Joshua_Blaine

Karma: 612

Joshua_Blaine 8 Apr 2015 1:38 UTC
13 points
in reply to: maxikov’s comment on: Even better cryonics – because who needs nanites anyway?
That’s a very sound (pun partially intended) insight, and I don’t immediately see a significant reason for why that shouldn’t be the case.

However, humans aren’t perfectly uniform spheres of water (to borrow from a common physics joke), so some concerns do still exist. Namely: Pressure might propagate through them less predictably/quickly than just water, and different areas of the body might begin freezing at different pressures/in different orders (which can, however, be countered by raising pressures quickly).

I have updated significantly in the direction of “This idea might actually be very valuable to cryonics proponents,” for sure.

Joshua_Blaine 7 Apr 2015 22:08 UTC
29 points
on: Even better cryonics – because who needs nanites anyway?
First off, I love that you’re actively pursuing alternative methods of human preservation. That’s awesome, and I hope you manage to find some useful ideas in your search. However, I fear that this approach in particular doesn’t really solve the problem that cryoprotectants successfully do (toxicity briefly aside).

without cryoprotectants the water will expand upon freezing, and break the cells.

This line in particular is my biggest point of contention. I am by no means an expert in this field, and my understanding may be moot in this context, but the expansion of water-ice crystals isn’t the central concern for frozen biological cells. A quickly found source claims that:

Since ice is essentially pure H2O, ice formation can increase the concentration of minerals in the remaining cytosol to a toxic level. The increased mineral concentration in the cytosol will cause water to be drawn in from the surrounding cells by osmosis, which can cause the cell to swell and burst.

Alcor’s official FAQ also says that:

When tissue is slowly cooled, ice first forms between cells. The growing ice crystals increase the concentration of solutes in the remaining liquid around them, causing osmotic dehydration of cells.

Your method doesn’t prevent the formation of ice crystals, it merely changes the structure of the crystals, and at what temperature they form, so I suspect harmful cell osmosis can still occur. Of course, I could be insufficiently understanding why ice crystals effect the mineral concentration of cytosol, or the order in which certain biological areas freeze under variable conditions, and your smaller ice/lower freezing temperature would successfully prevent this issue. I don’t believe this is necessarily the case, given your explanation, but if anyone who’s more studied in these fields could speak up, I’d be happy to defer to their expertise.

Joshua_Blaine 28 Oct 2014 23:09 UTC
35 points
on: 2014 Less Wrong Census/Survey
The ritual has been completed. I await my karmic reword, as per tradition.

There was a lot of good variance in the calibration questions (for me), so nice job thinking of them! Gur ivqrb tnzr dhrfgvba va cnegvphyne fhecevfrq zr jura V ybbxrq hc gur nafjre, nf rira nf n uhtr Zvarpensg sna V unqa’g ernyvmrq vg orng bhg frpbaq cynpr ol 3 zvyyvba.

Also, in a fit of needless cleverness, I made my public key decryptable (by my private key) into a plaintext message that works as an extra layer of identification in the case that I win the money.

Joshua_Blaine 14 Oct 2014 21:09 UTC
0 points
in reply to: [deleted]’s comment on: Happiness Logging: One Year In
I think ordering/ranking experiences would be more successful (in general) than trying to just give them scores.

An example of such a system: Every ping asks you to briefly describe the previous hour, and then shows you a list of every other ping you’ve written for the last week/month or so. You then put the description wherever it fits in the list, above everything that was less fun to experience, and below everything that was more fun.

In this way it’s very easy to notice happiness trends (whether or not you’re getting happier or sadder over time) without worrying about associating the same activity with the same score, even if it’s becoming less or more fun to do.

Joshua_Blaine 7 Oct 2014 19:46 UTC
3 points
in reply to: DataPacRat’s comment on: October 2014 Bragging thread.
Tsuyoku naritai indeed! I haven’t been keeping up with the story since my original binge back when book 2 as still in-progress, and you’ve really been getting things done, wow. Keep it up!

