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Main.NewsLinks . . . March 26, 2020, at 02:00 AM by quanticle: Added more cats
Main.Podcasts . . . March 21, 2020, at 06:26 PM by quanticle: Added Conversations With Tyler
Main.ReadingList . . . March 19, 2020, at 12:12 PM by quanticle: Added American milhist books
Main.MacOSTips . . . March 18, 2020, at 04:35 PM by quanticle: Added show desktop hotkey
Main.CagleCats . . . March 17, 2020, at 04:24 PM by quanticle: Added Idaho section
Main.LatestUKVirusAdviceAimsToCutDeathsToAFewThousands . . . March 17, 2020, at 04:44 AM by quanticle: Added article text
Main.HomePage . . . March 17, 2020, at 04:43 AM by quanticle: Added link to FT article about UK coronavirus strategy
Reviews.IsTheConventionalWisdomOnChinasIslandBasesDangerouslyWrong . . . March 11, 2020, at 02:02 PM by quanticle: Fixed grammar
Main.IsTheConventionalWisdomOnChinasIslandBasesDangerouslyWrongADebate . . . March 09, 2020, at 02:37 PM by quanticle: Fixed grammar
Main.VSCode . . . March 07, 2020, at 07:01 PM by quanticle: Cleaned up redundant section
Main.PMWikiEditingTips . . . March 01, 2020, at 07:08 PM by quanticle: Added instructions on editing with markdown
Main.WikiSandbox . . . March 01, 2020, at 07:02 PM by quanticle: * {$x^2 + y^2 = z^2$}
Main.Unicode . . . February 24, 2020, at 01:16 AM by quanticle: Added look of disapproval
Main.ProgressPostmodernismAndTheTechBacklash . . . February 21, 2020, at 10:44 PM by quanticle: Fixed URL
Main.UnixTips . . . February 14, 2020, at 03:15 PM by quanticle: Fixed code block in Clojure section
Main.SyriaStudyGroupReport . . . February 11, 2020, at 11:28 PM by quanticle: Added US Points of Leverage and started recommendations
Main.VimSetup . . . February 04, 2020, at 07:34 PM by quanticle: Replaced hardcoded paths with XDG_CONFIG_HOME
Main.Clojure . . . January 28, 2020, at 11:42 PM by quanticle: Added Leiningen setup
Main.PowerShellTips . . . January 22, 2020, at 11:57 AM by quanticle: Added location of init file
Main.EmacsSetup . . . January 22, 2020, at 01:12 AM by quanticle: Started refactoring emacs tips page
Main.APhilosophyOfSoftwareDesign . . . January 15, 2020, at 08:06 PM by quanticle: formatting
Main.FirefoxSetup . . . January 13, 2020, at 04:07 PM by quanticle: Dropped Google and Facebook containers
Main.FacebookExecutiveAndrewBosworthsMemoReThe2020Election . . . January 08, 2020, at 07:51 PM by quanticle: Updated with original version, now posted publicly by Boswort
Main.NationalSecurityCommissionOnArtificialIntelligenceNovember2019InterimReport . . . January 05, 2020, at 03:11 AM by quanticle: Added "Why does AI matter", "How could AI advance national security" and "What threats does AI pose"
Main.TheUSNavyInAnEraOfGreatPowerCompetition . . . December 30, 2019, at 11:41 PM by quanticle: Added notes on "The US Navy in an Era of Great Power Competition"
Main.NeonGenesisEvangelion . . . December 26, 2019, at 01:08 AM by quanticle: Added some commentary
Main.YouTubeUBlockOriginFilters . . . November 26, 2019, at 08:51 PM by quanticle: Added instructions on how to turn Youtube into just a search box
Main.GitTips . . . November 25, 2019, at 02:46 PM by quanticle: Added instructions on stashing untracked files
Main.Webcomics . . . November 19, 2019, at 01:43 PM by quanticle: Make links open in new window
Main.GeneralComputerStuff . . . November 17, 2019, at 01:33 AM by quanticle: Added tip about linking to specific pages of a PDF
Main.FranceCanSaveTheKurdsInSyria . . . November 13, 2019, at 09:49 AM by quanticle: Added summary of article and my thoughts
Main.PmwikiStylesheetCustomization . . . November 11, 2019, at 09:49 AM by quanticle: Added CSS snippet to fix font in buttons on MacOS
Main.PmwikiChangeFont . . . November 11, 2019, at 09:47 AM by quanticle: Page moved to Main.PmwikiStylesheetCustomization
Site.StyleSheet . . . November 11, 2019, at 09:45 AM by quanticle: } .buttons input { font-family: -apple-system, sans-serif
Main.ArePreplannedExitStrategiesAGoodIdeaInMilitaryConflicts . . . November 10, 2019, at 08:44 PM by quanticle: Fixed grammar
Main.ABetterWayToUseSanctionsInAfrica . . . November 10, 2019, at 08:38 PM by quanticle: Added outline of "A Better Way To Use Sanctions In Africa"
Main.FirmsAndCitiesHaveOpenBordersSoWhyNotNations . . . November 08, 2019, at 10:14 PM by quanticle: Fixed spelling
Main.Org-entity-types . . . November 05, 2019, at 11:34 PM by quanticle: Added list of org entity types
Main.StonedMeadowOfDoom . . . October 30, 2019, at 06:50 PM by quanticle: Uploaded the list of albums in the Stoned Meadow of Doom playlist
Main.DeleteTest . . . October 30, 2019, at 05:20 PM by quanticle: Added more content
Main.Blogroll . . . October 29, 2019, at 03:01 PM by quanticle: Page moved to Main.NewsLinks
Main.TeaGrades . . . October 25, 2019, at 11:48 PM by quanticle: Upload tea grades to wiki
Main.ContainersAndCloudSecurity . . . October 23, 2019, at 06:43 PM by quanticle: [Containers and Cloud Sercurity](https://blog.hansenpartnership.com/containers-and-cloud-security/)
Main.JavascriptTips . . . October 22, 2019, at 05:11 PM by quanticle: Added notes on adding NPM package
Main.RecentUploads . . . October 21, 2019, at 01:49 AM quanticle : NeonGenesisEvangelion/eva_neural_net.png (1447100 bytes)
Main.WhyIDidntLikeStarWarsTheLastJedi . . . October 18, 2019, at 05:58 PM by quanticle: minor wording change
Main.LifeInChinasAsia . . . October 18, 2019, at 02:57 PM by quanticle: (:htoc:)
