Posts

Tail SP 500 Call Options 2025-01-23T05:21:51.221Z
Best in Class Life Improvement 2024-04-04T01:51:02.556Z
FUTARCHY NOW BABY 2024-02-17T00:03:18.962Z
Gender Exploration 2024-01-14T18:57:32.893Z
Spirit Airlines Merger Play 2024-01-03T19:25:54.726Z
Anthropic is further accelerating the Arms Race? 2023-04-06T23:29:24.080Z
Just Pivot to AI: The secret is out 2023-03-15T06:26:57.748Z
Bedbugs are a Solved Problem - DIY Bio-Weapon works. 2022-11-30T03:40:36.886Z
Semi-conductor/AI Stock Discussion. 2022-11-25T23:35:57.908Z
Tears Must Flow 2021-11-30T18:37:57.408Z
I'm Sorry Fluttershy 2021-05-22T20:09:27.342Z
Small and Vulnerable 2021-05-03T04:55:52.149Z
People Will Listen 2021-04-11T16:51:10.467Z
Violating the EMH - Prediction Markets 2021-03-28T04:05:09.184Z
Sapphire Shorts 2021-03-27T14:57:57.956Z
The EMH is False - Specific Strong Evidence 2021-03-18T18:38:30.881Z
Group house norms really do seem toxic to many people. 2021-01-11T23:42:36.239Z
Bet On Biden 2020-10-17T22:03:19.144Z
What should experienced rationalists know? 2020-10-13T17:32:32.388Z
Engaging Seriously with Short Timelines 2020-07-29T19:21:31.641Z
Construct a portfolio to profit from AI progress. 2020-07-25T08:18:05.633Z
How much does neatly eating matter? What about other food manners? 2019-06-11T19:40:45.539Z
Rational Feed: Last Month's Best Posts 2018-05-02T18:19:47.821Z
Rationality Feed: Last Month's Best Posts 2018-03-21T14:12:26.432Z
A Concrete Multi-Step Variant of Double Crux I Have Used Successfully 2018-03-15T01:26:16.028Z
Correct Models Are Bad 2018-03-04T16:51:25.919Z
Rationality Feed: Last Month's Best Posts 2018-02-12T13:18:39.909Z
Rational Feed: Last Week's Community Articles and Some Recommended Posts 2017-10-02T13:49:05.937Z
Rational Feed: Last Week's Community Articles and Some Recommended Posts 2017-09-25T13:41:55.117Z
Rational Feed 2017-09-17T22:03:25.134Z
Rational Feed 2017-09-09T19:48:18.079Z
Rational Feed 2017-08-27T03:49:15.774Z
Bi-weekly Rational Feed 2017-08-08T13:56:20.160Z
Bi-Weekly Rational Feed 2017-07-24T21:56:46.003Z
Bi-Weekly Rational Feed 2017-07-09T19:11:21.767Z
Bi-Weekly Rational Feed 2017-06-24T00:07:03.768Z
Concrete Ways You Can Help Make the Community Better 2017-06-17T03:03:33.317Z
Bi-Weekly Rational Feed 2017-06-10T21:56:38.374Z
Bi-Weekly Rational Feed 2017-05-28T17:12:57.118Z
A Month's Worth of Rational Posts - Feedback on my Rationality Feed. 2017-05-15T14:21:32.995Z
I Updated the List of Rationalist Blogs on the Wiki 2017-04-25T10:26:51.234Z

Comments

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on C'mon guys, Deliberate Practice is Real · 2025-02-08T09:21:28.720Z · LW · GW

If you can develop general rationality why can't you use it for sonething practical. Many things would either be intrinsically fun or useful to people primarily interested in AI. Fur example become rich from reading. Or excel in some sport or hobby. Maybe you think it's impossible to do this as an individual. But then I'm skeptical of your rationality skill. 

