Hello! I’m a 19 year old woman in Washington state, studying microbiology as an undergraduate. I was introduced to the “scene” when a friend recommended HPMOR in high school. I was raised in an atheist household with a fairly strong value on science, so it was novel if not mind-blowing- but still encouraged me to think about the way I think, read some of the Sequences, and get into Sam Harris and Carl Sagan. At college I began reading the rest of Less Wrong, and some related sites, and began identifying as a rationalist.
(Well, let’s be honest here- I also moved from a math-and-science-oriented high school to a very liberal college, where my social identity changed from “artsy and literary” to “science-y and analytic”. I would be lying if I said that trying to live up to it wasn’t a compelling factor!)
LW and 80,000 hours also motivated me to change several of my long-held beliefs (at the moment, I can think of immortality and, well, er, most areas of rationality, which I guess is expected), and re-evaluate my career plans- changing my intended focus from environmental research or emerging diseases, to neglected tropical diseases (if this happens to be anyone’s area of expertise, I’d be interested to hear!)
Anyways, I’ve been integrating the website into my head for some time now, and, equipped with the moniker of my favorite family of wasp, think it’s about time to (begin, very slowly, to) integrate my head into the website. Nice to be here!
Hello! I’m a 19 year old woman in Washington state, studying microbiology as an undergraduate. I was introduced to the “scene” when a friend recommended HPMOR in high school. I was raised in an atheist household with a fairly strong value on science, so it was novel if not mind-blowing- but still encouraged me to think about the way I think, read some of the Sequences, and get into Sam Harris and Carl Sagan. At college I began reading the rest of Less Wrong, and some related sites, and began identifying as a rationalist.
(Well, let’s be honest here- I also moved from a math-and-science-oriented high school to a very liberal college, where my social identity changed from “artsy and literary” to “science-y and analytic”. I would be lying if I said that trying to live up to it wasn’t a compelling factor!)
LW and 80,000 hours also motivated me to change several of my long-held beliefs (at the moment, I can think of immortality and, well, er, most areas of rationality, which I guess is expected), and re-evaluate my career plans- changing my intended focus from environmental research or emerging diseases, to neglected tropical diseases (if this happens to be anyone’s area of expertise, I’d be interested to hear!)
Anyways, I’ve been integrating the website into my head for some time now, and, equipped with the moniker of my favorite family of wasp, think it’s about time to (begin, very slowly, to) integrate my head into the website. Nice to be here!
Welcome to LW!