Strangeattractor

Karma: 201

Strangeattractor Sep 13, 2016, 6:07 AM
3 points
in reply to: Soothsilver’s comment on: Open thread, Sep. 12 - Sep. 18, 2016
Sometimes a change is as good as a rest.

If you want to use your sense of wonder again, it might be good to seek out something completely new to you. Learn about something new, develop a new skill, or go to some place that you haven’t been before. Then spend some time being quiet and observing or practicing.

Or spend some time in person with people who are enthusiastic about things you are not enthusiastic about, and get curious about why they like it, and listen to what they say.

I’m pretty sure you still have a sense of wonder in there, waiting to be used. It may be something that grows with practice though.

Also, remember that familarity is not the same thing as comprehension! You may very well be familiar with more interesting things about the world than you were before, but that does not me an that you understand them! And Less Wrong is certainly not a comprehensive compendium of all the interesting things in the world. For example, a topic that is rarely discussed on Less Wrong is Fluid Dynamics, which is something that awakes my sense of wonder. Here’s a link to a blog about fluid dynamics: http://fuckyeahfluiddynamics.tumblr.com

I’m not sure whether to think up some strategies to help you find joy in the things you used to enjoy, or if what would help is spending time on completely new things, and making bigger changes in your life. Or some mixture, like remixing your past and present to make your future.

If there are still some minor things that you do find joy in, do those more often. Sometimes it is as simple as noticing what you like doing, what makes you feel even a smidgen happier, and doing it more.

I’m a bit confused as to how reading the Sequences could make it harder to find joy and excitement in minor things, or make you feel like you know everything. What happened, if you don’t mind sharing?

Strangeattractor Sep 8, 2016, 12:53 AM
1 point
in reply to: Nick5a1’s comment on: Open Thread, Sept 5. - Sept 11. 2016
Something that might help is writing things down. For example, if you had a notebook where you wrote down things that you had figured out, every time you came to a conclusion, and any details that might help you remember why you came to that conclusion. Then, whenever you encounter a problem you can read over the notes in the notebook from a variety of topics, and see if any of them match. Also, if you keep it updated frequently then when you go to write something down that would be another opportunity to review the notebook and see if anything matches something else that’s bothering you.

Or if physically writing things in a notebook isn’t something you want to do, sending yourself an email could work in a similar way.

In general, I’ve found that writing things down helps with remembering things.

Strangeattractor Jul 28, 2016, 4:05 PM
0 points
in reply to: Elo’s comment on: The Problem (TM) - Analyse a conversation
“What do you think is the biggest problem here?” is a different question than “What do you think I could have successfully started to address in one conversation?”

Strangeattractor Jul 26, 2016, 9:19 PM
6 points
in reply to: [deleted]’s comment on: The Problem (TM) - Analyse a conversation
If he kills himself, he hurts only himself. If he’s violent toward other people, he can end up doing a lot more damage than that. He mentioned that one incident, but given his casual attitude toward it, there are probably more. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was beating his girlfriend. Domestic assault (I call it domestic because it was against someone he lived with, even though housemate is not as usual a target as partner or child) is a huge huge huge warning flag. He had a bad day, and trouble sleeping, and suddenly someone else has to deal with the consequences of having a broken nose for the rest of their lives. The consequences for each of them are disproportionate, asymmetric. If he has another bad day, what next?

His girlfriend’s life might be in danger.

Strangeattractor Jul 26, 2016, 6:16 PM
2 points
in reply to: Elo’s comment on: The Problem (TM) - Analyse a conversation
First of all, I think the concept of TheProblem is flawed. I don’t think there is necessarily just one problem that is “the bottom of the problem” whatever you mean by that.

You presented a conversation, and asked us to read between the lines. So, I did. If I was actually attempting to figure out what was going wrong, if I was going to take action about it, I’d need way more information than this one conversation. I wouldn’t describe anything I said as conclusions. My procedure for concluding these is “I didn’t conclude them.”

What specifically do you want to know about my thought process or procedure? I already put clues in what I’ve written. For example, some of the reasons I think he may be a sociopath is the combination of not finding pleasure in life, feeling no remorse, and not showing any thought for the effects of his actions on other people in his responses. I already said that. Also, sociopaths are about 4% of the population. It’s plausible. Given that, and given some pattern recognition from having come across some people who turned out to be sociopaths, and given what I’ve read in the several books I’ve read about them, I would at least keep it as a possibility in mind while dealing with this person. It’s also a question “Is this person a sociopath or not?” that affects how you may want to behave going forward and what is likely to work or not.