Comment by deluks917 on [deleted post] 2025-02-02T10:10:12.731Z

Do you feel like Daniel is at peace. I have not found peace (either?). But I don't teach meditation. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Those of you with lots of meditation experience: How did it influence your understanding of philosophy of mind and topics such as qualia? · 2025-01-29T08:54:28.235Z · LW · GW

I have meditated quite a lot over the last fifteen years. My understanding is that Buddhist meditation practices are intended to reduce suffering and promote equanimity. The main proposed method of action is reducing attachment. They are effective in this regard. They are not useful for doing western philosophy. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Those of you with lots of meditation experience: How did it influence your understanding of philosophy of mind and topics such as qualia? · 2025-01-29T08:37:43.040Z · LW · GW

You meditated for 700 hours and don't feel like you gained any 'insight'! That is a lot of hours. Why did you keep going?

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Tail SP 500 Call Options · 2025-01-24T18:19:04.044Z · LW · GW

We are clearly looking at things differently. That's fine. But if two people see things differently I don't think it's wise to map what they are saying into your ontology. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Tail SP 500 Call Options · 2025-01-24T09:43:26.043Z · LW · GW

Your understanding of global assets seems quite wrong. These are 2024 numbers so slightly out of date. Fir example public companies total around 111 trillion now. The sp500 is around 52 trillion fwiw. 

'Global real estate, encompassing residential, commercial and agricultural lands, cemented its status as the world's largest repository of wealth in 2022 when the market reached a value of $379.7 trillion.

According to a report from international real estate adviser Savills, this value is more than global equities ($98.9 trillion) and debt securities ($129.8 trillion) combined and nearly four times the global gross domestic product ($100.6 trillion)."

Total money is around the same as debt. Private companies add up to a lot but I'm not sure anyone has a good estimate. 

I'm not going to get into all the implications. But your premises are not true. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Tail SP 500 Call Options · 2025-01-23T18:18:58.146Z · LW · GW

Done. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on What's Wrong With the Simulation Argument? · 2025-01-20T20:56:02.272Z · LW · GW

Nothing is obviously wrong with it. I'm not sure what probability to assign it. Its sort of "out of sample". But it seems very plausible to me we are in a simulation. It is really hard to justify probabilities or even settle on them. But when I look inside myself the numbers that come to mind are 25-30%.

This is also obvious but Quantum Wave Function Collapse SURE DOES look like this universe is only being simulated at a certain fidelity. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on What's Wrong With the Simulation Argument? · 2025-01-20T20:54:31.670Z · LW · GW

Nothing is obviously wrong with it. I'm not sure what probability to assign it. Its sort of "out of sample". But it seems very plausible to me we are in a simulation. It is really hard to justify probabilities or even settle on them. But when I look inside myself the numbers that come to mind are 25-30%.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Capital Ownership Will Not Prevent Human Disempowerment · 2025-01-18T22:08:19.464Z · LW · GW

7% of income tax returns in the USA include rental income. Most of that 7% can't live off just the rents. But I would say more than 1% of the USA can easily live off of land rents. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on We probably won't just play status games with each other after AGI · 2025-01-16T09:05:03.532Z · LW · GW

I have spent weeks where pretty much all I did was:
-- have sex with my partner, hours per day
-- watch anime with my partner
-- eat food and ambiently hang with my partner

No work. Not much seeing other people. Of course given the amount of sex mundane situations were quite sexually charged. I'm not actually sure if it gets old on any human timeline. You also improve at having fun together. However this was not very good for our practical. But post singularity I probably wont need to worry about practical goals. 

In general I think you underestimate the sustainable fun available to at least some humans under minimal conditions. I also found my two months meditating in a tent quite fun. Many people report this never gets old on human timelines either. Until your heath is so terrible you cannot even meditate well it remains fun, or improves!

I do not think you need supermeth to enjoy hedonism. Current human bodies work fine as long as they are in good shape and you have the right disposition. The issue is that if you delve deep into hedonism you will lose out on other things you could have obtained.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on We probably won't just play status games with each other after AGI · 2025-01-15T06:38:21.122Z · LW · GW

Lots of people already form romantic and sexual attachments to AI, despite the fact that most large models try to limit this behavior. The technology is already pretty good. Nevermind if your AI GF/BF could have a body and actually fuck you. I already "enjoy" the current tech. 

