path through mind space is drastically altered on a time scale of weeks and months, so long as it doesn't lead me to insanity. Hell, I hope I'll be able to drastically change my mind on that time scale anyway once I'm uploaded.

Replying toPlastination is maturing and needs funding, says Hanson

Jordan14y

Plastination is maturing and needs funding, says Hanson

if a problem doesn't appear quickly, then it probably isn't that important...

I agree completely, especially about how close we probably are to a successful Biosphere, but just to throw out an example where this is wrong: vitamin B-12 deficiency usually takes a decade to demonstrate symptoms, and is fatal.

Replying toThe problem with too many rational memes

Jordan14y

The problem with too many rational memes

It is dangerous in the same way as bringing John Q. Snodgrass to trial for murder. We might overweight evidence in favor of the hypothesis.

Human intuition is a valuable heuristic. As a mathematician I constantly entertain hypotheses I don't believe to be true, for the simple reason that my intuition presented them to be considered. I don't believe I would be at all effective otherwise (although I did just now entertain the hypothesis, despite my lack of belief!)

Brain-Brain communication

Jordan

14y

A pair of conjoined twins, sharing a direct neural connection. There is evidence that the girls can sense what the other twin is sensing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/magazine/could-conjoined-twins-share-a-mind.html?pagewanted=all

This suggests two things:

* High bandwidth Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) ought to be possible (no surprise, but it's good to have strong evidence)

* The brain is a general purpose machine. It doesn't have specific modules for 'Left Hand', 'Right Hand', etc. Rather, it takes in information and makes sense out of it. It does this even when the setup is haphazard (as the connection between the twins' brains must be). On the other hand, we know the brain *does* have specific modules (such as the visual cortex among many others), which makes an interesting dichotomy.

I predict that the main hindrance to high functioning BCI is getting sufficient bandwidth, not figuring out how to decode/encode signals properly.

Genetically Engineered Intelligence

Jordan

15y

There are a lot of unknowns about the future of intelligence: artificial intelligence, uploading, augmentation, and so on. Most of these technologies are likely a ways off, or at least far enough away to confound predictions. Genetic engineering, however, presents a very near term and well understood possibility for developing greater intelligence.

A recent news story published in South China Morning and discussed on Steve Hsu's blog highlights China's push to understand the genetic underpinnings of intelligence. China is planning to sequence the full genome of 1000 of its brightest kids, in the hopes of locating key genes responsible for higher intelligence. Behind the current project is BGI, which is aiming to be (or already is) the... (read 186 more words →)

Print ready version of The Sequences

Jordan

15y

I've been wanting a printable copy of the sequences to read through in meatspace. I wrote a quick scraper and uploaded the results here http://pwnee.com/Sequences/list.html

Inter-linking doesn't work, but I just wanted a printable version anyway.

LESSWRONG
LW

LESSWRONG
LW

Genetically Engineered Intelligence

Print ready version of The Sequences

Brain-Brain communication

CRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

Jordan

CRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

Brain-Brain communication

Genetically Engineered Intelligence

Print ready version of The Sequences

Jordan

Genetically Engineered Intelligence

Print ready version of The Sequences

Brain-Brain communication

CRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

Jordan

CRISPR opens up new genetic engineering potential

Brain-Brain communication

Genetically Engineered Intelligence

Print ready version of The Sequences