I rediscovered logistic regression, collaborative filtering, and hierarchical modeling. I rediscovered cross validation and how it can be combined with stepwise regression to identify robustly generalizable patterns in data.
You rediscovered? You didn’t know logistic regression existed? What exactly did you rediscover?
This led me to the discovery that principal component analysis greatly reduces concerns about multiple hypothesis testing
I suspect you’re wrong about that. Rotating a matrix (which is what PCA does) doesn’t actually reduce concerns about “hidden” degrees of freedom which you use up by trying multiple hypotheses. I actually think that the usefulness of PCA is often overstated—all you’re doing is selecting linear combinations with the highest variance which is not always the right thing to pay attention to.
All in all that just sounds like pretty standard statistics.
The trouble is that I can’t credibly signal that this represents unusually high quality work
Well, yes, you can’t. Speaking of “unusually high quality”, your Github code contains things like
which should be mildly embarassing. Along with values hardcoded as numbers in the body of the function, etc. I can read (and write) R code just fine—what is it that you consider to be “unusually high quality”?
it’s not clear to me that there’s anything that I can say to change your mind.
I don’t have much of a mind to change. I am doubtful of your assertions of great superiority, but that’s a doubt, not a conviction that you’re just an average math geek.
The question that you should ask yourself is: if you’re so rational and intelligent, why aren’t you more successful?
Yeah: if you’re so smart how come you ain’t rich? :-D
Why aren’t I more successful than what?
the fact is that you’re actually roughly 1 million times lower in intellectual caliber than the highest intellectual caliber people in the world.
Which metric are you using? IQ values are ranks and I just don’t know what “1 million times lower in intellectual caliber” even means.
Returns to IQ and aesthetic discernment aren’t linear in expectation, they’re exponential.
Evidence, please. Not to mention that for particular parameters exponential can be pretty close to linear :-)
I could be talking to people who are thousands of times more sophisticated than you, and it would be much more interesting to me, and instead I’m talking to you becsuse I care about you.
I’m sorry, did I stumble into some Christian revival meeting? What is this shit about trying to guilt me into agreement because you sacrifice so much of your highly valuable utils and hedons only because you care?
I think your ego is in dire need of some deflation.
which should be mildly embarassing. Along with values hardcoded as numbers in the body of the function, etc. I can read (and write) R code just fine—what is it that you consider to be “unusually high quality”?
I was just learning R at the time and in a rush to get things to work. The code itself is not high quality.
What is this shit about trying to guilt me into agreement because you sacrifice so much of your highly valuable utils and hedons only because you care?
I see that you don’t know what you’re missing, I know it’s because you didn’t have the environmental advantages that I did, I know that I could have been in your position if not for the luck of the draw, and so I have pangs of sympathy for you, because your situation is in some sense very close to my own. It would make me feel so good if I could help you. That’s why it’s worth it to me in expectation, even if it’s unpleasant in real time.
But you can’t love someone who doesn’t want you to love him/her. I spent ~15 years on that and it helped no one and came at great cost to my myself. So I’ll withdraw from this conversation.
It would make me feel so good if I could help you.
LOL. I don’t know if you’re imitating a Christian missionary or a Jewish mother, but you’re doing it badly.
But you can’t love someone who doesn’t want you to love him/her.
You can, but the relevant thing is that yes, I have no particular desire for you to love me. I suspect the same is true for the great majority of the LW population. And if I ever go looking for unconditional love, Jesus has a much better spiel that you do—and He, at least, died for my sins :-P
LOL. I don’t know if you’re imitating a Christian missionary or a Jewish mother, but you’re doing it badly.
To be blunt, I think that what’s going on here is that you have an empathy deficit and so don’t experience the warm fuzzy feelings around helping people that some people do. There are some people who would immediately understand where I’m coming from, and say “that totally makes sense.” You seem to be Generalizing From One Example. I don’t know whether it’s genetic or environmental, mutable or immutable, but it’s sad.
You can, but the relevant thing is that yes, I have no particular desire for you to love me.
I’m not generalizing—I’m pointing out that you, singular, you personally are doing it badly. And you are putting a lot of effort into not hearing this message. By the way, have you noticed how your last few comments started to focus on me and my shortcoming and deficiencies?
By the way, have you noticed how your last few comments started to focus on me and my shortcoming and deficiencies?
Not exclusively, I also mentioned my many years of failed efforts along these lines. I’m not claiming that my efforts have been useful. It’s possible that you’ve actually helped people more than I have. My comments about you were made with a view toward giving a comprehensive explanation of why I’m bowing out of the conversation.
The general pattern is “I tried to help people and they misconstrued it because they didn’t have enough empathy to have a visceral understanding of the fact that I wanted to help them, so rather than being touched, they just found it irritating, and I made sacrifices when it should have been a priori clear that they were doomed to failure.” I finally get it now.
