campfireSmores
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User ID: 539
campfireSmores
1yr ago
I'd rather protect people by preventing them from investing than preventing people by silencing them. dath ilan (yudkowsky's fictional alternate earth) has a licensing scheme where you need to pass a test before you can invest.
Does anyone play games on Steam? Here's a steam group.
If a lot of people join it would become an easy way to find rationalists to play games with.
Edit: here's the link
campfireSmores
1yr ago
bone headed move on my part! Yeah, it's not really a motte group. Just a rationalist group. I'll post it on rationalist spaces too.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
The less players in the AI game the less impossible it is that humanity will survive.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
At a Q&A I asked Scott Alexander if he was going to circumcise his kid and said he was in favor of it and his wife was against it. I'll be honest, I'm kind of shaken. I'm sometimes able to argue persuasively against male genital mutilation, but I wasn't on that day. I sort of made a fool of myself, I guess. It's a painful subject for me.
It's also just kind of shocking and dismaying, because I think that noticing that male genital mutilation is bad is something almost anyone with basic rationality skills should probably be able to notice, and he didn't. Now I want to ask Yudkowsky. I'll choose my words more carefully.
He mentioned the adversarial collaboration on SSC on the subject, which to me had a lot of obvious holes and flaws in it.
Purposes of the foreskin:
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Prevents the covered skin from contacting clothing. Clothing contact desensitizes the penis through a process called keratinization. If you're circumcised, you'll notice that the circumcision scar and the places below the scar are what's sensitive, and everything above that isn't very sensitive. That's not normal.
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The foreskin has densely packed nerve endings.
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The foreskin provides lubrication, both through natural lubricant and through a gliding motion.
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Protective against health conditions including meatal stenosis.
I can also rebut the purported positive outcomes of circumcision, and talk about the risks of the procedure. I have videos of men with botched circumcisions talking about their suffering.
I don't really want to get into a debate about circumcision here. I just wanted to provide an example of what someone arguing the point looks like.
My question is this: Is anyone else shocked/saddened that Scott is pro-cutting?
campfireSmores
1yr ago
Most podcasts are not 100% gold. It's a weekly unscripted thing, bad jokes slip in. Shane Gillis has said the joke wasn't one of his good ones, offensiveness aside.
I'm not saying you have to like the podcast, just keep that in mind.
I'm in the Wellness thread though. I'm fine with debating it in the culture war thread. If anyone disagrees with me they can just ignore this post, or make your own post in the culture war thread. I'm not trying to start a debate in the wellness thread! That's not why I made this post
campfireSmores
1yr ago
I have a response to this, but we shouldn't be having culture war talk in the wellness thread.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
I just included the list because I felt frustrated with myself for not being able to summon it earlier. There should be a guide for how to talk about stuff like this in the Wellness thread.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
That he even lasted 4 days at that level of shitstorm in a cultural place so far behind the lines is remarkable
Not that remarkable. He got into SNL on the strength of his stand-up and his audition. There wasn't any vetting process where the producers checked out his podcast. I bet there's a vetting process now though!
campfireSmores
1yr ago
I also think the people who valorize prison rape are doing a bad thing.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
Good catch! I should have done a twitter search.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
Sometimes board game cafes will have Open Table nights, where people come to play with strangers and not people they brought with them.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
Next time you're masturbating, pay attention to what parts are sensitive and what parts aren't. I think you'll find that only the circumcision scar and everything below it are sensitive.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
As long as an employee doesn't go beyond the allotted number of sick days, is it that big a deal to the employer what they use them for? Is it worse for the employer than calling in sick when not actually sick, something Americans have done since who-knows-when?
I don't think I've ever called in sick just because I wanted a day off, but it seems to be not such a shameful thing in our culture. Is this worse (for the employer) than that?
campfireSmores
1yr ago
His/her wife is Russian, and it seems like she was leading the operation. She even had to overcome some hesitancies from the officer, apparently.
Truly a sinister people, those Russians! (jk)
campfireSmores
1yr ago
I think China not meddling (except for all the times it does) is a pragmatic thing, and that the policy would change if circumstances changed enough.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
Even Osama's kids watched Detective Conan and Batman cartoons, let's not forget.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
One factor that should be acknowledged is that "We are alone. We are not represented anywhere" is a painful thought to have.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
My thoughts exactly.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
Bezos's 2016 letter to shareholders:
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/2016-letter-to-shareholders (read the whole thing, it's interesting)
On the subject of "Escalate and Disagree"
"This isn’t one way. If you’re the boss, you should do this too. I disagree and commit all the time. We recently greenlit a particular Amazon Studios original. I told the team my view: debatable whether it would be interesting enough, complicated to produce, the business terms aren’t that good, and we have lots of other opportunities. They had a completely different opinion and wanted to go ahead. I wrote back right away with “I disagree and commit and hope it becomes the most watched thing we’ve ever made.” Consider how much slower this decision cycle would have been if the team had actually had to convince me rather than simply get my commitment.
Note what this example is not: it’s not me thinking to myself “well, these guys are wrong and missing the point, but this isn’t worth me chasing.” It’s a genuine disagreement of opinion, a candid expression of my view, a chance for the team to weigh my view, and a quick, sincere commitment to go their way. And given that this team has already brought home 11 Emmys, 6 Golden Globes, and 3 Oscars, I’m just glad they let me in the room at all!"
I like to imagine that Bezos understood the difficulties inherent in this project. Or at least some of them. Maybe I'll write a Bezos fanfic one day.
Also: whether or not to make a LotR TV show sounds like a decision for a prediction market to make. "Conditional on us making a LotR TV show, will it be a success?"
Additional discussion topic: what IP-driven tv show should Amazon have made instead?
campfireSmores
1yr ago
I think there are reasons not to make a lotr show at all. Politics, IP rights issues, Game of Thrones ending poorly, lotr being an inherently difficult property to work with because of its focus on the ineffable and deep lore, etc.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
There are still good movies in theaters. There are even still good American movies. Watch stuff like Pig or I'm Thinking of Ending Things or whatever instead of stuff movie studios spent a billion dollars on.
campfireSmores
1yr ago
Are you talking about indie games or AAA games? Because both seem to be doing fine to me. Some AAA games are unispired, but not all.
I have never heard anyone say that. So it can't be that usual of a response.
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