YoungAchamian
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User ID: 680
YoungAchamian
3mo ago
I never said otherwise, I don't agree with the above guy about it "summoning". Its more that it might not really be historically accurate. I've also heard whispers that the vaunted Valknut doesn't really mean "fallen in battle" that interpretation was popularized by neo-pagans and passed off as historically meaningful in much the same way lots of druid/wiccan stuff is.
The honestly more interesting thing is how these symbols always seem to make it to the stage where they get tattooed onto military-esque people as sort of a mysticism/act of belonging/deeper symbolism. Must be a symptom of people's craving for deeper meaning.
YoungAchamian
3mo ago
The Aegishjalmur, sort of a neo-pagan symbol based on archeological evidence of similar symbols in pre-Christian Scandinavia.
YoungAchamian
3mo ago
My variation of this is that it was essentially suicide by USSS. Reports say the kid was bullied and ostracized. Sounds like a school shooter MO. Except he went after a politician/future president because while most suicidal shooters want swing a sledge hammer at the society that outcast them, this one got the opportunity.
YoungAchamian
4mo ago
I scanned through his history but couldn't find it. The native web-app system isn't very conducive. but here's a link to the arxiv: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2302.10866
YoungAchamian
4mo ago
I'm not being sarcastic, you made a post here about the Hyena Hierarchy, oh 6 months ago. That was completely out of left field but an informative read, I enjoy reading your posts. LLM stuff is less of my specific interest, but I like to keep up to date on it. Particularly without all the doom/gloom/AI-Armageddon chatter. Thank you for putting together the effort to write about it.
YoungAchamian
4mo ago
I enjoyed this thank you. As an ML/AI engineer who isn't on twitter it's wild to me how much of the shifting currents of research I miss. I appreciate the paper links, so that I can read and update my knowledge accordingly. What is your secret to keeping up to date on all of this?
YoungAchamian
4mo ago
I need some advice, I know we have some regular rock climbers here. I picked it up about 6 months ago and have been climbing pretty regularly, 2-3 times a week. But I have found myself plateauing on top rope 5.10s, I can do them pretty easily. But am completely unable to do more than a few holds on the 5.11s. Is there a particular technique(s) or muscle(s) that I need to practice to make that dyno?
YoungAchamian
5mo ago
"I don't want to." "No" is a complete sentence, as they say. Related to the first, many men apparently feel no compulsion to respect that "no." Badgering women into having sex with you after they've said no is apparently fine in some people's minds. So the question, then, is how we create the social conditions so that women feel empowered to give that "no" and men feel compelled to respect it.
This isn't exclusive to men. Many Women don't respect a Man's no either. Both genders don't like it when you turn down their offers of sex. Badgering men into sex by calling them gay, questioning their masculinity, and suggesting impotence are classic Women variations of this playbook. This is anecdotal, but I and many of my close male friends, have experienced it both in serious relationships and casual ones. We realistically need to create social conditions where everyone feels not only empowered to say no but people have empathy for that no and can respect it. Not just in the Women: Good, Man: Bad sense
To borrow a quote on this subject from my boss: "Silicon Valley Brain-rot". I wouldn't go that far but the sentiment exists.
I don't know what it is about the Bay but I can only hypothesize that for some reason when you stick a bunch of uber-nerdy, neurodivergent, high openness and high neuroticism people in an environment. Shake it up a bit, eventually the most neurotic, nerdy, and neurodivergent rise to the top. Big Yud has essentially L. R. Hubbard-ed himself into the leader of a cult that goes catatonic over the wildest sci-fi shit.
My analysis on that tweet is such:
- Peak Quokka: Altman is a huge follower of Yud and genuinely believes, through a failure to not realize he lives in a bubble, that Yud's AI teaching inspired all the greatest minds of the AI world.
- Less Quokka: Altman is a genuine follower of Yud and due to his ego, believes He(Altman) will make the biggest contributions to AI, thus since Yud inspired him Yud is a huge impact.
- Cynic: Altman is a shrewd power player, as evidenced by the whole board fiasco. He knows that if he refences a big name in the Bay Bubble AI Sphere, it will signal boost him at no cost. It acts like a scissor statement to the Pro/Anti doomers, generates lots of clicks and draws talent from both camps to OpenAI.