Joshua_Blaine 7 Oct 2014 19:07 UTC
31 points
on: October 2014 Bragging thread.
To start off with something everyone here will be interested in, I’ve recently and finally finished the first part of my video version of The Useful Idea of Truth (LW post here, Youtube link here). It seems well liked, and I’m even wondering if I should’ve posted it to Main. To understand what finishing this project means to me may be hard, as it means a lot. I have learned a ton doing this, and am really happy with the final look. My previous video editing experience was basically putting still frames and videos in sequential order with a spoken voice overtop. I’m 18 years old. I’m 18 and inexperienced and I just made something that I consider on par with CGP Grey in production quality, and he’s been making videos professionally for years. It’s so great to look at one of my idols, say “I bet I could do that too,” and then actually do it. There’s a real-world benchmark for this skill I’ve never really done before, and I matched it. I’m developing as a person, learning and training new skills, and it’s feeling great. Of course, at >80 hours for that 6 minute video, my production rate isn’t so great, given I still have schooling and work to worry about. I’m sure I can optimize, slim down, and otherwise improve my workflow, and I’d love to just jump right into doing this full-time, cranking out LW videos every other week, but I can’t. I’ve got a bit of a pipe dream, of course, that crowd-funding or an official sponsor could keep me going until Youtube add revenue/Subable/Patreon can support me, but I’m not confident there’s room in people’s budget for something like this work to become a priority for them.

Less of public interest, I have made a lot of progress with my schooling. This last spring I made an arrangement with my High school to do my Senior year somewhat differently than is standard. Thanks to advanced placement classes completed in previous years, I had only 3 credits needed to graduate, so I had the option to just do those 3 courses at my own pace, over the summer. 2 have been completed (yay me, I can self-motivate!) , and all I have left to finish is my English 12 class. 4 days ago, I buckled down and finished the 1st of the 4 papers I need to do. The reading needed for the others is getting done quickly, and I’m happy with what progress I have done already. I look forward finishing High School without having to actually go to school, and the validation of my previous feelings toward self-paced lessons is nice.

Joshua_Blaine 5 Oct 2014 20:36 UTC
3 points
in reply to: Ben Pace’s comment on: [Link] Animated Video—The Useful Idea of Truth (Part 1/3)
That’s one of my larger concerns about this format, actually. Only watching one video, out of the context of the others, could be more harmful than good. Even videos that are more independently consumable than this one run into the problem that knowing about biases can hurt people.

However, I think (eventually) having a large bank of videos for viewers to binge on, and including links directly to related LW posts I haven’t yet covered is a good enough band-aid to assuage that worry.

Joshua_Blaine 5 Oct 2014 3:39 UTC
3 points
in reply to: Dustin’s comment on: [Link] Animated Video—The Useful Idea of Truth (Part 1/3)
I don’t really, though I did show the video to a couple people while making it, at different in-progress points, but there was never the specific instruction to look for spelling errors. If there is anyone here interesting in joining such a group for official “proofreading” purposes, comment here or send me a PM. I’ll get to organizing a mailing list/subreddit/something to suit the purpose.

Joshua_Blaine 5 Oct 2014 0:31 UTC
1 point
in reply to: Shmi’s comment on: [Link] Animated Video—The Useful Idea of Truth (Part 1/3)
Thank you for the feedback! I do plan to make many more, but unfortunately, these videos will easily have 2 or more months between each other, unless I can get the income to support myself working on them near full time. This little project took >80 hours of work.

As of now, I don’t plan to go back and fix small errors, like misspellings. It’s possible, and I do apreciate you pointing them out where they exist, but it’s a lot of trouble to do.

Joshua_Blaine 5 Oct 2014 0:25 UTC
5 points
in reply to: fubarobfusco’s comment on: [Link] Animated Video—The Useful Idea of Truth (Part 1/3)
I agree with you. If you pay attention, you’ll notice the overall presentation of the text changes dramatically as the video goes forward. This correlates to the lessons I learned in real time while making it, and the earlier video is only like the way it is because I didn’t feel like going back and changing things was an important enough of an improvement to warrant the effort.

Joshua_Blaine 11 Sep 2014 22:18 UTC
3 points
in reply to: John_Maxwell’s comment on: Robin Hanson’s “Overcoming Bias” posts as an e-book.
The /domain/ use of Reddit is not something I’d ever heard of before. It seems like a very nice tool, and I’m glad you’ve shared it.

Joshua_Blaine 6 Sep 2014 0:19 UTC
1 point
in reply to: gjm’s comment on: Open thread, Sept. 1-7, 2014
That’s fantastic advice, and it’s made me realize a lesson in gradually adapting my design decisions.

My original plans included (mostly) kinetic typography with the occasional visual aid. The elaborate style used for presenting the text was the main mechanic for capturing attention and differentiating it from an audiobook. As work was being done, however, I started adding more visualizations, and making the visualizations more compelling, more the point of focus, and otherwise moving into animating scenarios than animating words. The text, to not distract from what was now the focus of the video, has been becoming much more closed captioning than than anything else, and I hadn’t realized that until now.

