I’m Ellen, age 14, student, planning to major in molecular biology or something like that. I’m not set on it, though.
I think I was browsing wikipedia when I decided to google some related things. I think I found some libertarian or anarchist blog that then had a link to Overcoming Bias or Lesswrong. Or I might’ve seen the word transhumanism on the wiki page for libertarianism and googled it, with it eventually leading here somehow. My memory is fuzzy as it was pretty irrelevant to me.
I’m an atheist, and have been for a while, as is typical for this community. I wasn’t brought up religiously, so it was pretty much untheism that turned into atheism.
My rationalist roots… I’ve always wanted to be right, of course. Partly because I could make mistakes from being wrong, partly because I really, really hated looking stupid. Then I figured that I couldn’t know if I was right unless I listened to the other side, really listened, and was careful. (Not enough people do even this. People are crazy, the world is mad. Angst, angst.) I found lesswrong which has given me tools to much more effectively do this. w00t.
I’m really lazy. Curse you, akrasia!
It should be obvious how I came up with my username. Aren’t I original?
Some other hobbies I have are gaming and anime/manga. Amusingly enough, I barely ever watch any anime. The internet is very distracting.
Edit: Some of this stuff is outdated. I don’t plan to major in molecular biology, for one, and I don’t like how I wrote the rationalist roots part. Meh.
I doubt anyone is going to see this, but I’m 16 now and plan to major in Computer Science.
Welcome on board! You’re a key segment of my target audience, so please speak up if you have any thoughts on things I could have done better in my writing.
I strongly recommend people go to school for something they find interesting, but since I don’t think it’s commonly known information, I would like to note that salaries for biologists are lower than for other scientists. Lots more people graduate with PhDs in biology than PhDs in physics which really drives down the salaries for biologists that don’t have tenure. Though if you plan on going to professional school (medical school, business school, etc.), a molecular biology degree is a good thing to have if you enjoy molecular biology. Again, I really think people should go to school for something they like, but if you want to make a lot of money, don’t become a researching biologist. Biology researchers with MD’s do a lot better financially.
I’m Ellen, age 14, student, planning to major in molecular biology or something like that. I’m not set on it, though.
I think I was browsing wikipedia when I decided to google some related things. I think I found some libertarian or anarchist blog that then had a link to Overcoming Bias or Lesswrong. Or I might’ve seen the word transhumanism on the wiki page for libertarianism and googled it, with it eventually leading here somehow. My memory is fuzzy as it was pretty irrelevant to me.
I’m an atheist, and have been for a while, as is typical for this community. I wasn’t brought up religiously, so it was pretty much untheism that turned into atheism.
My rationalist roots… I’ve always wanted to be right, of course. Partly because I could make mistakes from being wrong, partly because I really, really hated looking stupid. Then I figured that I couldn’t know if I was right unless I listened to the other side, really listened, and was careful. (Not enough people do even this. People are crazy, the world is mad. Angst, angst.) I found lesswrong which has given me tools to much more effectively do this. w00t.
I’m really lazy. Curse you, akrasia!
It should be obvious how I came up with my username. Aren’t I original?
Some other hobbies I have are gaming and anime/manga. Amusingly enough, I barely ever watch any anime. The internet is very distracting.
Edit: Some of this stuff is outdated. I don’t plan to major in molecular biology, for one, and I don’t like how I wrote the rationalist roots part. Meh. I doubt anyone is going to see this, but I’m 16 now and plan to major in Computer Science.
Welcome on board! You’re a key segment of my target audience, so please speak up if you have any thoughts on things I could have done better in my writing.
I strongly recommend people go to school for something they find interesting, but since I don’t think it’s commonly known information, I would like to note that salaries for biologists are lower than for other scientists. Lots more people graduate with PhDs in biology than PhDs in physics which really drives down the salaries for biologists that don’t have tenure. Though if you plan on going to professional school (medical school, business school, etc.), a molecular biology degree is a good thing to have if you enjoy molecular biology. Again, I really think people should go to school for something they like, but if you want to make a lot of money, don’t become a researching biologist. Biology researchers with MD’s do a lot better financially.
I know it’s been over a year, but thanks :)
Apparently not. O, but welcome!