I can only bring my own knowledge and experiences to this, and there may be stuff I’m missing because I don’t have experiences with it, or stuff that is a projection of what I’ve encountered, and not applicable in this situation.

I don’t understand what you are asking me, or what specifically you want to know. I can go into more detail, but it’s tough to know which details you are interested in or asking for.

Strangeattractor Jul 26, 2016, 12:47 PM
0 points
on: The Problem (TM) - Analyse a conversation
The most alarming part of that conversation for me was “A few weeks ago I punched a housemate in the face ten times, breaking her nose;”

If I was having the conversation, I would ask him more about this, and talk at least a little bit about how he could stop hurting other people.

I’m not sure what you mean by the bottom of the problem. I will say some things that I think are problems. These are speculations. I don’t have enough information to be confident in these answers.

1) I think it is a problem that, as far as I could tell, no one intervened and taught him not to be abusive after the punching incident. This is a problem with society.

2) I think it is likely that he has a brain injury from a head injury of some sort and/or from taking drugs such as meth. He mentioned both a head injury and meth. I would say to get treatment for brain injury, but doctors are still pretty clueless about how to treat brain injuries, though there are experimental possibilities.

3) I think it’s possible that he’s a sociopath, but there’s not enough info to figure that out. The combination of not finding pleasure in life, and feeling no remorse, and not thinking about the effects of his actions on other people is suggestive. (Although there can be other reasons for that.)

4) I think there’s likely something else wrong with his health. Maybe bipolar, since the bipolar meds are helping a bit, but I’m not convinced that accounts for everything.

5) I would guess that he did not have opportunities in childhood to be self-directed. His sense of not knowing what he enjoys, or what he wants, or how to make a plan, might be from lack of education and training in those areas, not just from physiological problems affecting his judgement.

Strangeattractor Jul 25, 2016, 6:36 PM
0 points
in reply to: root’s comment on: Open thread, Jul. 18 - Jul. 24, 2016

I just looked at the Cambridge prices for overseas students and it made me feel poor. Might as well seen a 500,000 ILS debt in my bank account.

You might be able to get financial aid or scholarships, so I wouldn’t rule out an expensive university right away. If you apply and get accepted, which admittedly itself costs some money, then you could have some talks with the financial aid people. And their first answer may not be the final answer, or there may be alternative sources of funding, so you may have to repeat yourself and keep talking to them for a while before you together figure out something that could work. Some universities claim to have the attitude that they don’t want anyone to not be able to attend because of financial reasons, but in practice it is hit and miss to get them to live up to it, and easy to get into debt. It may depend on the individual person you are talking to. If one person isn’t helping much, a different person in the same department may help more. Sometimes people unfamiliar with the system get discouraged by the first thing someone in financial aid says to them and walk away, instead of advocating for themselves more, or exploring the problem from a slightly different angle.

You may also want to look into universities that have a co-operative education program that involves paid work in between sessions of study. This won’t completely pay for the costs of education, but it can help a lot.

Strangeattractor Jul 25, 2016, 12:47 PM
2 points
in reply to: root’s comment on: Open thread, Jul. 18 - Jul. 24, 2016
Yes, there are differences.

I talked to a person who was hiring for tech jobs in Silicon Valley, and he said that the Ivy League schools in the United States get a much better quality of training than other United States schools in the fields of engineering and computer science. For example, the Ivy League schools would have 3 hour exams where you have to show how you arrived at an answer as well as the answer. Most of the other schools had 1 hour multiple choice exams.

The situation is different in other countries. In Canada, unlike in the US, engineering is a regulated profession. That means certain types of designs have to be approved by a Professional Engineer. There are rules about how to become a professional engineer. One path to becoming one involves graduating from an accredited program at a university. So every engineering program at a university is monitored by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board. No matter which university you go to in Canada, you’ll get the 3 hour non-multiple choice exams, and very good training.

For this reason, the person at the tech company liked to hire Canadians, since they have the good training, but not the entitled attitude of the Ivy League graduates. But he considered Ivy League graduates. He wouldn’t even consider the non-Ivy League ones, unless they showed some other way that they actually have the skills and training, since they didn’t get it at school.