Main.AnArmyTryingToShakeItselfFromIntellectualSlumberPart2From9-11ToGreatPowerCompetition . . . October 18, 2019, at 02:54 PM by quanticle: Added more information about tactical nuclear weapons
Main.WhatTheAttackOnSaudiArabiasOilFacilitiesTeachesUs . . . October 16, 2019, at 06:28 PM by quanticle: Added my thoughts ~~~~
Main.AnArmyTryingToShakeItselfFromIntellectualSlumberPart1LearningFromThe1970s . . . October 15, 2019, at 02:51 PM by quanticle: - Removed the lodestone for strategy and policy - Removed the common problem that all US armed forces had to solve
Main.HighExpectationsAsChinasXiLandsInNepal . . . October 15, 2019, at 01:31 PM by quanticle: Added summary of "High Expectations As China's Xi Lands In Nepal"
RationalityReadingGroup.2019-02-11Notes . . . February 11, 2019, at 02:14 AM by quanticle: (:markdown:) ### [How Civilizations Fall: A Theory of Catabolic Collapse](https://www.ecoshock.org/transcripts/greer_on_collapse.pdf) #### Introduction - The collapse of complex human societies is a poorly understood phenomenon - Most proposed explanations fail to describe causative mechanisms - Rely on ad-hoc hypotheses based upon the specifics of the civilization
RationalityReadingGroup.2019-02-04Notes . . . February 04, 2019, at 01:21 PM by quanticle: - *Heck, not even neoreactionaries – most people would agree that criminals, for example, have given up their right to be free* - We have unlimited resources - *There's a bit of confusion going on here between charities and cause areas* - *A charity devoted to the arts might reach ten times fewer people than AMF, but that's because the arts charity is in a different cause area* - *If you're going to compare charities, and claim that the best charities reach tens or hundreds of times as many people as a randomly chosen charity, you need to make sure that you're comparing a randomly chosen charity to the best charity within that cause area* - Utilitarianism is a collection of philosophical positions which have 5 major characteristics in common - Utilitarianism is the doctrine that the morally right thing to do is that which maximizes <span class="underline">Utility</span> - Characteristics utilitarianism - Universalism - Moral principles are universal
Main.ChallengerLaunchDecision . . . January 30, 2019, at 08:56 PM by quanticle: (:markdown:) - Author: Diane Vaughan - Publisher: University of Chicago Press - Publication Date: 2016 ## Preface: - The Challenger disaster is one of those rare events that bound together diverse people in a moment of shared anguish - Disaster is remembered as a technical failure
RationalityReadingGroup.2019-01-28Notes . . . January 29, 2019, at 01:22 AM by quanticle: ### [The Tower](https://hotelconcierge.tumblr.com/post/162571849189/the-tower) #### Part I #### Part II #### Part III #### Part IV
Main.PathsForwardOnBerkeleyCultureDiscussion . . . October 13, 2018, at 02:30 AM by quanticle: Added outline of Zvi's long and rambling ideaspost
Main.ElizabethWarrensAccountableCorporationsAct . . . August 18, 2018, at 05:23 PM by quanticle: Added text of Elizabeth Warren's Accountable Corporations Act
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-07-23Notes . . . July 24, 2018, at 03:57 AM by quanticle: Added notes for 2018-07-23 Meeting
Main.TVRecommendations . . . July 16, 2018, at 12:11 AM by quanticle:
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-07-16RRGNotes . . . July 15, 2018, at 09:07 PM by quanticle: Fixed spelling errors
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-07-09RRGNotes . . . July 15, 2018, at 08:47 PM by quanticle: Added notes for 2018-07-09 meeting
Main.TrustMeImLyingConfessionsOfAMediaManipulator . . . July 11, 2018, at 08:39 AM by quanticle: fixed latex markup
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-07-02RRGNotes . . . July 04, 2018, at 09:12 PM by quanticle: Fixed markdown error
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-06-25RRGNotes . . . June 29, 2018, at 11:36 PM by quanticle: Fixed headings
Main.AnAlternativeToMythicMindset . . . May 12, 2018, at 02:30 AM by quanticle: Page renamed to Main.AnAlternativeToMythicMindset from Main.AnAlterinativeToMythicMindset
Main.AnAlterinativeToMythicMindset . . . May 12, 2018, at 02:29 AM by quanticle: Page renamed to Main.AnAlterinativeToMythicMindset from Main.KenshoVsDetermination
Main.KenshoVsDetermination . . . May 10, 2018, at 02:44 PM by quanticle: Today, I almost missed my flight. I woke up 110 minutes late. But, thanks to some heroics by my Uber driver, preparation on my part, and having the correct mindset, I was still able to make it on time. That mindset, however, was *not* a [mythic mindset](https://www.greaterwrong.com/posts/HnWN6v4wHQwmYQCLX/mythic-mode), and, in fact, I think that having such a mindset would have been actively counterproductive in my situation. Here, I'll try to outline a more productive mindset for use in situations like this one. As far as I understand it, the mythic mindset is one that uses narratives to guide one's next actions. You look at where you are now, what kind of person you are, and ask yourself, "If this was a story, and I was the protagonist, what would I do next?" For example, when Valentine went to meet his *sensei* in New York, he left without knowing whether his teacher would actually be present. He relied on understanding his place in the narrative well enough to ensure that he would meet his teacher when he arrived. