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Comment by AntonioAdan on The "Stick Test" - useful tool or just pointless amusement? · 2014-10-16T23:51:39.551Z · LW · GW

How likely is it to change someone's mind when they're wrong, and how likely when they were right?

Comment by AntonioAdan on Of Gender and Rationality · 2014-10-04T10:33:21.610Z · LW · GW

I was introduced to LW with a link and an endorsement that probably appeals more to the little boy in me than the little girl in others: "it's like martial arts for your mind."

Any thoughts on a 5 second sales pitch for women?

Comment by AntonioAdan on Trivers on Self-Deception · 2013-09-10T02:17:56.045Z · LW · GW

Silly example from my life. When I was three, I liked a girl named Katy in my Sunday school class. My greatest fear was that someone else would know. So I decided that I would be mean to Katy. I also realized that if I treated her differently, someone might read into that that I liked her. So I started treating all the girls in my Sunday school class horribly. And kept it going (consistency bias) until I was twelve. There were so many times that I wasn't even sure myself if I liked or hated girls, since I always said I hated them, even though I had crushes on most of the ones I knew.

Comment by AntonioAdan on Post ridiculous munchkin ideas! · 2013-05-23T19:36:41.064Z · LW · GW

Treadmill desk. Set between one and two miles per hour.

Comment by AntonioAdan on Rationality Quotes May 2013 · 2013-05-14T22:32:16.998Z · LW · GW

I can see that, though I took it more as advice not to fall prey to writing your bottom line first.

Comment by AntonioAdan on Rationality Quotes May 2013 · 2013-05-13T00:38:15.490Z · LW · GW

Probably. I heard his routine for the first time this week, and he about lost me when he talked bad about statistics, but then won me over when he explained how a little knowledge makes us stupider, and his problem is with how stats are misused. I figured people'd read more than the first line before voting. C'est la vie.

Comment by AntonioAdan on Rationality Quotes May 2013 · 2013-05-12T23:21:14.533Z · LW · GW

"Stats are so f**\ng stupid, ya know? Not that they’re stupid, its the way people apply them. You already have your mind made up, and then you go to imright.com and you start memorizing a bunch of s\t and just throw it up at people." -Bill Burr

Comment by AntonioAdan on Build Small Skills in the Right Order · 2013-02-27T23:23:42.251Z · LW · GW

Each new skill needs to be a challenge. Ideally, a very easy challenge.

Comment by AntonioAdan on A brief history of ethically concerned scientists · 2013-02-14T21:48:01.775Z · LW · GW

Once they let the cat out of the bag this is true. Da Vinci understood how to keep a secret.

Comment by AntonioAdan on How to avoid dying in a car crash · 2013-02-07T20:44:34.017Z · LW · GW

First off, I want to state that I agree heavily with this.

I teach driver's education and want to add that what has helped my driving the most has been the mere repetition of truisms ("don't drink and drive", "look where you're going while backing up", "think about what you're doing", "check you're blind spot before moving over", etc.) and the knowledge that a crash resulting from these types of failures would be especially low status for me. When I'm tempted to keep driving late at night vs. pulling over at the next exit for a rest, the thought of my friends, coworkers, and students judging me harshly were I to crash gets me to pull over when all else fails.

One note:

Solution: Watch this 30 second video for a vivid comparison of head-on crashes at 60 km/hr (37 mph) and 100 km/hr (60 mph). Imagine yourself in the car. Imagine your tearful friends and family. (emphasis added)

That video is great, and helps get the difference on a gut level. But vividly imagining one's friends and family morning their loss can increase suicide rates in those that are already predisposed.

Comment by AntonioAdan on Rationality and Relationships · 2012-12-02T10:08:02.000Z · LW · GW

"Keeper" relationships must be antifragile.

Agreed. I don't really care how good someone is to be around when things are good, if they're bad to be with when things are bad. When things are bad is when they're the most needed.