“Who am I?”
I am a Network Engineer, who once used to know a bit of math (sadly, not anymore).
Male, around 30, works in IT, atheist—I think I’ll blend right in.
“How did I discover lesswrong?”
Like the vast majority, I discovered lesswrong after reading HPMOR many years ago. It remains my favourite book to this day. HPMOR and the Sequences taught me a lot of new ideas and, more importantly, put what I already knew into a proper perspective. By the time HPMOR was finally finished, I was no longer sure where my worldview happened to coincide with Mr. Yudkowsky, and where it was shaped by him entirely. This might be due to me learning something new, or a mixture of wishful thinking, hindsight bias and the illusion of transparency, I don’t know.
I know this—HPMOR nudged me from nihilism to the much rosier and downright cuddly worldview of optimistic nihilism, for which I will be (come on singularity, come on singularity!) eternally grateful.
“When did I became a rationalist?”
I like to think of my self as rational in my day-to-day, but I would not describe myself as a rationalist—by the same logic that says a white belt doesn’t get to assume the title of master for showing up. Or have I mixed those up and “rational” is the far loftier description?
“Future plans?”
I am now making a second flyby over the Sequences, this time with comments. I have a few ideas for posts that might be useful to someone and a 90% complete plotline for an HPMOR sequel (Eliezer, you magnificent bastard, did you have to tease a Prologue?!!!).
Looking forward to meeting some of you (or anyone, really) in the comments and may we all survive this planet together.
Thank you! You have no idea how happy your reply makes me! In an irrationally large part, because I’ve seen your name in a book, but I just cannot help myself. You are alive! (Duh!) More importantly, the lesswrong community is alive! (Double Duh!, but going through the Sequences’ comments can be a bit discouraging—like playing the first levels of a MMORPG, while the experienced player base has moved on to level 50.) Hopefully, we’ll have many interesting discussions once I catch up. So much to look forward to! Will Alicorn be there? Will TheOtherDave explain what happened to the original Dave? You guys are legends.
P.S. Sorry for the delayed response, I didn’t notice the number next to the bell earlier. I’ll make sure to check it frequently from now on.
No worries :) and no reason to be sorry- the bell is quite obvious on PC, but my android phone only shows it when scrolling. Probably an issue on my side.
Hello lesswrong community!
“Who am I?” I am a Network Engineer, who once used to know a bit of math (sadly, not anymore). Male, around 30, works in IT, atheist—I think I’ll blend right in.
“How did I discover lesswrong?” Like the vast majority, I discovered lesswrong after reading HPMOR many years ago. It remains my favourite book to this day. HPMOR and the Sequences taught me a lot of new ideas and, more importantly, put what I already knew into a proper perspective. By the time HPMOR was finally finished, I was no longer sure where my worldview happened to coincide with Mr. Yudkowsky, and where it was shaped by him entirely. This might be due to me learning something new, or a mixture of wishful thinking, hindsight bias and the illusion of transparency, I don’t know. I know this—HPMOR nudged me from nihilism to the much rosier and downright cuddly worldview of optimistic nihilism, for which I will be (come on singularity, come on singularity!) eternally grateful.
“When did I became a rationalist?” I like to think of my self as rational in my day-to-day, but I would not describe myself as a rationalist—by the same logic that says a white belt doesn’t get to assume the title of master for showing up. Or have I mixed those up and “rational” is the far loftier description?
“Future plans?” I am now making a second flyby over the Sequences, this time with comments. I have a few ideas for posts that might be useful to someone and a 90% complete plotline for an HPMOR sequel (Eliezer, you magnificent bastard, did you have to tease a Prologue?!!!).
Looking forward to meeting some of you (or anyone, really) in the comments and may we all survive this planet together.
Welcome! Glad to have you join us!
Thank you! You have no idea how happy your reply makes me! In an irrationally large part, because I’ve seen your name in a book, but I just cannot help myself. You are alive! (Duh!) More importantly, the lesswrong community is alive! (Double Duh!, but going through the Sequences’ comments can be a bit discouraging—like playing the first levels of a MMORPG, while the experienced player base has moved on to level 50.) Hopefully, we’ll have many interesting discussions once I catch up. So much to look forward to! Will Alicorn be there? Will TheOtherDave explain what happened to the original Dave? You guys are legends.
P.S. Sorry for the delayed response, I didn’t notice the number next to the bell earlier. I’ll make sure to check it frequently from now on.
Glad to hear that! :) Looking forward to many future conversations, and sorry for the bell icon not being as obvious.
No worries :) and no reason to be sorry- the bell is quite obvious on PC, but my android phone only shows it when scrolling. Probably an issue on my side.