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened, with his teacher arriving from an overseas trip on the same day that Valentine flew in. While it seems like I did exactly the same thing, I think I held a different mindset. My mindset was not one of narrative. At no point did I ask myself about the plot of the "story" I was living out. It was one of problem solving. I tried to put myself in the same mindset of one of my personal heroes, James Lovell. But in doing so, I was not attempting to live out the same narrative that James Lovell lived out when he commanded Apollo 13. I was asking myself, what would a pilot like him do in my situation? How would he approach the problem? I took my one impossible problem (get to the boarding gate by at least 10 minutes before the flight departs) and broke it down into smaller problems, which, while they seemed equally impossible, at least could be approached individually. I thought to myself, "In order to get to the gate, I need to get to the airport. In order to get to the airport, I need to get out of my apartment. In order to get out of my apartment, I need to get dressed." And then, at every stage, I consciously worked to shave time and maximize my odds, while knowing viscerally that the odds were very much against my making it to the plane on time. Moreover, while I failed critically in the task of waking up on time, I had prepared in other ways, and that preparation became even more crucial in this crisis situation. I did the work of making sure I had finished packing the night before. I had printed out my boarding passes and written the departure gate down on them, ensuring that I didn't have to stop once I got into the airport to find out where the flight was leaving from. I had signed up for TSA Pre-Check allowing me to use the priority lines at the security checkpoints. While normally these were all matters of convenience, in this instance these preparations were absolutely crucial to being able to make my flight.
KenshoVs.KenshoVsDetermination . . . May 10, 2018, at 01:48 PM by quanticle: Page moved to Main.KenshoVsDetermination
KenshoVs.Determination . . . May 10, 2018, at 01:45 PM by quanticle: (:markdown:) Today, I almost missed my flight. I woke up 110 minutes late. But, thanks to some heroics by my Uber driver, preparation on my part, and having the correct mindset, I was still able to make it on time. That mindset, however, was *not* Kensho, and, in fact, I think that having a Kensho mindset would have been actively counterproductive in my situation. Along the way, I'll try to outline a more productive mindset for use in situations like this one. As far as I understand it, Kensho is derived from the Buddhist concept of *enlightenment*. To me, enlightenment means to be at peace and to have acceptace of the world as it is, and to understand that some things are fundamentally out of one's control. For example, when Valentine went to meet his *sensei* in New York, he left without knowing whether his teacher would actually be present. He knowingly left it to the winds of fate to determine whether he got to meet his teacher or not. While it seems like I did exactly the same thing (god, waking up 110 minutes late, what were you thinking?!) I think I held a different mindset. My mindset was **not** one of acceptance. It was one of problem solving. I tried to put myself in the same mindset of one of my personal heroes, James Lovell. I took my one impossible problem (get to the boarding gate by at least 10 minutes before the flight departs) and broke it down into smaller problems, which, while they seemed equally impossible, at least offered the hints of solution. I thought to myself, "In order to get to the gate, I need to get to the airport. In order to get to the airport, I need to get out of my apartment. In order to get out of my apartment, I need to get dressed." And then, at every stage, I consciously worked to shave time and maximize my odds, while knowing viscerally that the odds were very much against my making it to the plane on time. Moreover, while I failed critically in the task of waking up on time, I had prepared in other ways, and that preparation became even more crucial in this crisis situation. I did the work of making sure I had finished packing the night before. I had printed out my boarding passes and written the departure gate down on them, ensuring that I didn't have to stop once I got into the airport to find out where the flight was leaving from. I had signed up for TSA Pre-Check allowing me to use the priority lines at the security checkpoints. While normally a convenience, Pre-Check was absolutely crucial in this instance. Another form of preparation was creating a checklist. Even though I was not able to complete all of the items on the checklist, the mere act of *having* a checklist ensure that I was able to be intentional about the steps that I was skipping, ensuring that nothing truly important (like grabbing my wallet and keys) got skipped. The checklist also allowed me to be confident in my preparation - I was able to tell, at a glance, that everything important had already been taken care of, and that the only thing I really needed to do was get dressed, grab my gear, and run out the door. This stands in utter contrast to the way that Valentine lacksadaiscally hopped on a plane, without doing any kind of advance preparation to see if his teacher would even be in town when he arrived.
