DinosaurArmor
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User ID: 3972
DinosaurArmor
1mo ago
I recommend Robert Miles' videos. Start with Intro to AI Safety and Why Would AI Want to do Bad Things? Instrumental Convergence. Most of his videos were created prior to the release of ChatGPT, but the concepts are all applicable to modern agentic AI. He also made a series of videos on the Computerphile channel that are a good watch (or listen).
For your second question, check out epub2tts or epub2tts-edge
DinosaurArmor
3mo ago
but I will look at content that maintains the minimal plausible deniability of what can be considered not pornographic for me to be temporarily satiated.
The first step is to acknowledge that this content is pornographic for you. For the purposes of combating porn/masturbation addictions, you need to define "pornographic content" as anything that arouses you. You can call it softcore porn if you need to. It's still porn and crosses a red line, so don't give yourself any additional slack for it. Someone posts thirst trap content in a discord channel? It's softcore porn. Dismiss the content with contempt (do not look at it) and close the channel, and don't come back until the content has scrolled far away or leave if it's a repeat occurrence. Instagram is a source of constant temptations? Delete the app. Tell your friends you're taking a "mental health break."
As for combating a specific compulsion, ceasing looking at actual images online will do a lot to stop feeding the compulsion with fresh images and a sense that it's something real and attainable. But if you continue masturbating to the thought of the previous images, it will still reinforce the compulsion. So you need to stop or heavily reduce masturbation in addition to pornography. It's going to be easier to stop masturbating entirely at least for a little while than to stop masturbating to particular thoughts. I have seen recommendations for a "reset" lasting a month or two.
It sounds like you have some shame about it but are still mostly thinking in the framework of only trying to stop because it may have negative effects on you. You can certainly get some of the way there in this framework using the above approaches, but you'll never fully get out of it because it is simply too easy to rationalize and make excuses when you feel tempted since the framework is entirely about self-benefit, as you indicate with the idea of an "opportunity cost" (i.e., it's extremely easy to rationalize that the pleasure is worth more than the long term effects, or to convince yourself in the moment that the long term effects aren't real, or that the hardship of stopping is on net worse, etc.). The long term effects are certainly true, but if you start to think of the behavior as intrinsically wrong and shameful, you will have far more success stopping it completely. And there's a very good case for believing this or at least betting on it being true: There are multiple plausible analyses for why masturbation is not virtuous behavior, is objectively disordered, and degrades the honor/respect of the person engaging in it. There are also plausible analyses for why it is neutral (neither virtuous or vicious). But there is no plausible analysis by which masturbation is virtuous behavior and that it's wrong to not engage in it. Thus, you're best off just not doing it. I assumed here you do not have a religious framework but if you do, this all becomes much easier.
DinosaurArmor
4mo ago
he hates crowds and sports
sulks around and whines a lot
Are you sure he isn't dealing with subclinical depression? It's a bit of a bad look when your reaction is to go on an internet forum to call him a loser and a weirdo and talk about how you earned your coolness. I would say just use it as an opportunity to be grateful for your own blessings instead of knocking down on someone else.
DinosaurArmor
5mo ago
If you haven't tried it already, you might want to give magnesium a shot. People anecdotally report that it helps with muscle cramps, and most people fail to get enough magnesium in their diet anyways (it has been speculated that this is because soil is fertilized with nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, but not magnesium, so that biologically available magnesium in the soil is depleted over time). The main downside is that for some people (myself included), supplementation causes diarrhea even at small doses. Others don't have that issue for whatever reason. I would like to know why.
DinosaurArmor
5mo ago
DinosaurArmor
5mo ago
Phenotype is not limited to appearance. Siberian huskies look similar to wolves but of course differ greatly in propensity towards violence against humans. Similarly, Nigerian-Americans are indistinguishable compared to Nigerian-Africans in appearance, but are likely to be a bit more intelligent on average than a typical White American simply due to selective immigration. If you cherry-picked the worst White criminals and put them in one place, you would have a nasty, behaviorally distinct group that nonetheless looks identical to other Whites, and whose behavioral differences are largely due to specific genetic differences.