I will say I was literally going to post "Why would I play status games when I can fuck my AI GF" before I read the content of the post, as opposed to just the title. I think this is what most people want to do. Not that this is going to sound better than "status games" to a lot of rationalists.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Capital Ownership Will Not Prevent Human Disempowerment · 2025-01-07T01:04:56.979Z · LW · GW

 

It feels to me like the hairs of the nobility are doing amazingly well. That is more than enough money to support a lifestyle of leisure. Such a lifestyle is not available to the vast majority of people. So it seems like they mostly did secure a superior existence for their heirs.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Capital Ownership Will Not Prevent Human Disempowerment · 2025-01-06T03:31:55.787Z · LW · GW

The heirs of European nobility are still very rich on average. So I feel like the main example goes the other way.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Orienting to 3 year AGI timelines · 2024-12-22T13:33:33.719Z · LW · GW

I have done a lot of thinking. At this point timelines are so short I would recommend:

Individual with no special connections:

-- Avoid tying up capital in illiquid plans. One exception is housing since 'land on Holy Terra' still seems quite valuable in many scenarios.

-- Make whatever spiritual preparations you can, whatever spirituality means to you. If you are inclined to Buddhism meditate. Practice loving kindness. Go to church if you are Christian. Talk to your loved ones. Even if you are atheist you need to prepare your metaphorical spirit for what may come. Physical health may also be valuable here.

 -- Buy Nvidia call options. Money is plausibly useful, its a form of optionality and there isn't much else. Buy literally max strike, max far out. Hold for 100x or until conditions seriously change. Buy as much as you can afford to lose. I cannot think of anything better. 


If you have special connections and skill:

-- Try to get the labs nationalized as rapidly as possible. Do not 'just do things' you need to avoid messing up other good actor's plans. But I don't endorse generalized inaction. there is no simple way to operationalize 'actually exercise good judgement'. There probably isn't time for much else. Nationalization at least means there is a mandate to align AI broadly. and maybe it would slow down progress somewhat.

-- I cannot vouch for groups like Pause AI. But I also do not anti-vouch. Maybe they or some similar group is doing things wisely. But before you follow anyone please use your absolute best judgement to determine if they have a good plan or not. 

-- Please don't do anything insane. I am a rationalist and so I too am inclined positively towards thinking through totally crazy ideas. But nothing terrorism adjacent is likely to go well. Consider what happened after 911. That crazy plot actually worked in the sense the Towers went down. But the hijackers claimed they wanted to free the Middle East from USAand Israeli domination. Obviously, even ignoring the direct costs of the terrorist attack, the plan backfired. They brought chaos and death to the countries they claimed to be fighting for. Please do not follow in their foolish footsteps. Before someone thinks its pointless to write this I will note the rationalist and EA communities have committed multiple ideological murders and a many billion dollar fraud. Be careful which ideas you take seriously.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on o3 · 2024-12-21T06:48:18.560Z · LW · GW

I was still hoping for a sort of normal life. At least for a decade or maybe more. But that just doesn't seem possible anymore. This is a rough night.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-11T07:45:31.810Z · LW · GW

I recovered from surgery alone.

I had extensive facial feminization surgery. My jaw was drilled down. Same with brow ridge. Nose broken, reshaped packed. No solid go d for months.

Recovery was challenging alone but I was certain I could manage it myself. I spared myself begging for help. The horror of noticing I was pissing off my friend by needing help.

No regrets. I'm quite recovered now. That was very interesting month alone.

