I’m trying to get out of AP econ to self-study. What sources are did you use to study it? I am also getting out of being babysat for a year by taking the AP English exam. The head of the english department wasn’t too happy about it “We are required by law to let you do this”.
I quit playing sports because they took up too much time in my pursuit of knowledge. I have so little time for actually learning because I’m so busy jumping through hoops during the day. I thought about doing debate team, but I enjoy sleeping in on saturdays.
I think I will try explaining transhumanism to my peers now that you mention it, but I don’t know what to say without saying “if WBE happens, we could live in a Matrix and change it however we like”. They’re like “cool. matrix. gotcha.”
If I get the Thiel Fellowship I’m taking it. If not, I’m going to college.
I studied from my school’s textbook (it was free); the textbook recommendations might be better. If you just want a 5 on the AP test, buy the Princeton Review AP Macro/Micro book and memorize it. (Same goes for AP U.S. and AP World History).
Since you quit sports, do you actually spend more time pursuing knowledge? I find I spend more time procrastinating.
For transhumanism, I usually say, “Hey did you see that study? They might have figured out how to cure aging in mice.”
“Wow. Cool. Hopefully they figure it out for peop—actually, if they cure aging, we’re screwed. Overpopulation - ”
“Yeah, definitely. The thing is, all the people who should be figuring out how to deal with that stuff aren’t, because it sounds like sci-fi. So instead of thinking of solutions, they’re all just, like, ‘not going to happen’. Me, I hope they cure aging. Aging sucks.”
“You want to live forever?”
“I don’t want to die anytime soon, do you? And I think most people only want to die at 80 because being old isn’t much fun. If we were getting stronger, smarter, doing interesting stuff… Well, imagine being born in 1700. Wouldn’t you still want to be alive today? So much awesome stuff has happened since then...”
“That’d be pretty cool, actually. But if everyone lives forever...”
“That’s why we’ve got to figure this stuff out now, instead of just waiting to see what happens.”
(Of the methods I’ve tested, this seems to be the only conversation track that mostly avoids “But death is good....” conversations).
I usually try to strongly emphasise that curing ageing =/= living forever. I’ve found it much easier to convince people that curing ageing is a good idea, than living “forever”.
Agreed. But if you tell people you want to cure aging, a lot of them jump to ‘live forever’ - you have to consciously direct the conversation back to aging, if that’s what you want to discuss.
“That’d be pretty cool, actually. But if everyone lives forever...”
“That’s why we’ve got to figure this stuff out now, instead of just waiting to see what happens.”
Well, to be fair, everyone living forever while staying on Earth has some predictably bad consequences. But we’ve brought up Earth’s carrying capacity plenty of times before, and there are plausible ways that we could do it again. It’s an issue we’re probably going to have to address regardless.
It’s easier to get people to agree that we need to be thinking ahead and actively planning for transformative technologies, than it is to get them to agree that immortality is possible or desirable. But once they’ve agreed it is important to take these ideas seriously, then they will listen to much crazier sounding ideas, since they’ve starting thinking of themselves as people who Take Crazy-Sounding Ideas Seriously.
At first I didn’t spend more time studying, but at this point, I can definitely say that I do. However, I realized that I still have to exercise regularly in order to maintain my sanity/IQ so I cut my exercise time in half, but did not eliminate it.
And I’ll have to give that transhumanism discussion another go with my parents/friends. My basic argument is that if you don’t take it and it’s there, that’s suicide.
Which is true, but rarely persuasive. And it’s not really an argument for supporting organizations that are working to develop the technology, which is more important. (I imagine once a cure for aging actually exists, it will be relatively easy to persuade people to take it.)
And focusing on the potential good future has (at least for me) proven more effective than focusing on the utter stupidity of letting people die.
I think the general counter argument there is that people would become bored if they lived forever because they would do everything there is to do. These people aren’t very creative IMO. Or maybe they have just been brainwashed.
I’m trying to get out of AP econ to self-study. What sources are did you use to study it? I am also getting out of being babysat for a year by taking the AP English exam. The head of the english department wasn’t too happy about it “We are required by law to let you do this”.
I quit playing sports because they took up too much time in my pursuit of knowledge. I have so little time for actually learning because I’m so busy jumping through hoops during the day. I thought about doing debate team, but I enjoy sleeping in on saturdays.
I think I will try explaining transhumanism to my peers now that you mention it, but I don’t know what to say without saying “if WBE happens, we could live in a Matrix and change it however we like”. They’re like “cool. matrix. gotcha.”
If I get the Thiel Fellowship I’m taking it. If not, I’m going to college.
I studied from my school’s textbook (it was free); the textbook recommendations might be better. If you just want a 5 on the AP test, buy the Princeton Review AP Macro/Micro book and memorize it. (Same goes for AP U.S. and AP World History).
Since you quit sports, do you actually spend more time pursuing knowledge? I find I spend more time procrastinating.
For transhumanism, I usually say, “Hey did you see that study? They might have figured out how to cure aging in mice.”
“Wow. Cool. Hopefully they figure it out for peop—actually, if they cure aging, we’re screwed. Overpopulation - ”
“Yeah, definitely. The thing is, all the people who should be figuring out how to deal with that stuff aren’t, because it sounds like sci-fi. So instead of thinking of solutions, they’re all just, like, ‘not going to happen’. Me, I hope they cure aging. Aging sucks.”
“You want to live forever?”
“I don’t want to die anytime soon, do you? And I think most people only want to die at 80 because being old isn’t much fun. If we were getting stronger, smarter, doing interesting stuff… Well, imagine being born in 1700. Wouldn’t you still want to be alive today? So much awesome stuff has happened since then...”
“That’d be pretty cool, actually. But if everyone lives forever...”
“That’s why we’ve got to figure this stuff out now, instead of just waiting to see what happens.”
(Of the methods I’ve tested, this seems to be the only conversation track that mostly avoids “But death is good....” conversations).
I usually try to strongly emphasise that curing ageing =/= living forever. I’ve found it much easier to convince people that curing ageing is a good idea, than living “forever”.
Agreed. But if you tell people you want to cure aging, a lot of them jump to ‘live forever’ - you have to consciously direct the conversation back to aging, if that’s what you want to discuss.
Well, to be fair, everyone living forever while staying on Earth has some predictably bad consequences. But we’ve brought up Earth’s carrying capacity plenty of times before, and there are plausible ways that we could do it again. It’s an issue we’re probably going to have to address regardless.
That’s my point.
It’s easier to get people to agree that we need to be thinking ahead and actively planning for transformative technologies, than it is to get them to agree that immortality is possible or desirable. But once they’ve agreed it is important to take these ideas seriously, then they will listen to much crazier sounding ideas, since they’ve starting thinking of themselves as people who Take Crazy-Sounding Ideas Seriously.
At first I didn’t spend more time studying, but at this point, I can definitely say that I do. However, I realized that I still have to exercise regularly in order to maintain my sanity/IQ so I cut my exercise time in half, but did not eliminate it.
And I’ll have to give that transhumanism discussion another go with my parents/friends. My basic argument is that if you don’t take it and it’s there, that’s suicide.
Which is true, but rarely persuasive. And it’s not really an argument for supporting organizations that are working to develop the technology, which is more important. (I imagine once a cure for aging actually exists, it will be relatively easy to persuade people to take it.)
And focusing on the potential good future has (at least for me) proven more effective than focusing on the utter stupidity of letting people die.
I think the general counter argument there is that people would become bored if they lived forever because they would do everything there is to do. These people aren’t very creative IMO. Or maybe they have just been brainwashed.