All of Oklord's Comments + Replies

Oklord10

I agree absolutely - however the effect wanes. I found the behavior would go extinct maybe a week or so after a 20 minute session of doing this. Reading this has inspired me to do the straightforward thing and just practice weekly.

Oklord20

Just show up! Only one guy bites, you'll be warned about him. Strongly suggest you join the FB group in case you get lost though - http://www.facebook.com/groups/219526434802422/

Oklord130

I'm going to start using this article as a kicking off point for new people to "get" less wrong...

Oklord00

Oh oh oh and as always, look up "Less wrong - Sydney" on FB. PM me if you can't find it. If you don't have FB, PM your email and we'll keep you posted.

Oklord-10

I was told around 4 or more? We had ~7 people last meeting so I don't see why it would not work. Partially the "other games" bit is because there is an upper limit of how many people can play, so we need to have side activities!

Oklord00

As you enter look for a white sign on the table and a guy in a red tie

Oklord00

Last time we did - and we will probably have some short follow up.

Oklord00

I'm wearing a blue tie, white shirt and have an IPad propped up with the less wrong logo

Oklord00

Should be worth noting that what I thought was the James squire brewhouse is the king street brewhouse, identifiable by numerous blue umbrellas with the blue tounge logo. I'm here now. Also, of anyone could confirm the existence of the "James squire brewhouse, I would be interested.

0Oklord
I'm wearing a blue tie, white shirt and have an IPad propped up with the less wrong logo
Oklord00

It is today- I should have specified.

Oklord00

Aside from google, and searching on this website, life hacker and reddit are possible sources of information...

Oklord00

Well hopefully we get the momentum!

Oklord00

Proposing to change the time to day before this (Family reasons). Any objections?

0Observer
None from me.
Oklord00

We are all lurkers at some point. DW about it.

Oklord00

neither was really all that interesting, in that I don't see an opportunity to learn from them (Out of control perhaps?). From the perspective of "what I really would have liked to have figured out earlier", not getting obsessed with measures versus guides is what I saw as most pertinent.

EDIT: Looking over it again, there really is a whole bunch of general phooey and borderline woo here. Unrestrained pattern droppings is a regular issue for me, but this is a pretty bad.

Oklord50

Waking up: I found brute force works best - Old style alarm clock with clanging bells placed on opposite end of room. This trumped all sorts of complex maneuvers, including training self to have a fixed pattern response to an certain iPhone alarm.

Oklord10

Slight + 1 on that exercise clothes thing: I wear nice comfy track pants and a singlet to bed, and leave my sneakers at the foot of my bed in the morning. I don't even give myself the choice to put on the task specific clothing!

Oklord00

Cancel white jacket, we are sitting in corner

Oklord00

Do try. As said I will be there (and presumably at least one associate) regardless, If only to reinforce that I will attend regardless.

Probably worth noting that last time the majority of attendees where lurkers.

0Goobahman
Alas I must cancel. important family gathering on that evening. Hope you get a good turn out
Oklord10

I'm liking this - A nice, practical rationality implementation technique.

In a broader sense, perhaps if one had the time, it might be good to have Agile, five forces and Business Generation Models on cards too. I'd posit those consulting-style problem frameworks would have more real world value if one could summon them for use with any given situation without the paper/screen aid.

Might try that cognitive bias stack first! (Am already carrying BGM frameworks in my notebook)

Oklord30

I'll admit my method is flawed, but the idea was closer to asking for something beyond what is expected without acting as if it is a huge request, treating it casually.

The "not saying please" thing struck me as a good method for ensuring it stayed casual but I can see that would probably come off as rude - politeness is surely a charachteristic of most productive behaviour.

6handoflixue
There's actually some interesting psychological research that suggests people primarily evaluate based on how you present things: kids are only cautious when their parents seem worried, and will be much calmer and more accepting if the parents act like something is no big deal. If you present a request casually, it's more likely to be casually accepted without thought. If you seem extremely anxious, people will pick up on that and get anxious themselves. Definitely a skill I have benefited from learning. A sub-skill I would suggest is being okay with "no". I've found that if I ask for a big favor, get a "no", and just smile and move on, then people feel safer about me in the future - I didn't make them feel bad, so they don't have to be defensive about my future requests. It also makes it much easier for me to ask for the favor, and to come off casually, because I don't have any particular investment in a "yes" answer.
Oklord30

I'm trying to work up a heuristic for dealing with this. For instance: if 2 minutes after consuming this product there is no benefit ,I mean ZERO benefit, avoid it. Like buying a soft drink over water - second I finish the can, I'll probably forget I ever had the the thing and my body is worse off. Same for most sitcoms in my opinion.