Comment by deluks917 on [deleted post] 2024-12-10T03:43:18.671Z

The truth should be rewarded. Even if it's obvious. Everyday this post is more blatantly correct.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-09T08:21:12.471Z · LW · GW

I don't think he is directly responsible. But recent events are imo further evidence his methods are bad. If I said some dangerous teacher was Buddhist I would not be implicating the Buddha directly. Though it would be some evidence for the Buddha failing as a teacher.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on hmys's Shortform · 2024-12-09T00:16:41.005Z · LW · GW

Is the hoody gonna be good? Hoodies are often really shitty quality and texture. If you make a good one I will pay the 1K. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-09T00:05:36.604Z · LW · GW

The Local Vasserite has directly stated "i purposefully induce mania in people, as taught by Michael Vassar". Seems like the connection to michael Vassar is not very tenuous. At least that is my judgement. Others can disagree. Vassar does not have to personally administer the method or be currently supportive of his former student. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-07T21:47:29.468Z · LW · GW

I honestly have no idea what you mean. I am not even sure why "(self) statements you hear while on psychedelics are just like normal statements" would be a counterpoint to someone being in a very credulous state. Normal statements can also be accepted credulously. 

Perhaps you are right but the sense of self required is rare. Practical most people are empirically credulous on psychedellics.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-07T19:47:53.286Z · LW · GW

When you take psychedelics you are in an extremely vulnerable and credulous position. It is absolutely unsafe to take psychedelics in the presence of anyone who is going to confidently expound in the nature of truth and society. Michael Vassar, Jessica Taylor and other are extremely confident and aggressive about asserting their point of view. It is debatable how ok that is under normal circumstances. It is absolutely dangerous if someone is on psychedelics.

Even a single trip can be quite damaging.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-07T19:45:05.590Z · LW · GW

I consulted multiple people to make sure my impression was accurate .Every person, except you, agree you are much more schizophrenic than before the events. My personal opinion is you currently fit the diagnosis criteria. I do not accept that people are the unique authority on whether they have developed schizophrenia.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-07T19:05:34.636Z · LW · GW

Yes you are the second person observed to have a schizophrenic event. In your case I doubt long lasting.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-07T07:59:53.873Z · LW · GW

Events are recent and to some extent ongoing. Though the 'now they are literally schizophrenic' event occurred some months ago. Pacific northwest. This incident has not been written up in public afaik.

A second person has now had a schizophrenic episode. This occurred a few days ago. Though I do not think the second person will end up persistently schizophrenic.

I am not talking about any of the more well known cases.

The idea that people would do these things in the 'rationalist' community is truly horrifying to me. I am a believer in doing somewhat innovative or risky things. But you are supposed to do them somewhat safely. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-12-07T07:33:23.499Z · LW · GW

Don't Induce psychosis intentionally. Don't take psychedelics while someone probes your beliefs. Don't let anyone associated with Michael Vasser anywhere near you during an altered state.

Edit: here is a different report from three years ago with the same person administering the methods: 

Mike Vasser followers practice intentionally inducing psychosis via psychedelic drugs. Inducing psychosis is a verbatim self report of what they are doing. I would say they practice drug induced brain washing. TBC they would dispute the term brain washing and probably would not like the term 'followers' but I think the terms are accurate and they are certainly his intellectual descendants. 

Several people have had quite severe adverse reactions (as observed by me). For example rapidly developing serious literal schizophrenia. Schizophrenia in the very literal sense of paranoid delusions and conspiratorial interpretations of other people's behavior. The local Vasserite who did the 'therapy'/'brainwashing' seems completely unbothered by this literal schizophrenia. 

As you can imagine this behavior can cause substantial social disruption. Especially since the Vasserite's don't exactly believe in social harmony.  This has all precipitated serious mental health events in many other parties. Though they are less obviously serious than "they are clinically schizophrenic now".But that is a high bar.

I have been very critical of cover ups in lesswrong. I'm not going to name names and maybe you don't trust me. But I have observed this all directly. If you are let people toy with your brain while you are under the influence of psychedelics you should expect high odds of severe consequences. And your friends mental health might suffer as well.

 

Edit: these are recent events. To my knowledge never referenced on lesswrong. 

