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self_made_human

amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi

16 followers   follows 0 users  
joined 2022 September 05 05:31:00 UTC

I'm a transhumanist doctor. In a better world, I wouldn't need to add that as a qualifier to plain old "doctor". It would be taken as granted for someone in the profession of saving lives.

At any rate, I intend to live forever or die trying. See you at Heat Death!

Friends:

A friend to everyone is a friend to no one.


				
User ID: 454


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
self_made_human


								

								

								
								
									
								
								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi

				
				
				

				

					16 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 05:31:00 UTC
				


				
					

					
I'm a transhumanist doctor. In a better world, I wouldn't need to add that as a qualifier to plain old "doctor". It would be taken as granted for someone in the profession of saving lives.


At any rate, I intend to live forever or die trying. See you at Heat Death!



				

				
					
Friends:

					
A friend to everyone is a friend to no one.


				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 454


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Too reasonable by far. When I saw the original, it almost gave me a stroke. Do they even have a presence in the UK?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Chuckles nervously


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Pls spoiler tag your flair, k thx bye


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Uh.. I'm not a psychologist.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There's this exercise you can do, progressive relaxation of muscles. You lie in bed, intentionally relax the smaller muscles in your periphery, and work your way up to the big ones outward-in. Never tried it, but it's in my textbooks and exam syllabus so it might work?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
@ThomasdelVasto


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
After I posted my recent essay on /r/SSC, I was graced by the following DM. I want you to guess, and then put in writing, what you think the spoilered word is. No cheating.




This is gonna sound crazy, but Scientology can help you. It's the only effective form of mental health treatment I've found, and I've tried a bunch




This did damage to my mental health, which is why I'm sharing it with you.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
LLMs can be extremely succinct, often debilitatingly so. Try out the GPT 5.4 Thinking model, it is trained to hand out tokens in such a miserly manner that you'd think it costs it money. Which, to be fair, is something OAI pays for.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Met my goal, I remain unbanned another week (I'm not sure I can even ban myself, but it's the thought that counts).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Funnily enough, I maintain my own list of Claudisms to avoid, which partially overlaps with yours. The issue is that a lot of "Claude" voice overlaps with mine. Quoting myself from reddit:




I've been quietly using "quietly" for years now, and "load-bearing" is a load-bearing element for many of my sentences. I think it's unfair to expect structural engineers to change their nomenclature.




"Rounding error"? "In real time"? I use those all the time! I have before GPT-3 came out.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sadly I don't have a direct link handy, I didn't bookmark it. But I think the first exposure I had was through a user I follow called @tomeinlove on X. If you can't find it, I'll take a look. My impression is that there are a few thousand or tens of thousands of people angry at her, which is significant but nowhere near a cancelation squad. I looked for other conversations on Google earlier, and it was just a few small reddit threads, most notably one from /r/longform.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Bruh. The overwhelming majority of the similes and metaphors are mine. When I used Claude for feedback, its first instinct was to tell me to trim the piece down by about 40%, which I refused to do. It also wanted me to cut down on the purple prose or the unbridled rage, it's too nice to sit by idly when I'm calling someone a tumor or a psychic vampire.


Here, you might want to see what Gwern has to say on the matter:


https://old.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/s/VNfN2XZEgE


If I had used Claude as heavily as I used to, this essay would be much shorter, much tidier, significantly less polemic, and in my humble opinion, worse for it. I try to be honest about AI usage, though I proactively disclose it only on places where it's required (like LessWrong), and even when it would be easy to deny or prevaricate. I told @Amadan that this essay is 99% human written, which, given that it's like 4000 words in length, is about 40 words of Claude in there that I either liked or didn't care to remove. Pessimistically, since I didn't sit here and count, it might be 97% human written, at which point that's 120 words.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Knowing who I am as a person? Probably hide it. I'm not going to say that's the wisest or kindest choice, but it's what I'm inclined to do. I do things my friends and family wish I didn't: if they're reasonable people themselves, I'd tell them and apologize for it. If they're not? Then I prefer that the secret stays with me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Jokes on her, she's not two steps ahead, I was going the other way - try to keep up, bitch.


At least I'm pretty sure I've denied or taken away some of that ad revenue, and that's black on my moral ledger.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks, but don't worry about it. I got excited thinking that you might be willing to look past your previously expressed distaste for the use of AI generated prose, minimal as it was even back then. If nothing else, I've got handy documentation the next time someone else asks.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Entirely a possibility, but I'm very grateful to say that the people with AN that I've known personally and professionally have been far, far easier to sympathize with. That's my general thesis, buried as it is: it is entirely possible to have a serious mental health problem while not letting it turn you into a cruel, twisted husk of a person. I suspect that even in the most rabid pro-Ana circles (not that she seems to be a part of them anymore, or ever), her approach would be considered... radical. She radicalized herself, after receiving minimal pushback from well-intentioned enablers. And she's proud of it. That's what gets stuck in my craw.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I know plenty of people without depression or ADHD? My age, older, and younger. They're the majority, especially when accounting for self-diagnosis or the wink-wink kind of diagnosis that's the legal way to get stimulants and extra time on tests.