The problem is that you believe that your internal motivation justifies your expectations of other people.
Because your intentions are virtuous you expect that other people be “touched”, be grateful, help you by steelmanning your arguments, etc. And it’s not a matter of empathy, it’s a matter of whether your state of mind imposes obligations on other people. It looks reasonable to you because from your point of view you only want to teach and it’s reasonable that other people help you teach them. But try taking an external view (and try being more consequentialist, too).
Christian missionaries appeared in this subthread not by accident—they also care and also want to help and also make sacrifices to teach what they teach.
We’re not in disagreement! :-) What I’m saying is that after many years, I finally came around to understanding what you’re telling me right now. Your remarks are a useful update further in the same direction. I’ve genuinely benefitted from this interaction.
You rediscovered? You didn’t know logistic regression existed? What exactly did you rediscover?
I suspect you’re wrong about that. Rotating a matrix (which is what PCA does) doesn’t actually reduce concerns about “hidden” degrees of freedom which you use up by trying multiple hypotheses. I actually think that the usefulness of PCA is often overstated—all you’re doing is selecting linear combinations with the highest variance which is not always the right thing to pay attention to.
All in all that just sounds like pretty standard statistics.
Well, yes, you can’t. Speaking of “unusually high quality”, your Github code contains things like
which should be mildly embarassing. Along with values hardcoded as numbers in the body of the function, etc. I can read (and write) R code just fine—what is it that you consider to be “unusually high quality”?
I don’t have much of a mind to change. I am doubtful of your assertions of great superiority, but that’s a doubt, not a conviction that you’re just an average math geek.
Yeah: if you’re so smart how come you ain’t rich? :-D
Why aren’t I more successful than what?
Which metric are you using? IQ values are ranks and I just don’t know what “1 million times lower in intellectual caliber” even means.
Evidence, please. Not to mention that for particular parameters exponential can be pretty close to linear :-)
I’m sorry, did I stumble into some Christian revival meeting? What is this shit about trying to guilt me into agreement because you sacrifice so much of your highly valuable utils and hedons only because you care?
I think your ego is in dire need of some deflation.
I was just learning R at the time and in a rush to get things to work. The code itself is not high quality.
I see that you don’t know what you’re missing, I know it’s because you didn’t have the environmental advantages that I did, I know that I could have been in your position if not for the luck of the draw, and so I have pangs of sympathy for you, because your situation is in some sense very close to my own. It would make me feel so good if I could help you. That’s why it’s worth it to me in expectation, even if it’s unpleasant in real time.
But you can’t love someone who doesn’t want you to love him/her. I spent ~15 years on that and it helped no one and came at great cost to my myself. So I’ll withdraw from this conversation.
LOL. I don’t know if you’re imitating a Christian missionary or a Jewish mother, but you’re doing it badly.
You can, but the relevant thing is that yes, I have no particular desire for you to love me. I suspect the same is true for the great majority of the LW population. And if I ever go looking for unconditional love, Jesus has a much better spiel that you do—and He, at least, died for my sins :-P
To be blunt, I think that what’s going on here is that you have an empathy deficit and so don’t experience the warm fuzzy feelings around helping people that some people do. There are some people who would immediately understand where I’m coming from, and say “that totally makes sense.” You seem to be Generalizing From One Example. I don’t know whether it’s genetic or environmental, mutable or immutable, but it’s sad.
Yes, so I’ll stop and withdraw.
I’m not generalizing—I’m pointing out that you, singular, you personally are doing it badly. And you are putting a lot of effort into not hearing this message. By the way, have you noticed how your last few comments started to focus on me and my shortcoming and deficiencies?
Not exclusively, I also mentioned my many years of failed efforts along these lines. I’m not claiming that my efforts have been useful. It’s possible that you’ve actually helped people more than I have. My comments about you were made with a view toward giving a comprehensive explanation of why I’m bowing out of the conversation.
The general pattern is “I tried to help people and they misconstrued it because they didn’t have enough empathy to have a visceral understanding of the fact that I wanted to help them, so rather than being touched, they just found it irritating, and I made sacrifices when it should have been a priori clear that they were doomed to failure.” I finally get it now.
The problem is that you believe that your internal motivation justifies your expectations of other people.
Because your intentions are virtuous you expect that other people be “touched”, be grateful, help you by steelmanning your arguments, etc. And it’s not a matter of empathy, it’s a matter of whether your state of mind imposes obligations on other people. It looks reasonable to you because from your point of view you only want to teach and it’s reasonable that other people help you teach them. But try taking an external view (and try being more consequentialist, too).
Christian missionaries appeared in this subthread not by accident—they also care and also want to help and also make sacrifices to teach what they teach.
We’re not in disagreement! :-) What I’m saying is that after many years, I finally came around to understanding what you’re telling me right now. Your remarks are a useful update further in the same direction. I’ve genuinely benefitted from this interaction.