 

edit: For anyone who feels the connection to Michael Vassar is too tenuous. The Local Vasserite in question has directly stated "i purposefully induce mania in people, as taught by Michael Vassar" to multiple people.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on How can I convince my cryptobro friend that S&P500 is efficient? · 2024-12-04T23:45:21.272Z · LW · GW

The market isnt efficient. Which isn't to say it is easy to beat. Your friends strategies don't sound promising. It also seems strange to me he is obsessed with crypto and thinks it will do well but isn't a crypto investor. Sounds pretty inconsistent with his beliefs.

It's worth remembering many versions of ',,the market is efficient' are almost or totally unfalsifiable.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Struggling like a Shadowmoth · 2024-10-14T09:40:42.613Z · LW · GW

I was a miserable child. When I was nine years old I remember watching one and thinking "I have almost a decade left to serve. This is a long sentence for an adult and im just a kid. But at least I will get out one day".

I was eventually set free. But until my freedom came all I could really do was bide my time and try to cope with the torture. And I most certainly consider it torture in retrospect. I was physically assaulted by my dad and I was horribly, horribly sleep deprived. But I managed to keep some of my sanity and pick up some MTG cards I later sold at a large profit. It could have been a lot worse for future me.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on What is "True Love"? · 2024-08-18T20:24:18.737Z · LW · GW

Love is true if you will fight for it. Not destroy yourself, not commit suicide but fight bravely. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on adam_scholl's Shortform · 2024-08-17T12:06:42.209Z · LW · GW

The 'Food' and the 'Drug' parts behave very differently. By default food products are allowed. There may be purity requirements or restaurant regulations but you don't need to run studies or get approvals to serve an edible product or a new combination. By default drugs are banned. 

I think the FDA is under zealous about heavy metals and other contaminants.  But the FDA does a decent job of regulating food. However the 'drug' side is a nightmare. But the two situations are de facto handled in very, very different ways. So its not obvious why an argument would cover both of them.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Announcing the $200k EA Community Choice · 2024-08-15T07:12:11.631Z · LW · GW

I'm sending my funds/votes to lighthaven. It's a very well run venue and afaik needs funding. It should eventually be profitable or break even but needs some help getting started. Really useful and important to support well executed projects.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Reliable Sources: The Story of David Gerard · 2024-07-14T07:34:52.876Z · LW · GW

Most of the republican party wants to outright ban pornography. Full ban in project 2025. And they consider lots of LBGT representation fundamentally pornographic. 

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Consent across power differentials · 2024-07-09T18:18:38.205Z · LW · GW

You can make make people/entities actually equal. You can also remove the need for the weaker entity to get the stronger entities permission. Either go more egalitarian or less authoritarian or both. Its worth noting that if you dont want to be authoritarian its important to blin yourself to information about the weaker party. The ebst way to not be overbearing is to not know what behavior they are getting up to. This is why children's privacy is so important. Its much easier to never known than to resist your urge to meddle.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Arjun Panickssery's Shortform · 2024-06-11T22:58:39.451Z · LW · GW

I have previously bet large sums on elections. Im not currently placing any bets on who will win the election. Seems too unclear to me (note I had a huge bet on biden in 2020, seemed clear then). However there are TONS of mispricings on polymarket and other sites. Things like 'biden will withdraw or lose the nomination @ 23%' is a good example.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Stephen Fowler's Shortform · 2024-05-18T16:36:55.669Z · LW · GW

Leadership is supposed to be about service not personal gain.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Stephen Fowler's Shortform · 2024-05-18T12:47:14.426Z · LW · GW

A serious effective altruism movement with clean house. Everyone who pushed the 'work with AI capabilities company' line should retire or be forced to retire. There is no need to blame anyone for mistakes, the decision makers had reasons. But they chose wrong and should not continue to be leaders.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on romeostevensit's Shortform · 2024-05-17T10:53:51.585Z · LW · GW

Lumina is incredibly cheap right now. I pre-ordered for 250usd. Even genuinely quite poor people I know don't find the price off-putting (poor in the sense of absolutely poor for the country they live in). I have never met a single person who decided not to try Lumina because the price was high. If they pass its always because they think its risky.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Against Student Debt Cancellation From All Sides of the Political Compass · 2024-05-14T07:57:54.127Z · LW · GW

Leftwing point of view:

Its a wealth transfer to younger people. Im fully aware that middle aged people have college debt. 

