So, ought we take supplemetary testosterone?
The benefits of weight training are typically significant and self-evident. Though anecdotal, most accounts I’ve heard (including my own) suggest that this is in large part due to increased testosterone levels. Why not supplement the natural process? If so, by how much?
Which is better: a society of immortals who never give birth, or a society that procreates and dies in the normal manner, whose population is stable at the same size?
That is to say, if both equally maximize observer-moments, does the “life-cycle” increase or decrease utility?
So there are several issues that seem conflated to me. More specifically, should we:
watch porn less
masturbate less
orgasm less
While the post superficially would be advocating (1), the justifications seem more in line with (3). Actually, I can get behind all three to some extent, and for different reasons. I just think they should be seperated. For instance:
sex becomes more enjoyable due to resensitization to arousal cues
sex is much more optimal than masturbation
basically all of the reasons already given (energy, focus, motivation… hormonal stuff)
the only compelling argument I’ve heard against Pascal’s Wager is that you can’t/shouldn’t believe something just because it is convenient to do so
As I understand it, that’s because our universe has provided no evidence that belief alters reality; but it does seem to suggest that the optimum strategy is relentless pursuit of truth. However, if we had good reason to think otherwise (I don’t think this article counts), I see no reason why one shouldn’t alter their beliefs to their benefit, apart from aesthetics.
Whether or not this is even possible is unclear to me; but my intuition is that I could intentionally update to false beliefs, contrary to what seems to be the consensus here.
I was briefly excited as I met both GRE and SAT cutoffs. But now I’m feeling guilty and debating whether or not to apply; I’m certainly not in the 99.9th percentile. I absolutely love this community but I don’t really post because I sincerely feel inadequate.
I’m easily in the 5th percentile, but I feel like an imposter with my standardized test scores: the tests are SO damn easy and don’t measure anything of substance. GRE verbal tests your ability to recall obscure words, and the math tests your ability to maintain focus through 2 hours of trivial middle-school math. I didn’t study at all.
For people I actually care about, I have better means of staying in touch. My inner circle has had a private voice chat server for years now, and that’s part of the reason I haven’t really been forced to use a social networking website.
But I’m trying to dramatically change who I am as a person, and this is a necessary step. I have severe issues with self-consciousness and social anxiety (despite acknowledging that this is unjustified as I am affable and attractive) so I am generally looking for ways to ease myself into social normalcy.
I have a kind of embarrassing one, but that’s kind of the point of this discussion so here goes.
For some reason I’ve always had an aversion to social networking websites. I remember when all my peers used xanga, then livejournal, then myspace, and now facebook, and I always refused to use them whatsoever. I realize now though, that they represent a massive utility that I desperately need.
I am worried though, about starting new. Maybe I’m being overly paranoid, but it seems that having few friends on such a website signals low status, as does getting into the game this late.
So should I just create an account and add every single person I am even tangentially acquainted with? Is there a feature on facebook where you can hide who your friends are? Is it appropriate to ask someone you just met to friend you? What other cultural and social knowledge am I missing in this area?
I’ve been wanting to ask this here for a while: is there any (active or dead) discussion thread or article or something on the (rational :D) use of psychoactive substances? I’ve been very cautiously experimenting myself, and this is the only online community that I respect and whose goals seem to be inline with my own. There seem to be several exceedingly good reasons to partake, while all of the negative ones can be significantly mitigated with knowledge and precaution.
I’m a chaotic good, compsci undergrad doing research. Psychoactives haven’t increased my research or programming productivity (yet); though the xkcd comic suggesting that alcohol may do so (http://xkcd.com/323/) seems to be true. It is very hard to ride that peak though.
I can make a small anecdotal contribution. Nothing in my life has had as profound an impact on my conscientiousness (i.e. fighting akrasia) as some of my more intensely positive drug induced experiences. This effect is typically profound for several days afterwards, and noticable for weeks. This is significant, for me at least, because akrasia seems to be much more limiting than my creativity or intelligence.