I'm somewhere between less-quokka and cynic. But take what I say with a grain of salt. I don't live in the bay, I work in defense, and years back I decided I'd rather take the quiet and stable life instead of gunning for a job at OpenAI/Deepmind/FAIR, where I could make the most impact on AI
As an AI engineer. Almost none. No one I know in this space, coworkers, colleagues, friends, and myself ever heard of this guy before running into Rationalists/Lesswrong spaces and that was after we/I decided to pursue a career in ML/AI. The ones besides me that have heard of him, have an overall negative opinion of him. Several consider him a loudmouth idiot.
YoungAchamian
6mo ago
Thanks, I got the book and I'll check it out.
YoungAchamian
6mo ago
I think the desire is really to keep his defenders in the group. They are good actors defending their friend, not realizing he's a bad actor. That's admirable. They are good people. There is a fear that if they leave, he'll eventually do the same thing to them, which a lot of the group are worried about. It is altogether a surprisingly empathetic group, that is likely being taken advantage of by a narcissist. I do think this conflict has strengthened my bonds with the others in the group, especially the 7 others with grievances. So I guess that's the silver lining. I'm really just confused on how to effectively deal with manipulative narcissists in general, nipping this in the bud would have probably been far more effective.
Well according to him he's the victim here. He's given some "sorry not-sorry" type apologies prior to being booted. Played a "I'm diagnosed with Autism" card in discussion with the group leader, that only his defenders really believe. He's all together too social and charismatic for most people to believe that one. I think he ran for state senate when he was younger, which doesn't really code as Autistic to me. The motivation is really unknown for why he started bullying different people. The current motivation is obviously not to admit fault and stay in the group or at least drag enough people with him to start his own group. It really does appear as some sort of narcissism.
Edit: it was state house of rep
YoungAchamian
6mo ago
He's very private with his sexuality but codes as gay or bi to most people. I'm straight. It was a hypothesis I had initially but it just felt too self-centered and his response was too extreme. Plus doing to this to other people makes that angle feel less likely
YoungAchamian
6mo ago
Like it or not, Europe broke out of those conditions from 1,000 years of Catholic theocracy. Asia modernized by copying them. This is a well-known, historically supported story
Citation needed on this claim that somehow Christianity is the source of the technological advancement required to advance out of mud huts. Particularly when for the most of this time period everyone below a noble and a few wealthy merchants, still lived in mud huts.
YoungAchamian
6mo ago
I'm mostly posting this just to vent but I also would like some feedback on handling bad actors in social groups.
I'm apart of this group of 15-25 board gamers/social deduction game players in my local area. About a year ago one of my closer friends in this group but also from prior to it did sort of a 180. Before we were playing lots of games together, sometimes 40 hours a week playing Frosthaven as a duo, and just starting to branch out into activities outside of board games. To afterwards him ignoring me, giving me the cold shoulder, and never being available anymore. I was understandably confused, I inquired to him about it and was essentially given the Uno reverse card and also told that I was imagining it. I never got closure on the subject but that oftentimes is a fantasy so shrug. He then for about 7 months after engaged in a fairly subtle but noticeable campaign of bullying, passive aggressive comments, ignoring, and deliberately targeting me in all the games we played jointly as part of the same general group. I was mostly content to take the high road, remain stoic, and ignore him. I snarked back a couple of times but mostly kept my composure. From time to time people inquired about the situation, I gave them my side, asked them to stay out of it, told them I didn't want the drama. and that seemed to work out.
Well, until about 2 months ago, when someone from the group approached me with a very similar story of how he had done the same thing towards her (more recently than me). She wasn't really willing to take it on the chin like I was and after more incidents of his bad behavior surfaced involving others as well things have gotten heated. Currently He got kicked from the private discord group. I co-host a game at a public game shop and he has been asked to take a break for a bit, until tempers have cooled.
This went over like a lead balloon and turned the dumpster fire into a nuclear explosion. He doesn't really engage, but he has two friends (who were also friends with everyone else) in this group very aggressively defending him. Calling all of us bullies, yada yada. It's all very dramatic. The realization among all the people with complaints + the leader of the group discord, about 9 people at this point, is that this main guy is very manipulative, some accusations about Narcissism Personality Disorder or Machiavellianism have been quietly whispered.
But in all of this I'm lost on what to actually do. I've made my peace that he's a bad actor and I just avoid him now. The group leader doesn't want a thorn left laying around, particular after the incredibly dismissive response he received when trying to work through it with the guy and then the vicious response he received from the friends after booting him. Other people in the group are much less level headed and want blood. And in all of this I am reminded almost of the whole MOP article.
