Morgenland
27d ago
I find your estimate fair, if you take into account that Bob is not at the level of a skilled mathematician or programmer, for whom advanced math is bread and butter. A STEM graduate working in the profession can spend about 3-6 hours a day on math before getting tired, but for Bob two hours a day would probably be his limit. Time estimate is not as important as ability to use this time efficiently and meaningfully.
The first thought that comes to my mind is take a lot of naps and sleep during the day as much as you can. This is the routine that is used by many professionals who must be vigilant for tens of hours without break. I would take a long walk before or even better do a little jogging (depending on your physical condition) to prepare body for the effort. I may also suggest Wim Hof breathing but this one is more esoteric.
Morgenland
2mo ago
There are differences depending on the type of intercourse, for sure. Look at the table 1 in this paper. It estimates receptive anal intercourse to be about 17 times riskier than receptive vaginal contact. Also, there is a demographic of homosexual men known to live rather promiscuous sexual lives.
Morgenland
2mo ago
Your experience is similar to mine. I got my driver's license at 18, but I have been driving regularly since I bought my first car three years ago. At first I was extremely hyperfocused while driving, in an entirely different state of mind. And yes, I was exhausted after a longer ride (3-4 hours). As I grew accustomed to driving, the rush decreased in intensity but the feeling is still a bit different and quite enjoyable. Though I have to admit that I like driving, especially during long rides. I'm in my early thirties.
I couldn't put it better. There is a ton of videos and memes mocking the dullness, meaninglessness, and poor quality of life of British lower classes.
On the other hand, Brits seem to me to have many of the smartest white people, with exemplars like Paul Dirac, Stephen Hawking, Freeman Dyson, Roger Penrose or Timothy Gowers, so the differences are indeed significant.
Seriously, this is the weirdest post I have ever seen on the Motte. I hope that this is some kind of elaborate joke of fellow Mottizens, that I don't understand. Especially since OP cannot respond, because he was just banned for trolling. Good night sweet angel.
Morgenland
5mo ago
I just read the post about Biological Determinants and Homosexuality and while it is very informative article, it is just this - a dry summary of the knowledge about homosexuality. Nothing new or controversial there, even for someone who is only mildly interested in the topics of gender identity and sexual preference there is not much new knowledge to be gained. I think I was aware at least 80% of the facts covered in the article. However it is convenient to have such a summary in one place.
I have many other questions regarding sexuality e.g. "What's the difference between transsexuals and homosexuals on the biological level?" and "Which advantages precisely homosexual and transsexuals tendencies give?" which would be probably more novel and interesting, but considerably more difficult to answer.
I will try to give you at least three reasons to motivate you:
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If you have a major problem with your weight, then there is a positive side of it, since you can make a notable change without a big effort. Any intervention that you will undertake is very likely to result in a significant drop of BMI, for example walking a couple of miles twice a week.
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Body fat isn't only some passive, excessive weight, but physiologically active organ, that messes up with your hormonal regulation. If you decrease the amount of body fat, it is very likely that you will feel better in general, have more energy, better sleep etc.
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If you have a major weight problem, there is a lot of things and movements that are difficult to do. I think that it's worth to fight for this freedom of movement, movement is one of the primary human joys. You can try to stick with small goals, like walking certain distance. Your aim is not some utilitarian objective but being able to enjoy life a little more in general.
If young hang up around rationalist community, you may have heard about potato diet, which is said to not involve much willpower and gives overall positive results. Why not to try, even just for a couple days and just for fun? If you want to read more, like half of Slime Mold Time Mold blog is about it. They explicitly write about weight gain in response to medication here.
Morgenland
6mo ago
Do you have a major problem with your weight or is it a minor one? If your BMI is in a range 25-28 then I think that's fine, maybe even healthier in the long run than aggressive diet.
In some sense all of modern fantasy is just a knockoff of LOTR. In fact, I share the conviction that Tolkien invented the whole genre of fantasy, among other things by creating a unified imagery of elves and dwarves that was assimilated in more or less unchanged form into almost all later fantasy works.
