Group Rationality Diary, July 1-15

Hurrah!

HPMOR-related? (Curious.)

What do you do for a living? I'm sure there's something there that'd be worth memorizing.

How good are you with names & faces? Birthdays? Telephone numbers?

Another thing I use it for is learning new vocabulary. Maybe once or twice a week I'll run across a word in an article that I would typically jump over & just assume I know what it means based on the context, sometimes when I look it up I'm surprised. The other benefit is that memorized words will be more available to you when writing or speaking.

I've found that I'm getting a lot more value out of non-fiction books / guides than I used to by using the following process:

1. Read through book once normally
2. Sit down in front of computer with Anki open, scan through each page quickly
3. Any insights that I think are valuable, get turned into a new card in my main deck, and tagged with the book's name.

Only useful if you are reading through essays, books, etc that have insights you want to take away and keep, I suppose.

(Most of my recorded books are programming or business specific so far, but a good general example to make into cards that work for you is CPR & resuscitation guidelines.)

For those who use public transit, anki on the phone is lifechanging. I'd advise keeping a small notepad with you in case you think of something to look up, check, add or edit later - those are all inconvenient on the phone, especially if one is on the subway and can't get online at all.

I have this crazy idea to use Anki to learn the multiplication table to 100x100, to be able to multiply large numbers fast. The only problem is, it seems both pointless and impossible, :-)

I recognize your inability to necessarily empathize in a meaningful way, or to confidently know what exactly it is they are feeling to be able to respond appropriately. From personal experience, I have found that the best thing to do in such a situation is endorse distraction and preoccupation.

This means, spending a lot of time together, preferably in person. A common interest in some sort of entertainment is helpful, e.g. music or TV. Offer to pick them up (if you have a car), and spontaneously drop by; dig them out of their situation. Play good music in the car so silence isn't awkward but is rather a companionable experience. Hang out, get food, work out together, do not say anything that is harsh or judgmental or critical to your friend, discuss the trivialities of your day-to-day life, find common ground in world-views and joke about how funny and ridiculous and stupid the rest of the world is in relation to the two of you, gossip, etc.

I think that if you do this consistently, it is a rather effective way of being there for your friends, and it is easy in the sense that you do not have to force yourself to come up with profound things to say in direct relation to their depression. You don't have to enforce strict intellectual standards when hanging out-- moderately indulge in the trivialities and gossip-- perhaps alleviating some of their self-imposed pressure to be perfect and right all the time. What you are doing is forcing them to otherwise occupy their time and thus not allowing them to wallow in self pity and feelings of loneliness. You are creating a memorial foundation in their life, restoring their faith in humanity, etc, by proving that naturalistic friendships exist.

take melatonin as soon as I try to fall asleep

Wouldn't you want to take melatonin before you intend to go to bed? It doesn't get absorbed instantly, and the cycle won't be influenced immediately either.

Shift incrementally. If you are waking up at 7am now, set your alarm to 6:45am the next day. Move in 15 minute increments until you are waking at your goal time. This works better for me than trying to shift my sleep an hour at a time, which will lead to a big sleep deficit. 15 minutes shouldn't impact performance too much & the modest amount of sleep lost each day will help you get to sleep earlier.

Also 11pm seems pretty late to start wearing the glasses. f.lux usually turns my monitor orange at about 6pm.

Val recommended this article.

Conclusion: I either need to think faster, or think more before actually taking action. I'm preferring faster.

Looking for heuristics that guide towards useful thoughts might be more fruitful.

Have you accounted for ambient temperature being the cause of both? Being too cold to work and therefore feeling the need to wrap yourself in something warm? Alternately being warm making you less productive?

I've discovered that my productivity starts to drop off sharply above 73 Fahrenheit, for example.