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-04-23RRGNotes . . . April 23, 2018, at 12:42 AM by quanticle: (:markdown:) From the Facebook event: "This week we'll be doing things a bit differently. Florence will be giving a talk on recognizing escalated behavior in social spaces and have provided these articles to act as accompanying content to their talk" ### [On Punitive Restoration](https://quarterly.demos.co.uk/article/issue-2/on-punitive-restoration/) - Within the criminal justice system, there's a tension between reducing reoffense rates and instilling greater public confidence - Improvements to one may come at the expense of the other - Citizens wildly overestimate crime rates - Blame lenient sentences
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-04-16RRGNotes . . . April 18, 2018, at 09:09 PM by quanticle: (:markdown:) ### [Words As Hidden Inferences](https://www.greaterwrong.com/posts/3nxs2WYDGzJbzcLMp/words-as-hidden-inferences) - Our brains automatically categorize things by similarity, regardless of the formal logical rules we set out - This is a *good* thing - The brain does not treat words as purely logical construsts - Given that, it is a mistake to rely on any system of thinking that relies on you being able to treat words as purely logical constructs - The mere act of creating a word causes your mind to create a category and thus trigger unconscious inferences
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-04-09RRGNotes . . . April 09, 2018, at 01:30 AM by quanticle: (:markdown:) (:markdownend:)
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-04-02RRGNotes . . . March 31, 2018, at 01:45 PM by quanticle: (:markdown:) ### [Making Beliefs Pay Rent (In Anticipated Experiences)](https://www.greaterwrong.com/posts/a7n8GdKiAZRX86T5A/making-beliefs-pay-rent-in-anticipated-experiences) - Beliefs should have consequences - Beliefs should constrain future experiences - Empiricism is the process of asking what experiences our beliefs predict and what they prohibit - When arguing about beliefs, ask about what differences in anticipated experience those beliefs would result in - If you can't find the difference, you're probably arguing about which name you should put on the label for a particular experience, not the experience itself - *My thoughts* - *This is probably one of Eliezer's best essays*
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-03-26RRGNotes . . . March 25, 2018, at 12:47 AM by quanticle: (:markdown:) (:markdownend:)
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-03-19RRGNotes . . . March 19, 2018, at 08:07 PM by quanticle: (:markdown:) (:markdownend:)
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-03-12RRGNotes . . . March 11, 2018, at 10:00 PM by quanticle: - *Given the highly allegorical nature of this particular post, I've had to modify the structure much more so than usual in order to make it work as an outline* - *I'm also not at all convinced by Val and Qiaochu\_Yuan's insistence that they're managing to sandbox all this woo they're dealing with. One of the pitfalls mentioned in this very sequence of posts is how someone can loudly protest, "This isn't touching me, this isn't touching me!" while the ideas influence their actions, to the point of causing them to join or leave religions, move states, etc.*
Main.TangledUpInRed . . . March 09, 2018, at 03:26 PM by quanticle: ## [Tangled Up In Red](https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2018/03/tangled-up-in-red.html)
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-03-05RRGNotes . . . March 05, 2018, at 06:33 AM by quanticle: (:markdown:) - Therefore, success in traditional schooling is a better indicator of workplace success than competency-based learning (:markdownend:)
Main.RationalityAsNeo-catholicism . . . March 02, 2018, at 08:25 PM by quanticle: - The "collapse" of the Roman Empire, viewed in real-time was more of a long, slow decline than a collapse as we would think of it - Took hundreds of years from the peak of the empire, under Hadrian, to the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths - Plenty of time for a "slow-burning" movement to establish institutions that preserve culture and knowledge
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-02-26RRGNotes . . . February 26, 2018, at 02:58 AM by quanticle: (:markdown:) ### [Information Hazard](https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Information_hazard) - Concept defined by Nick Bostrom - Defined as: "a risk that arises from the dissemination or the potential dissemination of (true) information that may cause harm or enable some agents to cause harm - Pointed out in contrast to the generally accepted principle of of information freedom - Possibility of information hazards needs to be considered when making information policies - Typology of Information Hazards - By information transfer mode - Data hazard
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-02-19RRGReadingNotes . . . February 19, 2018, at 03:25 PM by quanticle: (:markdown:) ### [In Favor of Niceness, Community and Civilization](http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/02/23/in-favor-of-niceness-community-and-civilization/): - In order to win, do we have to embrace "politics is the mindkiller" and "arguments are soldiers"? - After all, if we're about winning, then we should be willing to do whatever it takes to win - If a fight is important, be ready to fight nasty - If politics is war, why not use bullets, both real and rhetorical? - So why not use violence? - Most of this is derivable from Hobbes - Example: Protestants vs. Catholics
