I'm About as Good as Dead: the End of Xah Lee
post by roland · 2014-05-16T21:43:48.151Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 10 commentsContents
10 comments
http://ergoemacs.org/misc/xah_as_good_as_dead.html
10 comments
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comment by [deleted] · 2014-05-16T22:19:20.893Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Relevance to LW? As far as I know he hasn't been here.
Replies from: Risto_Saarelma, roland↑ comment by Risto_Saarelma · 2014-05-17T05:03:40.386Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Relevance to LW?
A warning for people whose main skill is being clever on the Internet.
Replies from: buybuydandavis↑ comment by buybuydandavis · 2014-05-17T23:30:41.364Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
More a warning to people who aren't taking care of business.
Being clever on the internet, particularly with a developed body of material, should be quite an asset. Yet he has obviously failed to leverage that asset, or any of his other assets, properly.
Main problem - the guy was putting up a front with the people he knew, and was committed to projecting that image more than evaluating his options and taking action to improve his situation.
I had hoped his post would spark more constructive discussion of what to do in his situation, and how to avoid putting yourself in that situation in the first place. His skills and failings seem extreme versions of a lot of people here, including myself.
Replies from: caffemacchiavelli↑ comment by caffemacchiavelli · 2014-05-22T08:36:49.326Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
That's a really good point, especially for those who decide to make their living outside of the common "get safe job" paradigm, which to be fair isn't all that robust (at least in the US), either.
I've noticed myself that the anxiety I feel about losing a key component of my business has decreased immensely over the last few years, even though the risk is either the same or slightly higher. Even as a kid I used to feel strange about that. I was scared of big spiders, so whenever I'd catch one in my bed, I'd be terrified for the next couple of days and then completely dismiss it on an emotional level afterwards.
I'm not sure of how to effectively protect myself against that. It seems obvious to me that the current mapping of motivation/anxiety to risk, i.e. abrupt jumps from baseline activity into overdrive once an arbitrary and often foreseeable threshold is met, is pretty bad. However, beyond developing better habits, willpower and networks and having that bleed into not procrastinating on insurance against boring risks, is there really anything useful to do about it?
Replies from: buybuydandavis↑ comment by buybuydandavis · 2014-05-22T09:10:57.900Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
To combat anxiety, you need financial security - savings, low expenses, and probably most importantly, some source of revenue you can call on with confidence, even if it's a good deal lower than what you can earn in better circumstances. You need to know that come what may, you won't be living under a bridge.
The thing that struck me about this guy was that he appeared to have some skills - how could he translate them into quick cash?
Wouldn't that be handy? Some market to peddle your wares that you have confidence you could quickly bring in cash? I think that fella needs to find such a market now. Get cash in the door. He doesn't have time to get the career job - he needs cash now. Once he stabilizes his situation, he can work on getting better paying jobs.
My brother in law drives a limo. Somebody always needs a ride, even when the economy is down, and he can spend as much time as he wants trying to find them.
Seems like that guy should be able to find low paying consulting/tutoring work in a hurry. He probably should contact some government/social group about his impending eviction. My understanding is that it's pretty hard to evict someone, and he has a bit more time than he seems to think.
↑ comment by roland · 2014-05-17T07:41:35.470Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
An opportunity to practice effective altruism?
Replies from: pragmatist, buybuydandavis↑ comment by pragmatist · 2014-05-18T09:14:13.471Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'm pretty sure this is not effective altruism. From skimming this guy's website, it doesn't seem like the work he's been doing is even close to high-impact enough to make it worth supporting over many many other charitable causes.
I feel for the guy, but it seems fairly clear that the support he's been getting from the nerd community is mostly about helping out one of their own tribe, a pretty textbook case of purchasing warm fuzzies rather than utilons.
↑ comment by buybuydandavis · 2014-05-17T23:43:39.447Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Probably not. Of course, reading and posting to LW is more an opportunity to shirk effective altruism.
Replies from: Mestroyercomment by Shmi (shminux) · 2014-05-16T23:00:05.776Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I don't know who the guy is, but his resume is very poorly written. Maybe someone can help him write a decent one.