Hey everyone! I’m Birdy, and currently in my second-to last-year of Germany’s equivalent of high school.
I’ve discovered LessWrong only about two months ago, after I saw someone mention HPMOR in their “top-ten-lifechanger-books ever”-list in a reddit thread. Needless to say, I was really confused and curious, because what crazy kind of fanfiction permanently affects people’s lives? So I looked it up online, and started reading. I stumbled upon LessWrong shortly after, while going down the rationality-rabbithole a bit further. And so, here I am, and genuinely believe that discovering this place is one of the greatest things to happen to me so far.
Arriving here felt like seeing sense in the world for the first time; my parents and brother aren’t involved in science or academics at all (unless you count the “alternative medicine” and pseudo-science my mum regularly gets from facebook). I genuinely wasn’t aware there even was a place like LessWrong, or that discussions could even be so civil, reasonable and informative.
I know I still have a lot to learn, even more to un-learn, but I’m looking forward to the journey. Two months already made me notice countless small, positive changes in the way I think and see myself and the world. (The only troublesome side effect: school has become much less tolerable as a whole. I’m truly trying to get through it with top grades, but now that I see how much time I waste there, it’s much harder to try and be interested in the actual material...)
When I was fourteen, I decided to become a politician; mostly out of frustration with where the world is headed, and how little I could to prevent it. I’m still very much interested in trying to help save the world from going to hell in the next few decades, but I’m very uncertain as to whether or not my current job aspirations are really the best way to reach that goal.
Regardless; I’m very glad to be here, and excited to contribute in whichever way I can.
You’re right—I don’t have even half as much of a clue about the whole process as I’d like to have, yet. I very much appreciate that you took the time to explain the basics to me.
Looking for reasonably reliable sources, joining a party, and building a certain reputation there should be extremely high on my list of priorities right now. I’ll be looking to check them off as soon as possible.
Thanks a lot!