Main.InTheFootstepsOfMrKurtzLivingOnTheBrinkInMobutusCongo . . . February 16, 2018, at 10:46 PM by quanticle: ## Chapter 3: Birth of the Leopard - Larry Devlin - CIA station chief in Congo - Coordinated US support for Mobutu - Seen as an example of just how far the US was willing to go to thwart Soviet influence in Africa - Devlin and Mobutu met initially in 1960 - Congo's embryonic African political establishment negotiating with the Belgians over the terms of independence - Congo's independence was particularly ill-planned
Main.RRGSummarySpreadsheet . . . February 11, 2018, at 10:59 PM by quanticle: [deleted]
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-02-12RRGNotes . . . February 09, 2018, at 10:52 PM by quanticle: (:markdown:) ### [On The Seelie and Useelie Courts](https://lexicaldoll.wordpress.com/2017/08/09/on-the-seelie-and-unseelie-courts/) - There appear to be two kind of social reality - Type that fixates on dark manipulative aspects - unseelie - Brazenness - Manipulation - "Acceptance of the cesspool of human communication" - Type that fixates on light conversational, flow aspects - seelie - Niceness
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-02-05RRGNotes . . . February 05, 2018, at 05:39 AM by quanticle: - Dualist counterculture - religious right - wanted to make all boundaries absolute
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-01-29RRGNotes . . . January 28, 2018, at 09:49 PM by quanticle: (:markdownend:)
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-01-22RRGNotes . . . January 23, 2018, at 08:59 AM by quanticle: - *What are the goals of the Kernel project, and how will we know when those goals are acheived?* - *I now have way more respect for artists like Raphael, Tiziano (Titian), Tintoretto, Lippi, etc. They're not as well known as Da Vinci, or Michaelangelo, but they were way more consistent, way more productive, and honestly, they were just as good (at art) as Da Vinci and Michaelangelo*
RationalityReadingGroup.2018-01-08RRGNotes . . . January 02, 2018, at 11:49 AM by quanticle: ** ''This strategy is often spectactularly effective, right up it fails spectacularly - the annals of history are littered with people who believed grand narratives about themselves, got other people to believe those grand narratives, and ended up ruining not just their own lives but the lives on thouands, millions, or even '''billions''' of other people''
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-01-08RRGNotes . . . December 28, 2017, at 12:28 PM by quanticle: !!! [[https://balioc.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/am-i-truly-mardukth/ | Am I Truly Mardukth?]] * Why is the state of human welfare so bad, even for those supposedly at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy? ** People have access to food and shelter, affection from loved ones, and the other sundry fruits of prosperit ** So why are they unhappy? ** ''First, these people aren't at the top of Maslow's hierarchy - the top of Maslow's hierarchy is self-actualization'' ** ''If you're so busy meeting your basic needs that you don't have the time or energy to pursue higher tiers, you're not at the top'' ** ''Finally, it's not at all clear that Maslow's Hierarchy is even a good model for human happiness'' * For some people it's true that their needs really aren't being met ** Financial situation isn't as stable as it appears ** Social situation is precarious and anxiety-producing
Site.SideBar . . . December 25, 2017, at 11:15 PM by quanticle: [deleted] * [[{*$FullName}?action=login | Log in]]
GoLangBook.Chapter01Tutorial . . . December 23, 2017, at 02:54 PM by quanticle: @@package main@@ defines a standalone program, rather than a module. Within @@package main@@, @@func main@@ defines the entry point into the program. @@import@@ tells the compiler which other packages your package relies on ->Must @@import@@ exactly the packages you need - both missing imports and unused imports will result in compiler errors
GoLangBook.Chapter01 . . . December 23, 2017, at 02:46 PM by quanticle: [deleted] (:title Chapter 1: Tutorial :)
GoLangBook.GoLangBook . . . December 23, 2017, at 02:45 PM by quanticle: (:pagelist group=GoLangBook fmt=#fulltext-headers-toc order=-name :)
Main.ContainingShiiteMilitiasTheBattleForStabilityInIraq . . . December 16, 2017, at 04:31 AM by quanticle: *** The majority of fighters are actually in state-aligned militias **** ''Huh? Then how is it that the Iran-aligned militias are seen as more dominant? Is it that the Iran-aligned militias are more disciplined? Better resourced?'' * Identify and Empower Agents of Change ** Invest in bottom-up politics to limit the ability of corrupt elites and militant groups to use civil society as a patronage network ** The battle for Iraq remains rooted among Shiite communal networks, which collectively control economies worth hundreds of millions of dollars * Empower Civil Society ** Iraq has a civil society ** Civil society has been effective in mobilizing people to protest against the government ** Civil society actors that are disconnected from political parties or religious or family networks face interference, intimidation, and have weak fundraising abilities ** Civil society groups are capable of creating social and cultural norms that can restrain armed groups
