Sane and well-measured advice is therefore wasted on me, and I just wanted to edit in this notice here so that other well-meaning folks don’t get tricked into wasting their time trying to talk sense into a total nutcase like me. :)
Sorry, but no can do. Part of the Less Wrong mission is “improving the sanity waterline”. We can’t sit by and let you be insane. I for one encourage people to spend as much to as necessary to talk sense to you. You signed up for this when you made the post.
I love how, sometimes, Lesswrongers can be so sweet in this totally unique and awesome way. :3
However, I actually meant “insane” in the same way FAI and cryonics are insane.
However however… Inferential distance!
This is how I have come to feel:
Don’t try to explain people into caring about anything important.
If I really know the important things that I believe I know, then I should be able to use that knowledge to do amazing things. Things people can experience.
Then people will come to me begging for explanations.
I will say only that we have access to a Theory of Instruction that is to the field of education what Newton’s Principia was to the field of physics. If you’re really interested, then I could give you a fascinating reading list (and what is “libgen”?), but I aint gonna explain much. I’ve got engineering skills to teach myself, and there’s a lot of bootstrapping to be done! :D
Although the outside view says it’s unlikely you’re correct in making such a strong statement, it’s of course more than possible that you really do have something that significant. Just remember that the design of human brain hardware is such that it requires a constant, extremely high level of vigilance to prevent the goals one has in mind from shifting imperceptibly from ‘optimizing for the goal in question’ to ‘optimizing for some sort of social approval somehow related to the goal’.
Keep in mind that you’re essentially telling us you have something that could be ridiculously important for the world, but that you can’t tell us about it yet. This makes it impossible for us to independently verify whether it’s actually true, which allows you to parade around signaling this awesome fact about yourself without worrying about really being put on the spot and being criticized, potentially finding that what you have isn’t as awesome as you thought it was.
Just as people tend to embellish the content of their dreams, and make slight changes to the details in order to make them better fit as an analogy or something like that for what they’re talking about, because nobody can look back at a recording and know whether it’s true or not (not yet, anyway), in the same way you’re setting yourself up in a situation where nobody can look at that ‘recording’ and verify whether you really have what you say you have, or not. You say you have something significant, but you tell us you can’t explain anything yet.
Just ask yourself, why did you write the OP, and why are you responding as you are? Are you sure this whole enterprise isn’t just your brain hijacking some effort you came up with in the past, for the purpose of feeling the fun emotional effects of telling people about how awesome you are? Why exactly did you write this post? Ostensibly it was to look for advice on something, but perhaps for your identity it was just an excuse to bring this stuff up, since you otherwise may not have had a chance to signal this whole thing.
Just remember: The best evidence that you really have something, rather than just thinking you do, for fun and games, would have been if you didn’t write any of these posts. If you can keep this to yourself until it really comes to fruition, not only will your brain be in a better position to optimize for being awesome instead of just looking like you’re awesome, but you’d have better evidence in your own mind that this isn’t all just an identity high.
To conclude though, I want to say that you might have something this significant, and I really hope you do. Education needs serious change, and if you have something that could cause as much progress as Isaac Newton’s treatise, then you will have done the world a great service. But until then, I urge you to never say anything to anyone that they can’t independently verify. God help your mission if you don’t heed this warning, because believe me you’ll be screwed. If you want to talk about this stuff, write some posts on what you do have clear in your mind, or what you can share. Maybe we’ll have some useful input, or otherwise maybe you’ll be put on the spot for real, and we can see that you really are awesome, instead of this loose stuff we’re dealing with right now.
One of the best pieces of advice one could get for clear thinking is the following: Don’t tell anybody anything they can’t independently verify, especially if it’s high stakes. For you, if you really have what you think you have, this is extremely high stakes. Please don’t say another word about this, forget about trying to show off until you can show them for real. Good luck to you, and I don’t think you’re crazy. Don’t say that. It’s just a hack you’re putting in place to allow yourself to say things that sound crazy without feeling like an idiot. Go back to trying to optimize for not sounding like a nutcase, because nobody here will think you are. We all have ambitions. Talk about them for real; expose them to real criticism. Or otherwise don’t talk about them.
Again: Good luck with your project. None of this is written to deter you. It’s written to put you in a better position to put into effect what you may well have. This world needs some serious help. Don’t let trying to impress people get in the way of the potential you have to do something great.
Seeing as how classical mechanics is an effective theory for physically restructuring significant portions of reality to one’s goals, you are promising something tantamount to a full theory of knowledge acquisition, something linguists and psychologists smarter than you have worked on for centuries.
Calm down with promises that will disappoint you and make an MVP.
Minimum Viable Products have been done, hence the excitement… just built mainly for markets where the ultimate “consumers” have pretty much no influence over “purchasing policy”… and stuff …
It’s not a theory of learning, but a theory of instruction...
As to “smarter than me”, I didn’t develop the theory, and it’s largely dumb luck I came across all the puzzle pieces in a way that made it perfectly obvious how much of a Big Deal the implications could be...
A year ago, I’d’ve talked your ear off at this point trying to explain how damn cool this is and how much you should care, but now I’m wondering if I should shut up and keep it to myself for a while longer...
I mean, you could extract the information from various crackpot rants that I’ve left around the web, but… I think I’m safe from you making the effort at this point. xD
Okay, so I didn’t really think about whether I wanted to get into this at all beforehand, and I need to talk to my partner.
I have a bunch of moving-to-another-country practical matters I should be focusing on right now anyway.
Hm, yeah, that’s a really weird way to phrase it unless you have certain… historical things in mind. Strictly speaking, everyone “has access” to all the books and other resources you need. It’s just really unlikely for anyone to notice that it’s something worth focusing on.