DinosaurArmor
5mo ago
Yes, Travellers are “genetically distinct” in the way that every individual and every family is genetically distinct. You can do a DNA test and say “wow, you’re related to a lot of Travellers, you must be a Traveller”. This isn’t evidence of a distinct population.
The standards by which some studies claim to show distinct Traveller genetics can also be used to show that every small village was (or was until very recently) its own distinct genetic subpopulation. This isn’t even wrong, it’s just not useful and is a bad Motte and Bailey type argument here.
It is not a motte and bailey. This is precisely what I meant.
Criminal population isn’t really sufficient or even likely, it’s not a plausible origin story. Even if it were, plenty of Anglo populations including Anglo Americans and Anglo Australians have significant criminal / convict ancestry and yet reverted to their population means in time. It’s extremely implausible, even aside from the actual historical record, that Traveller 20x over representation among criminals in Ireland is explained by a founding population of criminals as if this is some kind of fantasy RPG thieves guild enterprise.
Australia is a good counterexample, and I've always wondered why their crime rate isn't higher. I looked into it very briefly, and there are a few things that explain why. First, the crimes were mostly limited to petty theft. The more serious criminals were simply executed:
Most convicts were transported for petty crimes, particularly theft: thieves comprised 80% of all transportees.[4] More serious crimes, such as rape and murder, became transportable offences in the 1830s, but since they were also punishable by death, comparatively few convicts were transported for such crimes.[5]
whereas many criminal gangs even require you to commit murder as a prerequisite for membership.
Second, Australia was not exclusively founded by convicts. They were diluted significantly by regular free immigration. I couldn't find the number I was hoping for (average % of ancestry from convicts), but there is this stat that 20% of White Australians have at least some convict ancestry, so presumably the overall percentage is quite low, perhaps at around 10%.
Adding these factors along with the regression to the mean effect, and we should expect a negligible difference in the crime rate of modern White Australians, whereas the same would not hold under the criminal association theory I gave for the travelers. I don't have a pulse on your last point on the historical plausibility of this idea; perhaps you could fill us in?
Downthread, someone mentioned evaporative cooling, which would be an even stronger mechanism than what I'm proposing, so adding that in should be sufficient to account for the remaining difference.
DinosaurArmor
5mo ago
Genetically, they are indistinguishable from the ethnic Irish population. There is no marker that convincingly separates them from the settled ethnic Irish population.
Source? Wikipedia says otherwise: "Genetic analysis has shown Irish Travellers to be of Irish extraction, and that they likely diverged from the settled Irish population in the 1600s, probably during the time of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Centuries of cultural isolation have led Travellers to become genetically distinct from the settled Irish.[13]"
HBD cannot really explain the Irish Traveller
HBD seems tenable as an explanation. Because group differences are just individual differences, if a large enough group of individuals who deviate from the population average in some trait (such as criminal inclination) gather and stay together, then a distinct group average can emerge. Perhaps the group may have gotten their start as a sort of traveling association of outlaws in an era where an organized state was unable to break up their formation. I would like to see this tested via adoption studies or studies of people of traveler descent growing up entirely outside the traveler culture - do those individuals commit more crime than their non-traveler counterparts?
It was previously alleged that Epstein wanted to "seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women at his New Mexico ranch". It looks like there is evidence he did in fact do this. This document appears to be a diary from one of the victims, describing her being used as a surrogate mother, never to see her baby(s) again. Some key quotes:
Close your eyes close your eyes close your eyes. Dont speak she doesnt talk. I cant stop shaking and its been a week. A decision was made but I cant tell Jeffrey. These things happen. Why didnt I close my eyes fast enough. The doctor was different again. I think from Israel. He had kind eyes but didnt speak directly to me. This was different. A shot and those rod like things had a hook and so much pain. Ghislaine said to push all the pain away. I don't understand Blood and water all over the bed and she was right. Like a feeling when your tummy hurts and you have to push She said to close my eyes and put her hands over my eyes but I didnt close them because of these tiny cries. I am so lost. I saw between her fingers this tiny head and body in the doctors hands. It reached its tiny arm up and and had a tiny foot. I closed my eyes and no more
After so many bonding moments with Jeffrey, Ghislaine, their baby inside me with me in the middle she wouldnt even look at me.