I must disagree. Kulak is a controversial - yes, but very well established poster in the Motte community. Kulak's posting history reaches 2019, maybe earlier. I think you are long enough here to know this. The fact that he is tolerated despite his edginess means something, probably many users (including me) find his writings valuable in some sense. And look how many comments this posted has generated so far. Isn't this discussion something what we are here for?
Furthermore, I share the opinion, that the Motte is in desperate need of top posters, even mediocre, because otherwise one can easily see where this evolution is going. Users will be hesitant about writing top posts and we will be left with nothing but CW thread with comments which take hours to read and even more time to reply and only some small subgroup of the smartest/most involved Mottizens being able to contribute without getting scoffed.
I made the count and Kulak's essay is around 4000 words, while the natural selection post is about 1600 words, so I don't find the argument about length convincing.
I think of myself as pretty radicalized, but even I find the content of the movie and of the essay off-putting. And it's not about the scatology and gore, the idea of labeling any group of people 'subhuman' is too much to bear. But the argument that the post makes us 'appear like a bunch of racists' is the weakest argument I can think of. This is some sort of an Argument from authority but in its most mediocre form: "What will the people think about us?" I am not going to self-censor myself because some group of people I don't care about will think badly about me. I am interested only in people who will find integrity in my views and actions. And I don't really think a lot of people care what the Motte thinks and writes anyway.
Morgenland
7mo ago
Thank you.
Morgenland
7mo ago
Now I understand, thank you. But barely anyone posts something on the Motte, so I don't find this feature as useful as I previously thought. But it can be useful in the future, thanks once again.
Morgenland
7mo ago
You are right, by writing 'posts' I meant post and comments, but it's not clear. So I get the notifications only for posts and not for comments?
Morgenland
7mo ago
I have a bit embarrassing question to ask: what is the functionality of following users for? I thought that if I followed some users, I would get the notifications of their posts, but apparently it doesn't work that way (or at least not for me). Would someone be so kind and explain it to me?
Morgenland
7mo ago
I store my music locally, but it's not a big collection. I do not consider myself a huge music enthusiast, usually I listen to some jazz albums or to obscure post-punk or post-cold-wave music. I do not enjoy radio and listen to my music only when the mood strikes, not very often. Some of the albums I like are semi-amateur, I doubt if many people even know them. I don't like the experience of streaming, too much of a fuss, a lot of distractions, I don't want any recommendations, I don't like working while music is playing, heck I even rarely drive with music.
And I like the experience of playing music locally, no distractions, just my music and me. I put myself into the state of day-dreaming, and I can play it anywhere, just need to take my mp3 player (yes, I use mp3 players, they are ridiculously cheap now). Mp3 players are very convenient at night, when I don't have to reach for my phone, just a little, discrete device only for music. It helps me a lot with my sleeplessness. And I'm sentimental about some archival recordings that are nowadays barely accessible anywhere, certainly not on youtube. So, the sum of my idiosyncrasies I guess.
Morgenland
7mo ago
There are allegedly rumours that there was a terrorist suspect the IDF thought had entered the convoy at the WCK warehouse, but actually stayed behind
It wouldn't probably be very controversial if I say that this explanation of killing seven civilian aid workers is just ridiculous. Even if the convoy actually somehow transported one terrorist, does it justify the death of seven innocent people? And we know that there was no terrorist, so it looks to me more like a damage control on the Israeli side, attempts to water down the responsibility. But maybe it was the trigger and I'm overly cynical.
In the end, as @BahRamYou wrote, probably little will change, since western politicians see supporting Israel as the least bad option, so they have to express their anger in front of public opinion, but it won't influence their long-term attitude.
The whole western world is outraged after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen charity: three of them British, one Palestinian and single citizens of Australia, Poland, USA and Canada (one victim held a dual American and Canadian citizenship). IDF attacked a convoy of three vehicles spaced 1.6 km and 800 m apart (or 1 mile and 0.5 mile apart). The attack consisted of three methodical missile strikes aimed at each vehicle and took a couple of minutes. This in conjunction with the fact that the convoy was previously announced to IDF leaves little space for a mistake.
