My name is Dimitri Karcheglo. I’m 21, I live in Vancouver, Canada. I was born in Ukraine and immigrated to Vancouver with my family in 1998.
I found my way here via a recommendation from a friend i have in The Zeitgeist Movement. He recommended Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality to me, as well as the Less Wrong wiki/sequences. I’ve red HPMOR at least 10 times over now (I have a thing with re-reading. I don’t get bored by it.) I’ve also read some of the material on the site (though not a lot yet. Just “map and territory” and “mysterious answers to mysterious questions”).
In terms of my education, I have studied one year of computer programming back in 07⁄08 and one year of civil Engineering in 08⁄09. The last couple years have been taking a course or two and working, living on my own taking a break from serious school. I plan to continue Civil Engineering full time next fall (12/13 year).
I was raised by parents who are both fairly proficient in math and problem solving. As such i is not surprising that i developed a talent for those spheres, and, by extension, rationality. I have a tendency to over-analyze things, which often ends up prolonging discussions beyond reasonable time frames.
I’ve come here partly for myself and partly for others. I want to improve myself and get rid of as many of my flaws as possible. At the same time i want to learn how to teach others rational thinking as well. Hopefully some teaching methods on this site that will (again hopefully) work for me will work for those i talk to as well. I find it’s extremely difficult to teach people to think rationally, because naturally, they think they already are. Its hard to make people understand the depths to which you need to go in your thinking process to really start looking at things properly and getting rid of biases. And the hardest thing of all seems to be to get people to admit they’re wrong. if anyone has some good tactics for this i would greatly appreciate you sharing it.
Some of my main interests:
Politics:
Mainly in the sphere of removing corruption. Ultimately i hold no political beliefs other then that politics is useless and that a rational society has no need for government. I’m not left, right, center. I’m not up or down. I’m simply not there. If we attach “poltics” to the structuring of society then yes, i have a lot of ideas and belifs there that i hold fairly strongly (though of course they are set in stone). However me going into those may be too much for this one post to handle ;)
Economics:
I know a fair bit about our economic and especially our monetary system via some documentaries and independent research i’ve done. I hold the view that a resource-based economy is the way to go for us right now given we have the technological capability to pull it off now. Capitalism was useful in the late 19th and early 20th century, but has run out of utility ( or at least its utility has vastly diminished and it’s consequences have exponentially increased)
Psychology, especially in connection to developing it. Nature vs nurture argument.
I’m interested in how people become what they become psychologically. why they arrive at their decisions. The influences and stimuli that lead (i go as far as to say forced) them there. I’m a believer in both nature and nurture working together. My view is that genes are not pre-deterministic in their influences on psychology, but rather give us propensities towards certain psychological traits. Our environment and upbringing are what determine which genes are activated and which aren’t, as well as what genetic mutations occur. My view point largely comes from the documentary “Zeitgeist 3: Moving Forward.” It’s available on youtube for free for anyone interested in learning more on this subject (as well as what a resource based economy is).
The last paragraph brought to mind that in my current state of mind i’m largely influenced in the way i think from what i’ve learned from The Zeitgeist Movement, and the further research it inspired me to do.
Anyway, thats a little about me. Anyone interested can ask more, I’m fairly open with sharing info about myself (but no, you can’t have my bank account number).
I’d like to thank the founders of the site and especially EY for his work on both this website, the goldmine of information and thought-provoking ideas that it is, and for HPMOR, which i enjoyed immensely and will continue to follow as long as it is updated. I hope to learn a lot from all of you, and hopefully eventually be able to teach others myself. Sharing is caring, especially for knowledge and understandings.
Cheers,
Dimitri Karcheglo IRL
Benevolence on the internet
Greeting Less Wrong!
My name is Dimitri Karcheglo. I’m 21, I live in Vancouver, Canada. I was born in Ukraine and immigrated to Vancouver with my family in 1998.
I found my way here via a recommendation from a friend i have in The Zeitgeist Movement. He recommended Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality to me, as well as the Less Wrong wiki/sequences. I’ve red HPMOR at least 10 times over now (I have a thing with re-reading. I don’t get bored by it.) I’ve also read some of the material on the site (though not a lot yet. Just “map and territory” and “mysterious answers to mysterious questions”).
In terms of my education, I have studied one year of computer programming back in 07⁄08 and one year of civil Engineering in 08⁄09. The last couple years have been taking a course or two and working, living on my own taking a break from serious school. I plan to continue Civil Engineering full time next fall (12/13 year).
I was raised by parents who are both fairly proficient in math and problem solving. As such i is not surprising that i developed a talent for those spheres, and, by extension, rationality. I have a tendency to over-analyze things, which often ends up prolonging discussions beyond reasonable time frames.
I’ve come here partly for myself and partly for others. I want to improve myself and get rid of as many of my flaws as possible. At the same time i want to learn how to teach others rational thinking as well. Hopefully some teaching methods on this site that will (again hopefully) work for me will work for those i talk to as well. I find it’s extremely difficult to teach people to think rationally, because naturally, they think they already are. Its hard to make people understand the depths to which you need to go in your thinking process to really start looking at things properly and getting rid of biases. And the hardest thing of all seems to be to get people to admit they’re wrong. if anyone has some good tactics for this i would greatly appreciate you sharing it.
Some of my main interests:
Politics: Mainly in the sphere of removing corruption. Ultimately i hold no political beliefs other then that politics is useless and that a rational society has no need for government. I’m not left, right, center. I’m not up or down. I’m simply not there. If we attach “poltics” to the structuring of society then yes, i have a lot of ideas and belifs there that i hold fairly strongly (though of course they are set in stone). However me going into those may be too much for this one post to handle ;)
Economics: I know a fair bit about our economic and especially our monetary system via some documentaries and independent research i’ve done. I hold the view that a resource-based economy is the way to go for us right now given we have the technological capability to pull it off now. Capitalism was useful in the late 19th and early 20th century, but has run out of utility ( or at least its utility has vastly diminished and it’s consequences have exponentially increased)
Psychology, especially in connection to developing it. Nature vs nurture argument. I’m interested in how people become what they become psychologically. why they arrive at their decisions. The influences and stimuli that lead (i go as far as to say forced) them there. I’m a believer in both nature and nurture working together. My view is that genes are not pre-deterministic in their influences on psychology, but rather give us propensities towards certain psychological traits. Our environment and upbringing are what determine which genes are activated and which aren’t, as well as what genetic mutations occur. My view point largely comes from the documentary “Zeitgeist 3: Moving Forward.” It’s available on youtube for free for anyone interested in learning more on this subject (as well as what a resource based economy is).
The last paragraph brought to mind that in my current state of mind i’m largely influenced in the way i think from what i’ve learned from The Zeitgeist Movement, and the further research it inspired me to do.
Anyway, thats a little about me. Anyone interested can ask more, I’m fairly open with sharing info about myself (but no, you can’t have my bank account number).
I’d like to thank the founders of the site and especially EY for his work on both this website, the goldmine of information and thought-provoking ideas that it is, and for HPMOR, which i enjoyed immensely and will continue to follow as long as it is updated. I hope to learn a lot from all of you, and hopefully eventually be able to teach others myself. Sharing is caring, especially for knowledge and understandings.
Cheers, Dimitri Karcheglo IRL Benevolence on the internet