Okay, I wrote my response to Technoguyrob to double as a response to you. I’ll get back to you in a few days.
Sorry, but no can do. Part of the Less Wrong mission is “improving the sanity waterline”. We can’t sit by and let you be insane. I for one encourage people to spend as much to as necessary to talk sense to you. You signed up for this when you made the post.
… D’awww. :)
I love how, sometimes, Lesswrongers can be so sweet in this totally unique and awesome way. :3
However, I actually meant “insane” in the same way FAI and cryonics are insane.
However however… Inferential distance!
This is how I have come to feel:
I will say only that we have access to a Theory of Instruction that is to the field of education what Newton’s Principia was to the field of physics. If you’re really interested, then I could give you a fascinating reading list (and what is “libgen”?), but I aint gonna explain much. I’ve got engineering skills to teach myself, and there’s a lot of bootstrapping to be done! :D
Although the outside view says it’s unlikely you’re correct in making such a strong statement, it’s of course more than possible that you really do have something that significant. Just remember that the design of human brain hardware is such that it requires a constant, extremely high level of vigilance to prevent the goals one has in mind from shifting imperceptibly from ‘optimizing for the goal in question’ to ‘optimizing for some sort of social approval somehow related to the goal’.
Keep in mind that you’re essentially telling us you have something that could be ridiculously important for the world, but that you can’t tell us about it yet. This makes it impossible for us to independently verify whether it’s actually true, which allows you to parade around signaling this awesome fact about yourself without worrying about really being put on the spot and being criticized, potentially finding that what you have isn’t as awesome as you thought it was.
Just as people tend to embellish the content of their dreams, and make slight changes to the details in order to make them better fit as an analogy or something like that for what they’re talking about, because nobody can look back at a recording and know whether it’s true or not (not yet, anyway), in the same way you’re setting yourself up in a situation where nobody can look at that ‘recording’ and verify whether you really have what you say you have, or not. You say you have something significant, but you tell us you can’t explain anything yet.
Just ask yourself, why did you write the OP, and why are you responding as you are? Are you sure this whole enterprise isn’t just your brain hijacking some effort you came up with in the past, for the purpose of feeling the fun emotional effects of telling people about how awesome you are? Why exactly did you write this post? Ostensibly it was to look for advice on something, but perhaps for your identity it was just an excuse to bring this stuff up, since you otherwise may not have had a chance to signal this whole thing.
Just remember: The best evidence that you really have something, rather than just thinking you do, for fun and games, would have been if you didn’t write any of these posts. If you can keep this to yourself until it really comes to fruition, not only will your brain be in a better position to optimize for being awesome instead of just looking like you’re awesome, but you’d have better evidence in your own mind that this isn’t all just an identity high.
To conclude though, I want to say that you might have something this significant, and I really hope you do. Education needs serious change, and if you have something that could cause as much progress as Isaac Newton’s treatise, then you will have done the world a great service. But until then, I urge you to never say anything to anyone that they can’t independently verify. God help your mission if you don’t heed this warning, because believe me you’ll be screwed. If you want to talk about this stuff, write some posts on what you do have clear in your mind, or what you can share. Maybe we’ll have some useful input, or otherwise maybe you’ll be put on the spot for real, and we can see that you really are awesome, instead of this loose stuff we’re dealing with right now.
One of the best pieces of advice one could get for clear thinking is the following: Don’t tell anybody anything they can’t independently verify, especially if it’s high stakes. For you, if you really have what you think you have, this is extremely high stakes. Please don’t say another word about this, forget about trying to show off until you can show them for real. Good luck to you, and I don’t think you’re crazy. Don’t say that. It’s just a hack you’re putting in place to allow yourself to say things that sound crazy without feeling like an idiot. Go back to trying to optimize for not sounding like a nutcase, because nobody here will think you are. We all have ambitions. Talk about them for real; expose them to real criticism. Or otherwise don’t talk about them.
Again: Good luck with your project. None of this is written to deter you. It’s written to put you in a better position to put into effect what you may well have. This world needs some serious help. Don’t let trying to impress people get in the way of the potential you have to do something great.
Seeing as how classical mechanics is an effective theory for physically restructuring significant portions of reality to one’s goals, you are promising something tantamount to a full theory of knowledge acquisition, something linguists and psychologists smarter than you have worked on for centuries.
Calm down with promises that will disappoint you and make an MVP.
Yes.
Minimum Viable Products have been done, hence the excitement… just built mainly for markets where the ultimate “consumers” have pretty much no influence over “purchasing policy”… and stuff …
It’s not a theory of learning, but a theory of instruction...
As to “smarter than me”, I didn’t develop the theory, and it’s largely dumb luck I came across all the puzzle pieces in a way that made it perfectly obvious how much of a Big Deal the implications could be...
A year ago, I’d’ve talked your ear off at this point trying to explain how damn cool this is and how much you should care, but now I’m wondering if I should shut up and keep it to myself for a while longer...
I mean, you could extract the information from various crackpot rants that I’ve left around the web, but… I think I’m safe from you making the effort at this point. xD
Okay, so I didn’t really think about whether I wanted to get into this at all beforehand, and I need to talk to my partner.
I have a bunch of moving-to-another-country practical matters I should be focusing on right now anyway.
I’ll get back to you guys in a few days.
What do you mean by “have access to”?
Also, I’d be interested in that reading list, if it wouldn’t be too much effort for you to put together.
Hm, yeah, that’s a really weird way to phrase it unless you have certain… historical things in mind. Strictly speaking, everyone “has access” to all the books and other resources you need. It’s just really unlikely for anyone to notice that it’s something worth focusing on.
Okay, I wrote my response to Technoguyrob to double as a response to you. I’ll get back to you in a few days.