Hi everyone,
I am a 19 year old undergraduate science student majoring in statistics living in Australia. For fun I play chess and flute which I am quite mediocre at but find them both stimulating and challenging. I am always trying to improve myself in one way or another, whether it be learning or practicing skills.
I have an academic interest in maths, statistics and biology and would eventually want to be a biostatistician. I was originally seen as academically gifted, however after years of not working hard, I am trying to regain my academic vigor and educate myself, which I have neglected for a number of years. I am working to educate myself in quantum physics, cryonics, philosophy and AI as I think these are all important issues that I don’t know a lot about.
I value truth, as I think it always for the best in the long run. I believe “That which can be destroyed by truth should” is valid and I try to follow the 12 virtues of Rationality. I’m sure I value a lot of other things but haven’t thought about them much.
My journey as a rationalist has been an interesting one. I have always affiliated with being a rationalist since when I can remember. However, I have found that being rational hasn’t gone well with my more emotionally-inclined friends. I have found that being logical is off-putting to them and that they don’t like being shown when they are wrong. This made me question whether rationality is a good thing in my life and whether it was beneficial to my life. This prompted to me to reassess rationality and read more on Less Wrong. This reaffirmed my opinion that rationality a good thing and I should work on not offending people.
That is all I feel like writing for the moment as that took me a few hours. Hopefully that is enough of an introduction.
If there is anything you think that I should read, please link me. I always want to learn new things.
I look forward to engaging in discussion with many of you.
Kind Regards,
Actually, several of the chapters of this book are very likely completely wrong and the rest are on shakier foundations than I believed 9 years ago (similar to other works of social psychology that accurately reported typical expert views at the time). See here for further elaboration.
I’m on the fence about recommending this book now, but please read skeptically if you do choose to read it.
Hi everyone, I am a 19 year old undergraduate science student majoring in statistics living in Australia. For fun I play chess and flute which I am quite mediocre at but find them both stimulating and challenging. I am always trying to improve myself in one way or another, whether it be learning or practicing skills.
I have an academic interest in maths, statistics and biology and would eventually want to be a biostatistician. I was originally seen as academically gifted, however after years of not working hard, I am trying to regain my academic vigor and educate myself, which I have neglected for a number of years. I am working to educate myself in quantum physics, cryonics, philosophy and AI as I think these are all important issues that I don’t know a lot about.
I value truth, as I think it always for the best in the long run. I believe “That which can be destroyed by truth should” is valid and I try to follow the 12 virtues of Rationality. I’m sure I value a lot of other things but haven’t thought about them much.
My journey as a rationalist has been an interesting one. I have always affiliated with being a rationalist since when I can remember. However, I have found that being rational hasn’t gone well with my more emotionally-inclined friends. I have found that being logical is off-putting to them and that they don’t like being shown when they are wrong. This made me question whether rationality is a good thing in my life and whether it was beneficial to my life. This prompted to me to reassess rationality and read more on Less Wrong. This reaffirmed my opinion that rationality a good thing and I should work on not offending people.
That is all I feel like writing for the moment as that took me a few hours. Hopefully that is enough of an introduction. If there is anything you think that I should read, please link me. I always want to learn new things. I look forward to engaging in discussion with many of you. Kind Regards,
Fluchess
Hi, welcome to Less Wrong !
For things that you should read, I can give you three very classical (for LW) hints :
The book Goedel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter.
Read the Sequences, they are really worth it.
The Less Wrong list (started by lukeprog, expanded by others) of the best textbooks on every subject
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman should be part of the Less Wrong canon by now.
Actually, several of the chapters of this book are very likely completely wrong and the rest are on shakier foundations than I believed 9 years ago (similar to other works of social psychology that accurately reported typical expert views at the time). See here for further elaboration.
I’m on the fence about recommending this book now, but please read skeptically if you do choose to read it.
Thanks for the welcome and for the links