All of Selquist's Comments + Replies

One of the frustrating things about programming is when I just run out of ideas for things to try. I stare and stare, and come up with new models and test them and nothing works, and eventually the meaning just dries up.

Robin Hanson also has also written many articles referencing status on Overcoming Bias

I would be interested in an updated checklist. This seems potentially quite useful for a single post.

Hesitant: If I made a line of the average quality it would go down gradually and drop off at 6. Most 2 people circles I've been in have been high value, some 4-5 person circles, and few larger circles. It might be even flatter if we consider that I've explicitly sought out 2 person circles when I thought they would be valuable. If the larger groups had good things, they happened when the group broke up into smaller groups organically, or after people left. I had one Important Topic Circle which was 4-5 people. It seems that a lot of interesting t... (read more)

I've done about 15hrs of circling.

Two person circles seem extremely useful for conflict resolution or when I get a feeling of "I'd like to talk to X person, but something in our communication styles or behavior seems to be getting in the way." This works at different levels of familiarity, like when I have a friend who I trust deeply, but want to have an even deeper conversation, then a circle between us works as a small wedge to get to a point where it becomes safe (or not) to bring up the deeper thing. I've also had good experie... (read more)

I get this IRL with people's faces. I want to keep looking at someone to see whether or not they *approve*.

There's a flip side to this, where I notice that if I play a video game, or watch a tv show, I have the sense that I am going to be punished for *getting up and leaving the game*. That exiting the approval system of the game will draw the game's ire.

When I notice lotus-taste, I also look for an expected punishment. I also find that that is helpful, because the expected punishment is somehow easier to source as coming from within me.

In f... (read more)

I think it's worth thinking about how much to turn the thing into a machine that keeps the events and meetings churning as they have been on easy mode, and how much to have new heroes that turn the organization into a new labor of love that is in a slightly different direction. In one direction, you're building systems, and in another direction you're building autonomy and instigatingyness.

I think there can be a problem where when people are working in a system and it is easy and pretty good, they aren't quite paying attention to the th... (read more)