I started blogging one and a half years ago. Blogging has helped my life in many ways. I have met interesting people online I would never have encountered in meatspace. I have received educated feedback on esoteric topics. I have shared fun projects like Luna Lovegood and the Chamber of Secrets and the 2020 Less Wrong Darwin Game with strangers around the globe.
But the most important thing about Less Wrong is it has made me a more positive person, in multiple senses of the word.
Being nice to people. Looking at the bright side of things.
Most ideas come in the form of ”x is true” or ”¬x is false”. In mathematics ”x is true” and ”¬x is false” contain exactly the same information. In real life they don’t. Most real life questions have n competing answers, one of which is true. If you say “answer an is true” then you answer the question. If n is large and you say “answer an′ is false” then you have conveyed almost zero information.
If a stranger says something wrong then you should ignore them. Otherwise these people are literally taking your life. Before I began blogging, if I read a post with 100 claims and 1 of them was wrong then I would focus on the 1 wrong claim. Now I focus on the 99 true claims.
I used to think about the world as a conflict between right and wrong. Now I think about it as a conflict between action and inaction. The problem isn’t that the Bad Guys are promoting Bad Ideas. The problem is that the overwhelming majority of people aren’t promoting anything at all. Thinking for yourself doesn’t equal consuming the right media. It equals 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 media.
I used to think of writers as important people who should be held to lofty standards. Now I think of writers as ordinary people on an adventure of discovery. I want to encourage them. After all, when people write nice comments on my posts it makes me really happy. I usually read them several times.
There are a many of people who contribute to this community, but my favorite people to notice are the ones who write nice comments. Thank you Ben Pace for being such a positive force in this community. You always have such nice things to say to people.
This is my 100ᵗʰ post on Less Wrong
I started blogging one and a half years ago. Blogging has helped my life in many ways. I have met interesting people online I would never have encountered in meatspace. I have received educated feedback on esoteric topics. I have shared fun projects like Luna Lovegood and the Chamber of Secrets and the 2020 Less Wrong Darwin Game with strangers around the globe.
But the most important thing about Less Wrong is it has made me a more positive person, in multiple senses of the word.
Speaking in affirmative statements.
Being nice to people. Looking at the bright side of things.
Most ideas come in the form of ”x is true” or ”¬x is false”. In mathematics ”x is true” and ”¬x is false” contain exactly the same information. In real life they don’t. Most real life questions have n competing answers, one of which is true. If you say “answer an is true” then you answer the question. If n is large and you say “answer an′ is false” then you have conveyed almost zero information.
If a stranger says something wrong then you should ignore them. Otherwise these people are literally taking your life. Before I began blogging, if I read a post with 100 claims and 1 of them was wrong then I would focus on the 1 wrong claim. Now I focus on the 99 true claims.
I used to think about the world as a conflict between right and wrong. Now I think about it as a conflict between action and inaction. The problem isn’t that the Bad Guys are promoting Bad Ideas. The problem is that the overwhelming majority of people aren’t promoting anything at all. Thinking for yourself doesn’t equal consuming the right media. It equals 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 media.
I used to think of writers as important people who should be held to lofty standards. Now I think of writers as ordinary people on an adventure of discovery. I want to encourage them. After all, when people write nice comments on my posts it makes me really happy. I usually read them several times.
There are a many of people who contribute to this community, but my favorite people to notice are the ones who write nice comments. Thank you Ben Pace for being such a positive force in this community. You always have such nice things to say to people.