I may or may not incorporate a more “chunky” presentation of words in this video (mostly because the thought of going back through what I have already and changing it is a daunting task, and negative-reinforcement for ever completing this thing at all), but I’m happy to say it’s something that now exists in my possible design space, and will definitely be a consideration for future videos.

Joshua_Blaine 6 Sep 2014 0:02 UTC
2 points
in reply to: Vulture’s comment on: Open thread, Sept. 1-7, 2014
The final product will be 720x1280, so hopefully that isn’t a significant problem. I’ll try and keep wider kerning/spacing in mind as I move forward, though. Thank you for the feedback!

Joshua_Blaine 3 Sep 2014 22:06 UTC
14 points
on: Open thread, Sept. 1-7, 2014
My work on converting The Useful Idea of Truth into a video is going well. I didn’t successfully anticipate the time that would be necessary to finish, but things are getting done at an acceptable pace. The best thing I can say, for sure, is that the overall style and presentation of the work has come a nice way forward since the start of this project, especially after working in some of the suggestions and impressions I’ve gotten from people.

(Included here is a short GIF of one of the recent portions that I’m particularly fond of, so additional criticism and suggestions for improvement are especially welcome.)

Joshua_Blaine 3 Sep 2014 21:27 UTC
0 points
on: Open thread, 25-31 August 2014
Ignore this. It is a test of embedding images in LessWrong’s comments.

Joshua_Blaine 25 Aug 2014 21:06 UTC
2 points
on: Open thread, 25-31 August 2014
My comment in the previous thread.

I’d like to share a finished portion of my “Useful Idea of Truth” video for minor feedback, if people are interested in seeing it. The Sally-Anne task explained.

Let me know what you like, what you don’t, and if you think these videos will be worth the time I put into them.

Joshua_Blaine 25 Aug 2014 1:31 UTC
2 points
in reply to: 2ZctE’s comment on: Open thread, 18-24 August 2014
I’m a little surprised I haven’t gotten more complaints like that, actually. Anything to refine the look, feel, and overall usability of what I make is great to hear, so keep up the complaining! The final product will, however, be a video with a voice saying everything the kinetic text does, so hopefully the difficulty of reading is mitigated by the ability to listen instead/as well. Should that not be the case, it’s very easy for me to do less elaborate text in future videos.

Joshua_Blaine 22 Aug 2014 1:35 UTC
6 points
on: Open thread, 18-24 August 2014
As I understand the situation, converting the main Sequences into a long series of short, well presented online videos would be awesome and a valuable resource (examples of the imagined format of such videos include the Youtube channels CGP Grey and CrashCourse) . I’m currently working on turning a Less Wrong post (The 1st 3rd of The Useful Idea of Truth) into one such video, and had a thought. Is it within the interests of either MIRI or CFAR to fund the production of video versions of Less Wrong posts? It’s something I’m interested in starting dialogue about, as I’m significantly constrained by my existing position, and employment would be a huge help in getting better videos done faster.

Edit: Because I love teasers and hype, and I want to get some evidence out there that I do know what I’m doing, Here’s a little taste of what I’ve got done already, in soundless HTML5 form. Just the 1st 14 seconds of the section of the video that explains the Sally-Anne Task.
What links here?
- Joshua_Blaine's comment on Open thread, 25-31 August 2014 by jaime2000 (25 Aug 2014 21:06 UTC; 2 points)

Joshua_Blaine 12 Aug 2014 18:10 UTC
5 points
in reply to: [deleted]’s comment on: Open thread, 11-17 August 2014
I’ve not personally finished my own arrangements, but I’ll likely be using whole life of some kind. I do know that Rudi Hoffman is an agent well recommended by people who’ve gone the insurance route, so talking to him will likely get you a much better idea of what choices people make (A small warning, his sight is not the prettiest thing). You could also contact the people recommended on Alcor’s Insurance Agents page, if you so desire.

Joshua_Blaine 8 Aug 2014 20:50 UTC
3 points
in reply to: SolveIt’s comment on: Bragging Thread, August 2014
Is that “I’m sure I’ll manage somehow” because thinking about the problem is uncomfortable so you’re brain is creating a comforting excuse, or because you’ve known yourself to solve similarly difficult problems in the past? I ask because you don’t want to get burnt later if it’s the former, and I’ve personally had experiences (read: problems) with a long distance relationship.