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-12-18RRGNotes . . . December 15, 2017, at 03:05 PM by quanticle: [deleted] $ \mbox{scarcity} = \frac{1}{\mbox{slack}} = \sqrt{\left(\frac{1}{\mbox{spare time}}\right)^2 + \left(\frac{1}{\mbox{spare money}}\right)^2 + \left(\frac{1}{\mbox{spare energy}}\right)^2 + \cdots}$
RationalityReadingGroup.RecentUploads . . . December 14, 2017, at 03:49 PM quanticle : 2017-12-18RRGNotes/slack_eqn.svg (27875 bytes)
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-12-11RRGNotes . . . December 10, 2017, at 03:09 AM by quanticle: !!! [[https://putanumonit.com/2016/04/02/021_bummer/ | The Bummer Economy]] !!! [[https://putanumonit.com/2017/02/27/familiar-finance/ | Familiar Finance]] !!! [[https://putanumonit.com/2017/05/09/time-well-spent/ | Time Well Spent]] !!! [[https://putanumonit.com/2017/05/27/strong-men-are-socialist-reports-a-study-that-previously-reported-the-opposite/ | Strong men are socialist, reports study that previously reported the opposite]]
Main.OsthanesTalksAboutPhilosophyAndNietzsche . . . December 09, 2017, at 03:44 PM by quanticle: Page renamed to Main.OsthanesTalksAboutPhilosophyAndNietzsche from Main.JonathanTalksAboutPhilosophyAndNietzsche
Main.JonathanTalksAboutPhilosophyAndNietzsche . . . December 08, 2017, at 10:49 PM by quanticle: !! Why Philosophy * All life attempts to maintain homeostasis * The more complex the life, the more complex the homeostasis that has to be maintained * People are extraordinarily complex creatures and they have to maintain an extremely complex homeostasis * In order to maintain homeostasis, there needs to be a balance between two approaches: ** Exploit existing resources ** Find new resources * Philosophy is about deciding how and when to go to new places vs. continue to exploit existing resources !! Nietzsche
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-12-04RRGNotes . . . December 01, 2017, at 12:06 AM by quanticle: * Being a "fox" shouldn't preclude you from having overarching theoretical frameworks * You have to be ready to say that those frameworks were in error and update * Having a theory doesn't lock you into being insensitive to evidence * The ideology of empiricism is harmful when it blocks you from making hypotheses * Being cognizant of the outside view is useful, but you have to make sure that you're truly comparing comparable things ** If you have a new product, it may or may not be applicable to consider related products ** Your market and customers may or may not be exactly the same as the market you're using as a baseline * In truly novel situations, the outside view usually fails * Moreover, in many ambiguous situations, it's not actually clear which "outside view" is correct - a new product or situation is often comparable to multiple reference classes * In many cases, the outside view can't compete with a good model
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-11-27RRGNotes . . . November 26, 2017, at 06:01 PM by quanticle: * "Hard Mode" defends against Goodhart's Law * Hard mode is about working for ''your'' values, even when it would be easier to go along with what society expects * Hard mode is about making yourself better, even if that results in slower improvements in externally visible metrics * Hard mode is about being true to yourself * Easy mode is analyzing systems and finding the most efficient path to your goal * Easy mode strategies can fall victim to Goodhart's Law, where you lose sight of your end goal and instead become sidetracked by the proxy metric you're trying to maximize * Easy mode lets you get to your goals faster, but playing in easy mode doesn't make you a better person * Easy mode is "selling out" * ''Both easy mode and hard mode have their uses'' ** ''You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em''
Site.EditForm . . . November 21, 2017, at 09:03 PM by quanticle: (:stylepage:)
Site.EditPage . . . November 21, 2017, at 09:02 PM by quanticle: [deleted]
Site.AllGroupHeader . . . November 21, 2017, at 08:00 PM by quanticle: (:stylepage:)
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-11-20RRGNotes . . . November 20, 2017, at 05:12 PM by quanticle: * So why don't people change their political systems to allow for more experimentation? * Political systems are defined by the same inadequate Nash equilibria as everything else * First-past-the-post-voting is a result of the same kind of inadequate equilibrium as everything else ** ''Eliezer is missing two big things: complexity and legitimacy'' ** ''Condorcet voting may have better outcomes, but those outcomes will be harder to explain, and, as a result, will be less legitimate'' ** ''Heck, the Electoral College is bad enough in this regard, even though it serves an arguably important check on the power of large, urbanized states like New York and California'' * Another example of inadequate equilibria is Overton Windows ** Everyone is ready to talk about a particular change ** But because no one has started talking about it, everyone feels like it's taboo ** Then someone unusually brave starts talking about it and it opens up the field to it being a legitimate topic