Another difference between Harvard, MIT, etc. and the typical Canadian university is that Harvard and MIT have huge endowment funds and many wealthy alumni and donors, so they have access to a lot more resources than most universities. Like about 1000x more money. The MIT endowment fund reached $13.5 billion in 2015.

I also know someone who went to Harvard for a Masters degree in political science, and she said that after getting a degree from Harvard, she was taken a lot more seriously. People listened to what she said, and deferred to her, in a way that they didn’t before she could say that she went to Harvard. So it seems to make a difference in public policy and government work.

Another difference between universities can be their intellectual property policy. The University of Waterloo, in Canada, has the most respectful intellectual property policy that I know of, among universities. Simply, if you do research or work there, it’s yours, and you can use it in a startup company if you wish. Many students and professors do this. The University of Waterloo is well known for many technology spinoff companies. I know of one prof who doesn’t even publish journal articles any more, he just documents his work with patents, and then uses them in his startup. This is seen as adding prestige to the institution, unlike in some other universities, where there’s a bit more disdain for commercialization. The co-op program at the University of Waterloo also means that students get real-world experience and bring that back to the classroom, and is another reason for the more positive attitude to collaboration with industry.

The University of Waterloo’s intellectual property policy is even more respectful and individualistic than the one at Stanford, which is also a university known for its spinoffs.

Oxford has more name recognition in North America than Cambridge. Within the UK, they are seen as mostly equivalent, to the point that “Oxford and/or Cambridge” is often shortened to “Oxbridge”. It is easier to get work in government in the UK with an Oxbridge education.

Also, the people you meet at university are more likely to end up in powerful positions if you go to one of the big name universities. So the alumni network becomes more valuable.

It depends on what you want to study and what you want to do afterward. There are some fields where it wouldn’t matter much.

Graduate education is a different matter. With some exceptions, like my friend who went to Harvard for political science that I mentioned above, it doesn’t really matter much what school or department you go to for graduate school. The most important things will be 1) What did you do? and 2) Who did you work with? The rest is almost irrelevant. Finding a good supervisor who you can get along with, and who will help your career, is the priority when choosing graduate school.

I’m most familiar with Canada, and a bit with the US and the UK. I don’t know the situation in other countries.

Strangeattractor Jul 3, 2016, 7:47 AM
0 points
on: Powering Through vs Working Around
I think it depends on X. It may be something you have to evaluate on a case-by-case basis. I think if X was something that could have consequences for high-stakes or ethical decisions, I would prioritize working on it rather than working around it.

Pushing through it may not be the most effective strategy to deal with it in the long term. “Defeat X” may not be the most helpful metaphor. Defeat vs. work around could be a false dichotomy.

You may be looking for a general rule or rule-of-thumb for something where generalizations do not make sense. If you want a general rule, you may want to be more careful and specific about setting up the question. Right now, I have the impression that the question is too vague and the abstractions too mismatched to yield a useful answer.

Strangeattractor Jul 3, 2016, 7:07 AM
0 points
in reply to: Sable’s comment on: General-Purpose Questions Thread
The city you live in may have more impact on you than which particular company you start at.

Banks and consulting companies may pay you more than a company focused on a software product, but the work is generally unsatisfying for software developers. Avoid those, unless high pay is more important to you than happiness. Though if you are choosing between them, banks are better than consulting companies. If you can find a company that has some understanding of how to treat software developers well so that they can do good work, and that makes money by research and developing their software, rather than by something else (eg. mergers and acquisitions to acquire customers) then you’ll likely be happier.

As to topic it depends what you mean by topic. If you mean is it ok to make software that you’re not particularly interested in using yourself, then I’d say the answer is yes. If you mean, you don’t enjoy using the languages and technologies involved in the job, then I’d say the answer is no. For example, if you want to make software for chicken farmers, even though you may not be making software for chicken farmers the rest of your life, using the software language that you like working with, in a company that treats you well, I think that’s ok. The next company you work for may not care how much you know about chicken farming, but may care that you have 3 years of experience using C++ (or whatever language.)

Getting involved in an open source project, or doing side projects, is another way to build up your reputation.

Before taking a job at a company talk to some people who have worked there. If you have connections on Linked In, for example, use them to find someone to talk to. Get a sense of what they like about working there. It’s harder to ask about what they don’t like, since people have to be careful how they answer such questions, although some will be forthcoming.