 

Conversely wealth inequality by age is fairly extreme.

So I remain extremely in favor of student debt cancellation. Note I have never taken on any student debt so I obviously dont have any.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Deep Honesty · 2024-05-09T01:21:30.131Z · LW · GW

Many things can be done by the right people. But Idk 'radical honesty' adjacent ideas usually go real bad.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Deep Honesty · 2024-05-08T07:51:19.509Z · LW · GW

Im a real fan of insane ideas. I literally do Acid every monday. But I gotta say among crazy ideas 'be way way more honest' is well trodden ground and the skulls are numerous. It just really rarely goes well. Im a pretty honest guy and am attracted to the cluster. But if you start doing this you are definitely trying something in a cluster of ideas that usually works terribly. 

If anything I have to constantly tell myself to be less explicit and 'deeply honest'. It just doesnt work well for most people.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Observations on Teaching for Four Weeks · 2024-05-07T08:42:13.427Z · LW · GW

Did the students really want to learn?

A few times I de facto taught a course on 'calculus with proofs' to a few students who wanted to learn from someone who seemed smart and motivated. I didn't get any money and they didnt get paid.  We met twice a week. I could give some lectures and they discuss problems for a few hours. There was homework. We all took it very seriously.  It was clearly not a small amount of work but I frankly found it invigorating. Normal classes were usually not invigorating.

I will say I found tutoring much more invigorating than teaching courses. When a student comes to you for tutoring they tend to REALLY wanna learn the material fast. Often there is a test coming up. They pay attention. If you are good they are grateful for your attention. And you feel grateful to them too! Its wonderful to see someone learn fast. Many students will be genuinely sincerely thankful to their good tutors. It makes sense the tutors were trying to help them learn as efficiently as possible!

I think teaching is soul crushing because neither the student nor the teacher is properly motivated. Teachers are not providing their students with optimal learning environments, they aren't even trying (where as a good tutor is actually trying. Even at a commercial tutoring center). And the students aren't trying all that hard to learn.

This is my usual conclusion but the issue is not lack of skill in most cases. Its lack of 'actually trying' and lack of 'minimal attempt at good practices'. Professors/teachers just have to teach whoever shows up and needs the class. This is true in tutoring centers too, to some degree. But in tutoring there is much more expectation students will find a tutor they vibe with. 

Education could be fun and invigorating for both sides if both sides came into the experience with a sincere attitude to try. But unless goals are aligned where could such an attitude come from.  And goals are often not aligned.

I will say as a professor I also wanted to help my students. But the obvious way to help them was to uhhhhh 'give them as high a grade as I could possibly get away with'. If I could id have given them all As but the amount of flexibility I had varied. But it was just too soul crushing to not go into teaching with a sincere desire to help my students not judge them.  

This thread honestly reminded me I live in a college town. I wonder if anyone needs high quality help with their analysis or algebra classes. I could probably charge some reasonable rate and im a very good tutor if the student has the right vibe. and by right vibe I dont mean exceptional ability I just mean something like 'gets along with sapph as a person. Sapph is good natured but very high energy and clearly a little insane. Ideally the student finds this charming'

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Can stealth aircraft be detected optically? · 2024-05-03T04:57:06.010Z · LW · GW

Related question - Can you link me a summary of why aircraft weapons are good. I feel like it should be kinda hard to hit an aicraft with a missle or whatever. Aicraft are moving really fast and are not the biggest target. How much faster are missiles? The jet is already moving at a high speed but the missle has to accelerate from zero. Aircraft seem pretty vulnerable to lasers but are those kind of defenses actually deployed at our current tech level?