I have technically tried religion, in the sense that I prayed sincerely once, at the age of 4, and then became an outright atheist at the age of 5. Didn't knock it before I tried it, and it didn't stick.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I didn't want to say BPD, but let's be honest, it's probably BPD. I'm not sure if she meets the usual criteria for sociopathy (which is a far looser and more informal qualifier than ASPD, which I doubt she has), but she's clearly a massive narcissist, with a genuinely impressive capability to make everything about her. Maybe that warrants a formal diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder too, but I'm only willing and able to go so far. Her black and white mentality/splitting is evocative.




My therapist calls my tendency toward logistical care-taking a manipulative bid for control. I call it efficiency activism.




I'm starting to think the therapist might be part of the problem too... Then again, is she a reliable narrator? Fuck it, surely she can't have found someone as bad as her right? I'm siding with the therapist out of professional solidarity.




She knows, pretty directly, what she's doing and that she's hurting herself and others doing it. The fascination and fixation on appetite is, itself, an excuse.




Agreed. She does get off on control, both direct and indirect forms. "Oh, sorry, you dared to take medication that I disapprove of? What exists without my knowledge exists without my consent, and you know that I'm a big fan of consent culture."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's a new one, I don't think anyone has ever said that in response to me before. Thanks? I usually don't write polemics, since that's cultural appropriation of Penguins, Polar Bears and people from Central Europe. I'm glad it landed well!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's the nicest way anyone has ever tried to get me to walk into traffic of, and I'm grateful for that haha.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I had not heard about it before it showed up on Twitter a day or so ago, and in all honesty, I was happier without the additional insight into some parts of the female psyche. The more I read it, the more I had to resist the urge to hurl. Why is there even a market for this stuff?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If I can be frank, I think this essay of yours could benefit from some Wegovy itself. Making it 50% shorter would make it better.




Brevity might be the soul of wit, but I'm an atheist. When all I have is a hammer, then you bet that nail is going to yell for mama.




As for the story itself, while Ortega is a drama queen of the worst calibre, her unnamed friend, who clearly knew that Ortega had issues with losing weight and with people around her trying to lose weight, should've not tried to hide her use of semaglutide. Instead, she should've told her in advance, "I know you don't like this stuff, so I am doing you a favor by letting you know that I will be taking Wegovy. I'm not asking for permission or hinting at an intervention, I am just informing you so you can decide what this means for you."




I doubt this would have worked. Ortega doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would be that... reasonable. On the flip side, that would be less material for this awful essay, and we would all be better off for it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


This looks like your words. Please tell me it was all your words and not GPT-enhanced. I don't want to be taken in. The writing is good, but bloated, which is why I am still narrowing my eyes a little.




https://old.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/s/PgukJm97zk


99% my words? I usually keep a "100% human" original draft around these days, not because I have to, but because it's the best evidence I've got that I put in actual effort. Unfortunately, this is the one time I didn't bother, because I started writing at 12 am and didn't finish till 3. Version control is neither a passion nor a strength of mine. All edits happened inside a single Google Docs file. I'd share the full chat, but as I've complained before, Anthropic doesn't allow this without leaking my actual Christian name.


Best I've got to back me up on this are screenshots of me arguing with Claude, and then ignoring its advice. Here's a handy album:


https://ibb.co/bgC8L5m8
https://ibb.co/SD70zq4D
https://ibb.co/Rp2xQNvb


It's 5 am, as the screenshots will demonstrate. Pardon my laziness, I'm going above and beyond because it's you asking, specifically. And to add hilarity, the chief complaint was that my essay could do with a trim, though I'm not sure if that's in the screenshot and I'm not going back to look.


What did I use it for? Typo pass, I think it strongly insisted I put in title headers (and in all fairness, actual Real Humans have asked me to do that in the past). It wrote a nice image prompt for the Substack version. Yay.




2000 words to say "I am fat and my friend wants to not be fat and this made me have feelings."




She's not even fat! Slightly chubby, maybe, but no red blooded man is going to call her a torta, let alone not fuck her.


Sometimes, I am genuinely grateful for being a man, even if I acknowledge that I'm unusually emotionally attuned for one. The shit women say and do to each other? With a smile on their face? I'm glad our gender's approach to intrasexual warfare is mostly seeing who's taller and and more muscular. I can work with that, nobody is trying to stop me from going to the gym because I'm perfect at any size.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You said it, I didn't. Mostly because I do feel a little bad about armchair diagnosing people I've never met (and hopefully will never meet). That's for her shrink to figure out. I know which way I'd bet.