Probably worth noting it gets messy easily. I know I should avoid video games for long term goals, but frankly I savour some victories for a while If the challenge was decent and it makes me happier for some time. But the problem here is I generally won't know if the game was worth it until well after i've committed time and effort.

Oklord00

Mm. I'm afraid I still don't have the karma and not able to write at the moment (sleep deprived). However I'm all for expanding the idea, and will calenderise a date within the week to sit down for a write up. Take the points back, I suppose I'll PM you if this goes further.

I'll remeber that limits of consent phrase...

Wait, you can "lend" karma?

3MixedNuts
You currently have 22, last time I checked the threshold for posts in Main was 20. By "lent" I mean I upvoted all your comments, including those I normally wouldn't. I'll leave it as such for a week then remove those extra upvotes. Godspeed re: writing. Edit: 'sbeen over a week, so took points back. You still have enough karma for a post in Main.
Oklord00

Perhaps alternate exercises could include:

Attempt to obtain odd or ridiculous requests from service providers without saying "please". I.e. Go to Mcdonalds and ask for "chips with no salt". Lacks same impact as calcsam's method though...

8mindspillage
Unless I've misunderstood, I don't recommend this. When I was a retail clerk, I would make extra effort to fulfil an unusual request for someone who was polite to me, but not for someone who wasn't. You can say "please" and be polite without acting subservient. Asking for something strange seems fine, though. (I usually think of people who don't treat service workers kindly as low-status--like they desperately would like to have the power to order someone else around without regard for their feelings but have no other avenue to do it. )
Oklord20

Better. Perhaps as an add on, how to get rid of junk profitably? Heuristics to identify you have something worth selling...

Oklord10

Wouldn't arbitrage sensing be closer to spotting the difference between markets, or seeing the signs of an inefficient market? I don't see how one could easily propose heuristics for a market's direction as opposed to it's position...

0Kevin
Yes, sorry, that was incoherent, I made it simpler.
Oklord60

I cannot post yet, not enough karma. Although I suppose in principle the gist goes that a donkey led by the carrot instead of the stick is still a beast of burden.

A lot of consumer goods, especially the day time TV variety add no significant marginal benefit but still are marketed in a way that is exceptionally compelling - I believe that certain people barely have a rational choice to buy the product, its just that attractive. Especially toys. The systems are so well established to make people want things that it seems as if those systems are sometimes th... (read more)

0[anonymous]
Upvoted, seems interesting enough. I'm currently trying to figure out how much of the entertainment I consume is exploitative and/or addictive with little benefit, especially with regards to TV and 'funny' websites, so a discussion on that might be useful.
3MixedNuts
Lent you 10 points (will take back when you post, as this messes up the karma system). I've gotten suckered by that rather often, so I'm interested in the mechanisms. (Though I'm atypical - I suspect wanting to look normal until the fast-talking salesjerk shuts up and goes away forever isn't a normal drive.) I'm also interested in the limits of consent.
Oklord100

I always wanted to write a book about "snake oil". I.E. Profitable practices based on misinformation, or in general profitable practices which only benefit one party without crossing a certain threshold of parasitism through force (i.e slavery)

Although the dangerous thought now occurs to me that perhaps people selling weight loss cures have their own form of enslavement in play...

2MixedNuts
10 karma points if you post about it.
Oklord50

I agree with Morendil's points. A few bits and pieces I've picked up about the purchase price:

Some dealership tactics: find out who advertises the cheapest price on your wanted model, then call up everyone else who has it. Chances are somebody will try and compete on the price, the dealers will shift a fair bit. usually upgrades are a poor investment, and might sometimes be used by dealers to try and cloud comparisons between other dealers. don't fall for it.

In Australia, I've found the "dealership test cars" are usually good value. You get prett... (read more)

Oklord20

Considering the interest, I'm Pre-committing to showing up at around 3:30 - 4, staying till 6.

0meta_ark
We're now meeting at 3. See you then!
Oklord00

As for habits, anyone used Rescue time robot? More importantly, used the produced stats to play a game as mentioned above? I'm going to try this as soon as the damn thing decides to tell me what I've been doing.

Oklord10

Certainly, thought rigor. I've been constantly testing every damn thing I do, be it research, leadership or what have you. What might have been a previous gut decision in work with groups now involves testing the motives of all involved, including myself, and being incredibly weary of any viewpoint that seems like a shortcut from myself or others.

The evaluation of others has certainly been improved- Predicting and rationalizing others behavior has become a lot easier (In at least one case allowing me to cherry pick co-workers for an assignment when I real... (read more)

Oklord00

dang, I have work until 3 normally. Still, in my calender

Oklord00

It only occurred to me NOW to check if there was a Sydney meet up. Would hate to remain a lurker. Assuming ignorance, how does one keep promoting this?