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-11-13RRGNotes . . . November 11, 2017, at 03:23 PM by quanticle: !!! [[http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/03/all-in-all-another-brick-in-the-motte/ | All in All, Another Brick in the Motte]] !!! [[http://www.overcomingbias.com/2015/01/on-exposing-hypocrisy.html | On Exposing Hypocrisy]] !!! [[http://lesswrong.com/lw/k12/be_comfortable_with_hypocrisy/ | Be Comfortable With Hypocrisy]] !!! [[https://nothingismere.com/2015/09/16/ditch-the-word-hypocrite/ | Ditch The Word Hypocrite]]
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-11-06RRGNotes . . . November 03, 2017, at 08:37 PM by quanticle: !!! [[http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/05/27/on-types-of-typologies/ | On Types of Typologies]] * Meyers-Briggs Type indicator ** It's inconsistently applied and unscientific ** Yet, Scott consistently recognizes himself in the description of INTJ * We can reconcile "Meyers-Briggs is unscientific" with "Meyers-Briggs is a useful tool" * Meyers and Briggs had no scientific basis on which to declare that there were four factors of personality - just armchair observations and anecdotes * Factor analysis shows that there are actually 5 personality traits, only one of which corresponds to Meyers-Briggs * Meyers-Briggs doesn't need to give new information in order to be useful * Meyers-Briggs can be useful for drawing conclusions in the same way that nationality can be ** ''Isn't that just plain stereotyping''
Main.2017ItalyTrip . . . November 03, 2017, at 06:51 AM by quanticle: !! Milan * [[https://www.museoalfaromeo.com/en-us/Pages/MuseoStoricoAlfaRomeo.aspx | Alfa Romeo museum]] !! Maranello * [[https://musei.ferrari.com/en/maranello | Ferrari Museum]]
Site.LocalTemplates . . . October 31, 2017, at 04:05 AM by quanticle: (:htoc:)(:toggle htoc_ul:)
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-09-25RRGNotes . . . October 31, 2017, at 03:59 AM by quanticle: !!! [[http://lesswrong.com/lw/2c/a_sense_that_more_is_possible/ | A Sense That More Is Possible]] * Why should anyone be motivated to learn rationality? * Rationalists don't seem to be any more happy or successful than non-rationalists * There ought to be a discipline of cognition that that makes its students visibly more competent and formidable * But we don't see that in the real world * We haven't gotten together and systematized our skills * How do you systematically test rationality programs and verify that they're making people more rational? * Why aren't rationalists surrounded by a "visible aura of formidability"? ** Less systematic training ** More difficult to verify that you're being rational
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-10-02RRGNotes . . . October 31, 2017, at 03:58 AM by quanticle: !!! [[http://lesswrong.com/lw/42/tolerate_tolerance/ | Tolerate Tolerance]] * One of the likely characteristics of someone who is a rationalist is a lower than usual tolerance for flaws in reasoning * Even if we can't be nice to idiots, we should tolerate those who are being nice to idiots * Don't punish non-punishers * Only judge people for the mistakes they make, not the mistakes they tolerate others making !!! [[http://lesswrong.com/lw/5j/your_price_for_joining/ | Your Price For Joining]] * People in the atheist/libertarian/technophile cluster set their joining prices too high * The group doesn't have to be perfect for you to join and make a positive difference by taking part ** ''And this is why rationalists should get involved in politics''
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-10-09RRGNotes . . . October 31, 2017, at 03:57 AM by quanticle: !!! [[https://palegreendot.net/assets/2017-10-09/postmodernism_for_rationalists.pdf | Postmodernism for rationalists]]
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-10-16RRGNotes . . . October 31, 2017, at 03:56 AM by quanticle: !!! [[http://www.roberttrivers.com/Robert_Trivers/Publications_files/T%26Newton1982article-2.pdf | The Crash of Flight 90: Doomed by Self Deception?]] * Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into a bridge on takeoff from Washington National Airport, killing 78 * Pilots failed to turn on engine anti-icing systems, causing loss of thrust * Pilots positioned plane behind another jet in a mistaken attempt to de-ice that may have made the icing problem worse * Engine pressure ratio indicator showed normal thrust, contradicting readings from other systems * Co-pilot pointed out discrepancy, but pilot proceeded with takeoff anyway, leading to crash * The accident was the result of a pattern of self-deception on the part of the captain, and insufficient forcefulness by the first-officer in correcting that self-deception * This can be seen in pilot's lack of response to the co-pilot's prompts * Pilot doesn't respond to co-pilot until the plane is already falling * My reactions:
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-10-23RRGNotes . . . October 31, 2017, at 03:55 AM by quanticle: !!! [[https://www.lesserwrong.com/posts/xQ9tMMk3RArodLtDq/intellectual-progress-inside-and-outside-academia | Intellectual Progress Inside and Outside Academia]] * Initial Thread: ** Wei Dai *** Discussion is about what is preventing academia from recognizing certain steps in intellectual progress **** Bitcoin **** TDT/UDT *** Non-academics came up with both of these things; why didn't academia get there first? ** Eliezer Yudkowsky *** Academic system doesn't promote "real work" getting done **** ''And MIRI does?''
