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I'm sorry it took me so long to look at this. That's not what I had in mind, but I'll show you as soon as I can.
I have worn 3 rings in my life. The first one broke; it was made of coconut. The second one, I lost it. The third one was uncomfortable.
None of those prejudiced my blood flow. Now, I'm obviously not saying that no ring will do this, but that we would only need to pick a proper one. The second ring I mentioned was roughly 5mm wide, which is enough space to write LessWrong on it.
That seems like a rational answer. :)
Why do you say a ring is not practical?
A pin wouldn't be my first choice, but if it looks "sober" enough, I could go for it. Although I don't know if I could make the habit of taking the time to pin it.
I might be a little late with this, but what about a LW ring? A ring could be worn every day and on every ocassion.
Just asking seems a little to plain to work, but I do know some very few people who would listen. The thing is that, by doing so, they are somewhat already reacting rationally. Now I'm thinking maybe I should gather a couple of those people and someone who is less inclined to change his mind and try to "convert" him by providing an environment in which it is ok to be mistaken and good to be corrected... Then I just repeat this process inductively until we take over he world, don't I?
If you have a position of authority (e.g. a university lecturer in a classroom) you could even use that authority to mandate how students are allowed to react...
I don't have it, but I will have it soon enough and see how it goes.
I know it would be hard, and most likely nearly impossible to change people without a very good idea very well executed, but perhaps a tiny possibility is reason enough to attempt to do it nonetheless. I wish to take your advice on trying to change myself among new people, and so I ask if you have any suggestion on a particular environment on which to try to do so.
I'd gladly read and criticize your translations if you want me to, but it will have to wait until after my topology exam next week. If you want me to do it, please remind me to do so ten days from now or so, since I will most probably forget about it.
I quite agree, but now I'm wondering how could I change my own environment -not by replacing it, but by changing people's reactions- . It seems the responsability to do so lays upon my shoulders since I am the one who intends to live differently. Do you believe it'd be right to attempt to change people's reactions (if I knew a way), or should I acknowledge the possibility that they are just happy the way they are, and should just let them be?
Regards from Argentina,
Great post. I had started reading through this site randomly while I got more and more into HPMOR, which a friend recommended, and having a little list of posts to start will most probably prove helpful.
I would like to mention that the thing about this community I found the most astonishing was a comment that read something like "Edit: After reading some responses I've changed my mind and this comment no longer respresents my beliefs." I did not even know that it was possible for a human being to be so greatful and humble upon being proven wrong. And humility is something I most definitely need to learn, and I suspect I will be able to do so here. In fact, I already did, for I acknowledged the fact that someone outside my field (pure math, until recently) has something to teach me. Yes, I am (was?) THAT arrogant in a deep level, but here and now I just feel like a child, craving to learn the art of rationality.
Thank you all for what this site constitutes!
I'm sorry; re-reading my comment, I think it wasn't clear. I didn't intend to ask which is better, but to arise the following question: Is it possible that whenever I have to decide between rational or reasonable predominance, that decission entails an a-priori decission of one over the other, since each criterion might point towards itself?... it just seemed fun to think about it.
By the way, I'm curious about the Way to which you are referring with a capital W. Is that something like rationality commandments?
So, should I seek for reasonableness or rationality to prevail, whenever the rational is outside the Overton window? My dilemma is that I find more pleasure on being rational, so rationality stands I should seek for rationality, whereas the reasonable thing to do would be to stand with reasonableness and shut up.
The point is: whenever I can't decide on one over the other, which criterion should I use to make the decission, since each seems to point towards itself? This is fun.
"In King's Landing, there are two sorts of people. The players and the pieces."
"And I was a piece?" She dreaded the answer.
"Yes, but don't let that trouble you. You're still half a child. Every man's a piece to strart with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players."
Talk between Sansa and Petyr - A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords
Well, the sentence's wording without links is important, but maybe if your friend suggests a site, you can try not being so lazy as not clicking the link to the page.
And have you found a way to overcome this social isolation? I have trouble finding interest in meeting people myself, although I do not have it as hard as yourself, as it seems.
PS: I did not know non-blondeness was a necessary condition for being nerd.
I have yet another possible reason for these social difficulties one tends to experience: If you are smart, you have to hide it. It sounds plain, but you may be able to remember someone making fun of you in your childhood for using "fancy words", excelling at math or literature or something like that. I am not sure if I can fully identify the cause of this behaviour on others (maybe a defense mechanism) but I find it to be empirically true. Personally, I went most of my very early life complying with the constant need of feigning modesty, which made me reluctant to participate in quite a lot of conversations, and I thus believe it to have been an obstacle for my social interactions.
I notice that you often wrote "intelectually gifted", but never "intelligent" nor "smart". Is it just eloquence, or might that be a way of modesty that -such as myself- you have got used to?