January 2018 Media Thread
This is the monthly thread for posting media of various types that you’ve found that you enjoy. Post what you’re reading, listening to, watching, and your opinion of it. Post recommendations to blogs. Post whatever media you feel like discussing! To see previous recommendations, check out the older threads.
Rules:
Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don’t personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person’s recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please post only under one of the already created subthreads, and never directly under the parent media thread.
Use the “Other Media” thread if you believe the piece of media you want to discuss doesn’t fit under any of the established categories.
Use the “Meta” thread if you want to discuss about the monthly media thread itself (e.g. to propose adding/removing/splitting/merging subthreads, or to discuss the type of content properly belonging to each subthread) or for any other question or issue you may have about the thread or the rules.
Short Online Texts Thread
Online Videos Thread
I’ve started creating a series of YouTube videos on the dangers of artificial general intelligence.
Fanfiction Thread
Nonfiction Books Thread
Audiobooks I completed in 2017
Books I completed in 2017
My favorite books I read this year
Fiction Books Thread
TV and Movies (Animation) Thread
Not a specific piece, but a great resource if you appreciate animation.
https://mobile.twitter.com/_ibcf_?lang=en
Spotlights the obscure, and highlights the quirkier details of what’s mainstream.
TV and Movies (Live Action) Thread
Games Thread
Music Thread
The Philosopher’s Polar North (can also be translated as The Philosopher’s Apex) [Nhato Remix]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc4zZ43R9o0
Turn on captions to see the lyrics and their English translation. The song says a lot about searching for truth and knowledge that I find powerful.
Some excerpts from the translated lyrics:
Accepting even those facts I have denied, ＜before time melts my memories away＞
I absentmindedly lift “truth” from an uneven distribution <as a god might guide fate＞
Even my current knowledge is still uncertain, swaying,
so with my current knowledge I should be able to keep seeking
When I break out of this shell I’ll reach out over everything
Everything in this world is in my mind; everything, is being drawn in
Everything that has been represented with a model has form,
in this infinite space inside my mind, can move freely
Everything is recorded in the observer’s eyes
Even the deficiencies in my imagination can be immediately supplemented by literature,
and so my descent continues –
Until the endless simulations converge into one
if there must exist “things that cannot be proven”,
I’ll just know everything there is
I’ve recently begun listening to a few bands that are new to me—Parov Stelar, Tape Five, Caravan Palace, and Goldfish. I have found the upbeat tempo of electro-swing to be helpful when I want to improve my mood.
Podcasts Thread
Other Media Thread
Meta Thread
https://www.gwern.net/newsletter/2017/12
Best of 2017: https://www.gwern.net/newsletter/2017/13