YoungAchamian
8mo ago
That survival is largely down to medieval monks.
I always find this argument interesting because it is a just-so-story. Did medieval monks save classical literature because they were a scholastic order associated with Christianity or because they were a scholastic order and scholastic orders like to write things down and record literature. How much of the "Christian" element is important in their operation and why did Christianity in particular lead to the creation of these scholastic orders in a way that Greco-Roman paganism did not?
This led to a following thought. If these were Hindu brahmins/Buddhist monks would they too have recorded the literature, transcribing it so that it could be passed on? What about an Egyptian Pagan order dedicated to Thoth?
YoungAchamian
9mo ago
Fun list, I wish I knew someone with Kemet, its been on my "to play list" forever
I also wish I could just regularly get people to play Twilight Imperium 4e. I manage to wrangle a group of 6 together for a session this weekend. Hopefully I can turn it into a monthly or bi-monthly occurrence.
how is 80% possible? 12 games isn’t divisible by 5
technically 83% 10/12. I find it easier to just round.
I also appreciate your username, Schoolman.
Thanks, I suppose Bakker fans would be more common among this forum's participants
YoungAchamian
9mo ago
What sort of metrics are you looking for when adding to your collection? Great at Two-player? Strategic Depth? Complexity? I ask because Ark Nova is a pretty big jump from Wingspan. It's a much more complex, strategic game, much closer to it's spiritual predecessor Terraforming Mars.
It does play great at two player. My stats tell me out of the 12 games I've played of it, 80% was at 2p and average game time was ~2.5/3 hours If you want something closer to the Wingspan level of complexity I'd recommend:
- 7-Wonders Duel
- Splendor Duel (much better than the original)
- Azul (also scales well for when you want to play with others)
- Everdell (Another worker placement like Wingspan)
If you want to scale in complexity, I can personally vouch that these are all amazing plays at both 2 and greater play counts
- Ark Nova
- Brass Birmingham
- Spirit Island (Cooperative)
- Frosthaven (Cooperative campaign)
- Inis
YoungAchamian
11mo ago
I've played both with regular frequency, though my Victoria 3 skills are probably still fairly mid. AMA
YoungAchamian
1yr ago
I actually disagree with the whole private gathering exclusivity idea. my experience is that most people meet through meetups or they bring their existing friends. I know a couple groups in Chicago, that do the exclusively euro-style, long, strategy games in a rotating manner, and they use meetup to find new games/and or people and occasionally get together privately for a very specific game. Since moving away from Chicago a couple months ago, I'd say my new city has 11 board game bars in the area and I play at many of them through both meetups and private gatherings with people I met from those meetups.
YoungAchamian
1yr ago
I find it interesting that while decrying the woke colonization of speculative fiction awards you still have a very high opinion of The Broken Earth series. The first book, was very obviously good, but books 2 and 3 were flaming dumpster fires. With every POV character in book 2 being boring and predictable(besides the main protag) and book 3's lore of the world having the chance to be great but fell back on being entirely cliché and unoriginal. Book 3 also had an a very predictable ending, no deeper questions asked, its themes only shallowly furrowed. I'm of the opinion that Jemisin won the first award and merit + wokeness and the next two books entirely on woke themes. However I'm super curious why you think they are good if you want to write your thoughts.
YoungAchamian
1yr ago
As someone else said, Snakes and Lattes is one of the more geeky places in the city at least for board games. The Games Tender there has told me that they tried MTG and didn't get much of a showing. There is a DnD bar called Dmen Tap up in avondale that has a campaign on Weds, open to new people. Dice Dojo up in Edgewater is much more neckbeardy. I never did my FNM there but they sold cards and the clerks seemed knowledgeable. Avoid Bonus Round its super woke, wouldn't even stock secret hitler because it was made by "those people" according to them.
Fun, and barely relevant anecdote, I was born very premature, like so premature that it was unlikely I was going to survive. I'm told I also cried nonstop for milk but never could latch on. The La Leche consultant (Activist) was absolutely nasty to my mother about allowing me to be bottle fed. It didn't matter if I died to her as long as I was breast-fed. Sufficed to say she reduced my mother to tears and a breakdown and my father almost got arrested throwing the activist out. I can totally imagine these people as the sort of crusaders that then get infected with woke-beliefs, but this is very much leopard-eating-my-face for them.
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