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Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Meetup : Montreal Meetup - Biases and Biased Boardgaming · 2012-12-01T17:25:41.070Z · LW · GW

Are there weekly meeting in Montreal? I lived in Montreal for two years and never heard of it. So back to the question: are they weekly? and if yes, where every week? I live in Sherbrooke and might come.

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on New Post version 2 (please read this ONLY if your last name beings with l–z) · 2011-07-28T21:53:58.880Z · LW · GW

Upvoted for it brings an interesting discussion.

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Learning how to explain things · 2011-06-27T22:35:33.343Z · LW · GW

Try explaining it to yourself out loud as if you were 5 years old. You can always enlist the ears of a friend or family to play the 5 year old.

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Closet survey #1 · 2011-01-10T20:10:01.474Z · LW · GW

I believe that every single social interaction is linked to power/hierarchy. (see Robert Greene book's)

I also believe that most on LW simply opt-out their local/most proximate hierarchy (and they may actively and/or secretly seek to discredit it), as Paul Graham in high-school. In one of his articles he talked of how wanted to be more intelligent than popular. That is dominance in one field instead of another. (A tip to entrepreneurs is to aim to be #1 in your field or not start at all.)

If it's not their most proximate hierarchy then it is the one they internalized during their youth. Parents? Friends?

I believe that's human, good and perhaps to an extent "WEIRD­­". I remember reading an old quote of an amerindian chief talking of the unrest in the eyes of europeans, also how Thomas Jefferson (or was it Franklin?) talked of the indolence of amerindians.

Culture is an internalization of the power/hierarchy in place/followed natural or not. As is everything else of social nature, pretty much everything else manmade. (In theory not science, that's what I love about it. If you take out the "In theory" and the human nature of scientists.)

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on How Greedy Bastards Have Saved More Lives Than Mother Theresa Ever Did · 2010-12-07T23:28:16.271Z · LW · GW

Touché.

And I wonder what you think about perpetuating the false image. Personally I have trouble with that. Not sure why.

p.s. (BS is a great show.)

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Of Gender and Rationality · 2010-12-06T18:45:23.038Z · LW · GW

There are driver's licenses how about sex' licenses? (minus the minimal age requirement) You have to show your ability to have sane sex through a written test and a practical test. Or something.

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on How Greedy Bastards Have Saved More Lives Than Mother Theresa Ever Did · 2010-12-03T15:37:51.948Z · LW · GW

Yes, it is a low bar. Mother Theresa should not be used as an example of good-doing. She wanted people to suffer so that the others in their confortable lives (us) would have something to pray about, and find peace and redemption in the suffering of others. There are accounts of this by nuns who left the holy mother order,

Pause.

Christopher Hitchens' book on Mother theresa could enlighten you.

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Of Gender and Rationality · 2010-12-03T02:34:57.187Z · LW · GW

You might be interested in reading The Case Against Adolescence by Dr. Robert Epstein. (I believe the last edition is called Teen 2.0)

It is eye-opening on many aspects. There is a story in it that struck me. A twelve year old had an affair with his married teacher (who had two kids on her own). She went to prison for two-three years. Once out of the slammer, she had sex again with her ex-pupil. This time around 7-8 years of prison. While in prison she gave birth to a child. The child was raised by the father (the student) and that father's mother. Reporters asked the young man if the imprisoned woman had abused of him; he answered negatively, that love united them. Once the ex-teacher got out of prison for the second time she married the then adult lover, went into their car with their kid and rolled into the sunset.

How immature. Both of them. Love at teenage? Meh. Love is only for old people like Romeo (~16) and Juliet. (~14) Those crazy homo sapiens.

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Ask and Guess · 2010-12-02T01:52:22.042Z · LW · GW

I believe to be an asker asking with innuendo is always ideal.

You can ask normally or with innuendo. The other person can accept or not. If getting rejected is bad then you get 50% to have a bad output when simply asking(-10). When you use innuendo, then there is no real rejection, hence no bad feelings (0). The rest of the time, you get what you asked for (+10).

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Ask and Guess · 2010-12-02T01:42:38.520Z · LW · GW

Is this a concrete example? Or based on one or many? I am having trouble considering it. (Walmart perhaps?)

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Welcome to Less Wrong! (2010-2011) · 2010-11-27T23:34:28.651Z · LW · GW

Hi, Living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and studying in the equivalent of college. Lazy is a word describing me well. Seeking consonnance and being lazy, most of the time I think and do not act. I seek to act free of pointless things, opinions, biases and ?

And it is difficult. LW is breeze of fresh air to my mind. I want it to help me change myself. I want to be more congruent and rational.

Discovering new possibilities makes me see my inadequacies and now I feel I have to do something about it.

This is a step.

Comment by IanV (IanKanchax) on Of Gender and Rationality · 2010-11-27T22:08:25.887Z · LW · GW

I am 18 years old, somewhat new to LW and not as congruent/rational as desired. If your offer stands for others who are not under 18, I'd love to hear about that. I could use some help.

I do not think there is a need make LW more accessible to teenagers. I am not even sure I know what that means. Are we, those younger, that alien? (rethorical question) "Teenage" is a joke. Not as funny as religion, though. (A 12 years old is sitting at a bar with coworkers after a long day of work, 150 years ago: normal) As far as a I am concerned the differences between "teenagers" and adults are from age segregation. Differences in style, not principles.

That said, I am new. To the Welcome page!