Superior gene pool ?!? Why me? Why my hair color and eye color?
I miss the person I was before I was made into what feels as a human incubator
The code used in these is that every other letter is placed on the second line. The document alternately deciphers it on each other page. There's some newspaper clippings that provide some more hints. Some unanswered questions:
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Are there two separate births being described here?
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Is the first one is actually some kind of partial birth abortion. This may have occurred in 2003 before the ban, given this text in the document "clipping with date, National Geographic, September 2003". The description of the "rod like things" that "had a hook" and the emphasis on page 5 "SHE WAS. Not is." makes me think so.
Also, I see "Maralago" mentioned very cryptically:
They are missing the biggest in my own backyard and so many more! Like Maralago and where I see Mr. Joe and Mrs. Anne.
What did she mean by this?
EDIT: Maralago is mentioned after that clipping about a "Slave Camp," so the implication is that Maralago is a slave camp. There is a reddit thread where some other investigators have dug into this deeper. There are other files that provide more evidence that Trump abused this girl
DinosaurArmor
10mo ago
Absolutely not. That is simply adultery, whether it's via a "cup" or not.
We have a gaggle of kids of our own so it's not like I'm going to run off to play dad.
The kids that would result from such an arrangement are going to realize you're the actual father, as will the rest of your friend group. There's a decent chance the kids are going to view you as their actual father, possibly with bitterness once the lesbians inevitably separate.
From a pragmatic perspective, it will look exactly how it actually is: that you're fathering children with another woman. It's not a good look, and there is a going to be a lot of drama and gossiping about such a thing. Furthermore, lesbian arrangements also tend to fall apart quite frequently (you can look up divorce statistics on this), so it's pretty unlikely you won't be swept up in the drama of that, with the kids getting to witness all of it. Your wife is also unhappy with it, so this would not just be unfaithful at a spiritual level, but also on an emotional level.
I think you should listen to your wife and put all this to the side, ideally distancing yourself from these women. They are in a disordered arrangement that is at odds with both the natural order (as indicated by their inability to conceive in such an arrangement, and by the abnormally high divorce rate), as well as scripture.
We're kinda Christian
What does it mean to be "kinda" Christian? Do you think it's true that Christ is God or not? There's not an in-between position on this question. If you don't think so, you're not Christian. If you think it's true, then how can you ignore Christ's words on this matter?
Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
You describe the woman as "quite fetching" and say you kinda want to do it. I can't read your heart, especially from this post, but I just don't see where the motivation is coming from here given how risky it is, how much expensive legal trouble it is, and how much your wife doesn't like it. If you do feel lustful intentions about this there is already a problem starting and you should repent (ideally in confession if your denomination supports that) and, again, distance yourself from that couple.
One last point, do you go to a church? You should talk with your priest or pastor, rather than atheists on Harry Potter rationality forums. It sounds like the far bigger decision/problem you have is whether you actually accept Christianity (and therefore Christ) or not.
Consider becoming religious. My life is also messed up and lacking in a similar way but I do not feel existential dread about it since this life is short and temporary compared to the next one which is infinitely better and infinitely longer. Not to say I give up; I continue trying to salvage what I can in this short time and aspire towards great things as you mention, but it significantly helps me not despair about failing to live up to potential or running out of time but rather allows me to accept what little I can accomplish in my life given my limited abilities. More briefly, it provides outcome indifference and a sense of peace. This itself may be what you need to get out of your rut. You mentioned you are gay, and you might see that as incompatible with my suggestion, but it's not. The proper life path for a religious gay person is to remain celibate, so that this rather becomes an asset for you, something you've unintentionally done right. Furthermore it permits you to drop the burden of social expectation of being in a relationship. The hookups recommended below are fleeting, underwhelming in practice, and will not leave you with long term satisfaction, but may leave you with long term STDs. Shaming people over virginity is pagan, progressive morality. Ignore it.
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