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Is state a (semi-) rational agent? 2022-01-10T19:53:24.367Z

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Comment by Birke on Starting too many projects, finishing none · 2022-05-05T17:17:16.123Z · LW · GW

One possible explanation+solution from the "Hammertime" author: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/o8EWXypYGwJ6JYpBT/hammertime-day-8-sunk-cost-faith

Comment by Birke on Adaptive Immune System Aging · 2021-01-28T16:53:55.280Z · LW · GW

It's a common practice to castrate house pets and farm animals. How difficult would it be to find out whether castrated pets have less cancer? 

Comment by Birke on Contest: $1,000 for good questions to ask to an Oracle AI · 2019-07-05T11:45:07.139Z · LW · GW

Regarding 5):

Is it possible to obtain a dataset of mathematical proofs with Oracle's hidden messages without running a dangerous Oracle?

We can ask AI researcher to embed some hidden messages into several proofs and use it as a training dataset. But it will help to detect only those hidden messages from Oracle which are similar to what AI researcher wrote.

Gurkenglas already suggested that we have to restrict the Oracles to output only shortest proof. If the proof is shortest, doesn't it imply the absence of hidden messages?

Comment by Birke on Experimental Open Thread April 2019: Socratic method · 2019-04-01T15:40:59.288Z · LW · GW

Questions:

1) Do you consider circle geometry to be the most useless high school subject? How about replacing literature with statistics?

2) Even though circle geometry is rarely used directly by average adults, it's relatively easy to grasp and helps to develop mathematical thinking. Statistics is more involved and requires some background in combinatorics and discrete math which are not covered in many schools. Do you think majority of high school students will be able to understand statistics when it's taught instead of circle geometry?

Comment by Birke on Society Is Fixed, Biology Is Mutable · 2018-11-12T15:15:58.668Z · LW · GW

I have some questions to people with medical background, who are optimistic about fixing psychological problems by biological means.

I'd assume that many light mood/cognition difficulties can be caused by to low/high level of hormones or lack/excess of certain vitamins. Also let's admit, that many people are really reluctant to search for medical help if case of mild problems (often tired or mood swings, but not every day).

1) Are there some tests which one can easily buy and do himself which shows lack/excess of some hormone/vitamins (like pregnancy test)?

2) Can you recommend some trustworthy websites which tell what shall be checked when you observe certain symptoms (but they don't bother you so much that you'd decide to visit a doctor)?

3) Are there some general recommendations like "check level of Y every X month, lack of Y is very common" or "take vitamin ?, it's nearly impossible to have an excess of it"?

And of course, i'm not going to blindly follow internet-advises. I'll first cross-check them :) I'm asking primarily about easy-to-do tests, because going to the doctor with e.g. "Doctor, my cortisol is 15% higher than norm" is more promising than "Doctor, i fill stressed sometimes"

Comment by Birke on …And I Show You How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes · 2018-10-19T14:50:36.833Z · LW · GW

Even if the black-pill guy is a psycho, he still has to deal with the other sort of problem, namely a computational complexity. If he's going to do a brute-force simulation to find out a best sequence of actions for *every* situation, then he is going to be stuck simulating all the time, even if simulation takes only 0.00001% of the time required to live the situation. Because the number of possible action-sequences just explodes.

He must be damn good in algorithms and decision making in order to come up with a good answers to the questions: what situations to simulate and what not? until which depth shall i simulate a particular situation? when to stop collecting an options and make a commitment to one of them?

Comment by Birke on …And I Show You How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes · 2018-10-19T14:19:13.333Z · LW · GW

Poor Black-pill guy! He has a power to prevent all bad stuff, but clearly not enough capacity. He must always have to deal with problems like: "prevent beloved one from fatal accident or prevent a train full with strangers from crush" or "prevent ecological catastrophe or epidemic"? Even sleeping or eating for him are associated with a heavy opportunity cost of failing to save someone's life. If he's not a psycho, he is going to be overwhelmed and paralyzed with a feeling of guilt in less than few days.

Very entertaining story, though.