RationalityReadingGroup.2017-10-30RRGNotes . . . October 31, 2017, at 03:53 AM by quanticle: !!! [[https://meteuphoric.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/for-signaling-part-i/ | For Signalling (Part 1)]] * Signalling is about showing off * The whole point of signalling is to have costs * Wearing an embarrassing T-shirt is a refusal to signal ** ''False: Wearing an embarrassing T-shirt is a signal that you don't care about wearing embarrassing T-shirts'' * Signalling attempts to ensure honest communication: ** Signalling is meant to be costly for liars ** Driver's licenses - signal that you're qualified to drive ** Job market - potential employees have to signal that they're qualified for the position that they're interviewing for *** Job market signalling is costly for everyone, even people who are qualified
Category.GroupFooter . . . October 31, 2017, at 03:42 AM by quanticle: (:pagelist link={*$FullName} list=normal fmt=#bygroup-titlespaced:)
Main.KillAllNormiesOnlineCultureWarsFrom4ChanAndTumblrToTrumpAndTheAlt-Right . . . October 31, 2017, at 03:19 AM by quanticle: [[Category: Book Outlines]]
Main.ReviewOfKillAllNormies . . . October 24, 2017, at 08:03 AM by quanticle: Andrea Nagle's ''Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4Chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right'' looks at the rise of Trump and the alt-right from the perspective of online social media over the period from about 2010 to 2017. Her claim is that the rise of Trump can be explained as a backlash against in increasingly identitarian leftist online culture, typified by the sort of writing you see on Tumblr. She traverses the main haunts of both the online (alt-)right and the online left, catalogues their views and
Main.DirectionsToPostOffice . . . October 23, 2017, at 05:16 PM by quanticle: !! Directions to Post Office * Turn R on SE 26th St * Turn L on Richards Rd * Turn L on Lake Hills Connector * Cross SE 8th St. * Cross NE 4th St. * Turn R on NE 8th St. * Cross 120th Ave NE * Turn L on 124th Ave NE * Post office is on L
Main.Directions . . . October 23, 2017, at 05:13 PM by quanticle: * [[Directions to Henry's Taiwan]] * [[Directions to Post Office]]
Main.Bookmarks . . . October 23, 2017, at 02:59 PM by quanticle: * [[https://web.archive.org/web/20171023185645/https://weblogs.asp.net/alex_papadimoulis/408925 | On asking for the right level of advice]] * [[https://web.archive.org/web/20171023185844/http://www.jdpressman.com/2017/07/25/tumblrism-the-injustice-league.html | Tumblrism: The Injustice League]]
Main.GenderList . . . October 22, 2017, at 08:50 PM by quanticle: And an [[https://web.archive.org/web/20171023005017/https://vapebleach.tumblr.com/post/146468134070/i-have-compiled-a-list-of-every-gender-tumblr | an even bigger list]], unfortunately without definitions
Main.PMWikiTips . . . October 20, 2017, at 10:00 PM by quanticle: *** @@[= [[Main/Foo/Bar]]@@ is invalid =]
Main.RationalityReadingGroup . . . October 19, 2017, at 12:53 AM by quanticle: (:pagelist group=RationalityReadingGroup fmt=#fulltext-headers-toc order=-name :)
Main.LessWrong2DesktopReader . . . October 18, 2017, at 12:11 PM by Said Achmiz: Added development plan
LessWrong2.0DesktopReader . . . October 18, 2017, at 07:02 AM by quanticle: LessWrong 2.0 Reader requirements
Main.SettingUpSambaOnFedora . . . October 16, 2017, at 10:46 AM by quanticle: [<share name>]
Main.InstitutionalMemoryAndReverseSmuggling . . . October 16, 2017, at 04:53 AM by quanticle: Institutional memory comes in two forms: people and documentation. People remember how things work and why. Sometimes they write it down and store that information somewhere. Institutional amnesia works similarly. The people leave and the documents disappear, rot, or just become forgotten (as it were). I worked for several decades at a large petrochemical company. In the early 1980s, we designed and built a plant that refines some hydrocarbon type stuff into other hydrocarbon type stuff. Over the next thirty years, institutional memory of this plant faded to a dim recollection. Oh, it still operates, and still makes money for the firm. Day to day maintenance is performed, and the skilled local crew is familiar with the controls, valves, safety systems, and other such. But the company has forgotten how it really works. A few things conspired to make this happen: * The downturn in the oil industry through the 1980s and 1990s caused a moratorium on new hires. By the late 1990s, our group was a mix of people over 55 and under 35, with few in between. * We gradually made the move to fully computer-based design.
Main.ConfiguringIPAddressesManuallyOnLinux . . . October 15, 2017, at 05:42 PM by quanticle: To configure IP addresses manually: @@sudo ifconfig <interface> <IP address> netmask <subnet mask>@@ So, for example: @@sudo ifconfig eth1 172.16.64.2 netmask 255.255.192.0@@
Main.DirectionsToHenrysTaiwan . . . October 07, 2017, at 02:37 PM by quanticle: Henry's Taiwan \ 522 S King St \
Main.GeneralPackingList . . . October 06, 2017, at 07:43 AM by quanticle: Make a superset of all of my packing lists
Main.Travel . . . October 06, 2017, at 07:38 AM by quanticle: * [[General Packing List]]
Main.DirectionsToParkAmpJet . . . October 04, 2017, at 10:17 PM by quanticle: Added directions to Park & Jet
Main.DirectionsToCarProsHyundai . . . September 27, 2017, at 05:21 PM by quanticle: !! Address 201 7th St\ Renton, WA 98057 !! Directions to Car Pros * Turn R on SE 26th St * Turn R on Richards Rd * Turn L on Coal Creek Pkwy SE * Cross Forest Dr * Cross SE May Valley Rd * Cross Hwy 900/NE Sunset Blvd
Main.DirectionsToRationalistReadingGroup . . . September 27, 2017, at 11:56 AM by quanticle: * 5238 11th Ave NE is just before NE 55th St
Main.RationalistReadingGroup . . . September 24, 2017, at 06:38 AM by quanticle: Page moved to Main.RationalityReadingGroup
Main.Leviathan . . . September 22, 2017, at 05:28 PM by quanticle: the missile hit, the warhead flashed \ and I thought the beast was slain \ But with grinding gears and screaming servos \ Leviathan rose again
Main.FacebookRedirectToGetAroundPaywalls . . . September 18, 2017, at 05:03 AM by quanticle: made code monospace
Main.FfmpegInstructions . . . September 18, 2017, at 01:12 AM by quanticle: Added ffmpeg instructions