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Thoughts on seed oil · 2024-04-30T06:56:51.398Z · LW · GW

Strong upvoted. I learned a lot. Seriously interested in what you think is relatively safe and not extremely expensive or difficult to acquire. Some candidates I thought of but im not exactly well informed:
-- Grass fed beef
-- oysters/muscles
-- some whole grains? which?
-- fruit
-- vegetables you somehow know arent contaminated by anti-pest chemicals?

I really need some guidance here.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Sapphire Shorts · 2024-04-24T05:42:10.354Z · LW · GW

I prefer to keep plans private but I'm making big progress on meditation and mental re-wiring. Am working on a way to publicly demonstrate. Public plans just stress me out. I recently set two pretty ambitious goals. I figured I could use psychedelics to turbo-charge progress. The meditation one is coming along FAST.

The other goal is honestly blocked a bit on being super out of shape. Multiple rounds of covid really destroyed my cardio and energy levels. Need to rebuild those before a big push on goal 2.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Mid-conditional love · 2024-04-24T00:04:23.647Z · LW · GW

Im with several other commentators. People know what unconditional love is. Many people have it for their family members, most commonly for their children but often for others. They want that. Sadly this sort of love is rare beyond family.

I felt some amount of unconditional towards my dad. He was really not a great parent to me. He hit me for fun, was ashamed of me, etc. But we did have some good times. When he was dying of cancer I was still a good son. Was quite supportive. Not out of duty, I just didnt want him to suffer any more than needed. I felt genuinely love. I would have done a lot of costly things for him if he asked. My mom and uncle were giving him intrusive treatment than he wanted. Though it hadnt gotten too out of hand yet (except for the fact it burned all my moms money). But I very seriously told him during visits if he said the word Id call my lawyers and make sure he didn't get medically tortured. This would have cost me a lot of money and time but he was my dad! How can a son let his father down like that. He died before legal issues came to a head but I was in his camp. I didnt care how many people got mad at me.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Open Thread Spring 2024 · 2024-04-08T10:19:29.456Z · LW · GW

Does anyone have high quality analysis of how effective machines are for strength training and building muscles. Not free weights specifically machines. Im not the pickiest on how one operationalizes 'work'. More interested in the quality of the analysis. But some questions:

-- Do users get hurt frequently? Are the injuries chronic? (This is the most important question)

-- Do people who use them consistently gain muscle

-- Can you gain a 'lot' of muscle and strength liek you can with free weights. Or people cap out quickly if they are fit

-- Does strength from free weight carry over to other things. To barbells? To bodyweight calisthenics? To sports?

As I said im not the pickiest. Id rather have a great analysis of 'carryover to curling' than a meh quality analysis that covered all of my questions.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Vanessa Kosoy's Shortform · 2024-04-06T20:25:21.541Z · LW · GW

Im not particularly against pivotal acts. It seems plausible to me someone will take one. Would not exactly shock me if Sam Altman himself planned to take one to prevent dangerous AGI. He is intelligent and therefore isnt going to openly talk about considering them. But I dont have any serious objection to them being taken if people are reasonable about it.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Best in Class Life Improvement · 2024-04-04T18:13:37.913Z · LW · GW

A rather large fraction of the total words in this document are dedicated to safety warnings. I do not see how its possible to deny I seem quite focus on some sense of safety. I focused on the safety issues I think are genuinely the most pressing (addiction risks, trauma). I genuinely do not think that drug purity issues are the main risk of taking this advice. Certainly not for ketamine sourced in San Fransisco.  Also the service I linked in SF also sends samples to a lab for quite thorough testing and you get results in about four weeks.  You should believe I genuinely disagree with you on what the risks are for the substances mentioned.

Comment by sapphire (deluks917) on Best in Class Life Improvement · 2024-04-04T16:46:11.320Z · LW · GW

I think modafinal is great for a lot of people. But I made the choice to only write up the very best (in terms of expected outcomes) stuff. Given that many substances have risks or legal issues it was much simpler for me to just not mention a lot of stuff. I do not intend any implicit claim that other things aren't useful. But I didn't make a list of 'stuff I've investigated and found less good on average' vs 'stuff I have not investigated'.

Thanks for sharing moda is working that well for you