More then 600 senior jurists from UK conducted a letter in which they accuse Israel of war crimes and call for a ban on sale of weapon systems to Israel. Prime minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese 'expressed outrage over the death of an Australian aid worker'. Yacov Livne, Israeli ambassador to Poland rubbed the Polish public opinion very wrong way when he refused to apologize for the death of a Polish citizen and accused some Polish politicians of antisemitism. Some demand an expulsion of the ambassador, which is unlikely to happen. After the incident Joe Biden urged Benjamin Netanyahu to significantly shift his code of conduct towards civilians in Gaza under the threat of reducing support.
The chief of staff of IDF, Herzi Halevi released a recorded message, saying that the strike "was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers", adding the IDF was "sorry for the unintentional harm". Netanyahu called the event 'tragic' and assured that "he will do everything to prevent this from happening again".
Since the 7th October about 200 aid workers and 100 journalists were killed in Gaza, more than in the rest of the world combined in this time frame, which rises a justified question about the intentions of IDF towards civilians. I'm very interested how is Israel going to act in the face of its crumbling global credibility and its loss of trust among allies, especially when younger, less favorable towards Israel demographics gradually gain political prominence.
That's great that you have found something that helps you! I also read somewhere that putting white noise in the background can help (so this is in the direction of hyper-stimulation), so you can give it a try, but I haven't checked that myself yet. Edit: Oh, but you have a fan, so you already got that.
Morgenland
8mo ago
Thank you very much, that's an interesting reply. Yeah, maybe some variations in brain receptors are responsible for variations in caffeine sensitivity, I haven't studied the topic much.
Could please expand a little bit on your meditation for wakefulness? I have good results from meditation, albeit not for wakefulness yet. If I understood you correctly: you observe your inner state in the morning and try to identify the state of drowsiness until it fades away gradually or you apply some other practices?
I usually try to hyperventilate a bit before work, but unless I force it strongly, the effect is only slight, so I'm looking for some other ways.
Morgenland
8mo ago
Have you ever used smelling salts to stimulate wakefulness? I am afraid I am naturally very drowsy person, caffeine does very little to me (apparently I have an efficient liver) and I was wondering if using ammonium salts may be a useful option. Are there any big 'no-nos' of using smelling salts? Do you have any good or bad experience? Or maybe you know any good hacks for some nice adrenaline flush in the morning?
Morgenland
8mo ago
I think they are doing extremely well in terms of luxury, even being able to ensure the best possible education for their children but there is something that you cannot buy in Russia or China. Political stability, trust and justice cannot be bought in these countries for any price. There is always a chance (and rather high, I would say) that Kremlin or CCP will knock at your door asking you for a favor, or even worse, seeing enemy in you. That's why all the progeny of Russian upper class, including Putin himself lives in the West.
Having to choose: being extremely wealthy Russian oligarch or just average citizen of Switzerland, I take the latter without any doubt, but it depends on a character obviously.
Morgenland
8mo ago
If you struggle with anxiety, I strongly recommend lavender oil as a short-lived solution. Scott Alexander wrote about the potential calming effects of lavender. I just take one or two drops of lavender oil and inhale it using the simplest aromatherapy chimney. It is very potent and calms me significantly even for a longer periods of time. I am extremely neurotic, I was probably around 95th percentile and now maybe around 80th and it helped me significantly.
No, it won't be possible in hundreds of years, maybe never. You just throw some generalities, without any reference to the basic biological processes. I have nothing against general philosophical musings, but the sheer ignorance of some of the rationalists (I don't know if you count yourself among them), including Yudkowsky (famous nanobots), with regard to the hard science repels me and gives me a vibe of empty pondering.
There’s no reason to hide who you really are from your girlfriend, but I don’t think it’s necessary to bring it up while emotions are still running high. I’m not convinced that her political fervor is a deep-seated part of her personality. Likely, there’s more social influence and surface-level enthusiasm than you might assume at first glance, and people’s political views can change significantly over time. While it’s true that women can be more emotionally expressive, I’ve become more understanding of friends with opposing political views as I mature. In fact, I sometimes feel more distant from those who stand on the same side of the barricade.
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