There are various ethical issues involved in creating software. It is good to be aware of them, and to think about them when considering whether to take a job. Many people around you will not think about them, so it’s up to you to think it through and bring your ethics to your work.

Creating complex software is mostly about people. It’s probably more important to like the people you are working with than to like the project you are working on, though that matters too. There are some work environments that can be toxic...avoid those and/or work to make them less toxic.

In fact, you may want to treat the job search as looking for a person to work with, more than looking for a particular company or task.

Regarding negotiating for a salary, these blog posts made me think.

Patrick McKenzie, a person who runs a software company in Japan, has written about salary negotiations in this blog post. http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

Mark Suster who has been both an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist, has written several posts abount negotiation. There’s a list of them here. http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/negotiations/

The one that stuck in my mind the most was the post titled “Never negotiate piecemeal” http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2012/03/10/never-negotiate-piecemeal-heres-why/

Also, regarding job interviews, if you’re not used to them you might think that the questions that they ask you are the ones that they want an answer to. Not so! Most job interview questions have some sort of hidden purpose to them. If you take them literally, you might miss the point.

For example, “Why should you get the job, instead of another candidate?” means something more like “Tell me something that I can tell my boss to cover my ass about why I gave you the job.” “Tell me how you see yourself in 5 years” has multiple purposes. Read up on interview questions and why people ask them and what they are actually asking.

You might know this already, but iterative design is better than the waterfall method of software development, since it allows people to catch problems early in the design stages. Nevertheless, many companies still use the waterfall method, or pay lip service to “agile” but don’t actually do it well.

Writing software for nuclear reactors or medical devices is qualitatively different than writing software for lower stakes purposes that can have more bugs in the software.

I probably have more advice, if you have more specific questions. It’s hard to know what to tell you, since I don’t know much about what your concerns are, or where you’re starting from.

Strangeattractor Jul 3, 2016, 6:26 AM
2 points
in reply to: James_Miller’s comment on: General-Purpose Questions Thread
There are software programs that have databases of drug and supplement interactions. Also, pharmacists tend to know more about these things than doctors. So, you could find a database and search it, and/or ask a pharmacist. There isn’t as much information available on supplements as there is about drugs, so it’s hard to answer the question with a lot of certainty.

Strangeattractor Jun 28, 2016, 12:43 PM
1 point
on: Meme: Valuable Vulnerability

I think this is usually defined as being in a state where what you observe is liable to create negative emotions in you (or in some definitions, a variety of emotions).

I think that the variety of emotions definition makes more sense. It’s about being open to possibilities, even if some of those possibilities are heartbreaking.

In other words, it is about taking emotional risks. I suppose it would be possible to go through life taking as few risks as possible....but such a life would be stunted in some ways. Risk-taking is not always valuable, but it is sometimes valuable.

Strangeattractor Jun 28, 2016, 9:51 AM
5 points
in reply to: Sable’s comment on: Open thread, June 27 - July 3, 2016
I read about pre-mortem-like questions in a book called Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

Strangeattractor Jun 21, 2016, 4:18 PM
0 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: June 2016 Media Thread
I’ve been reading a lot about the UK’s referendum about whether to stay in the European Union. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard was undecided for months, but finally decided to vote in favour of Brexit.

All of his articles about the referendum have been good. Here is the one where he reveals his decision.

Brexit vote is about the supremacy of Parliament and nothing else: Why I am voting to leave the EU http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/06/12/brexit-vote-is-about-the-supremacy-of-parliament-and-nothing-els/

On Twitter, he is @AmbroseEP https://twitter.com/AmbroseEP/

Here are links some of his earlier articles.

Crippled EU is no longer the ‘anarcho-imperial monster’ we once feared http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/12116429/Crippled-EU-is-no-longer-the-anarcho-imperial-monster-we-once-feared.html?sf20270117=1

Wise Men warn on dangerous delusions of Brexit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10887991/Wise-Men-warn-on-dangerous-delusions-of-Brexit.html

Brexit threat looms over Britain’s election and Europe’s fate http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/11587901/Brexit-threat-looms-over-Britains-election-and-Europes-fate.html

Britain’s Brexit tantrum grates in a brittle world but the die is cast http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/12098176/Britains-Brexit-tantrum-grates-in-a-brittle-world-but-the-die-is-cast.html

Strangeattractor Jun 17, 2016, 3:37 PM
0 points
in reply to: Algon’s comment on: Open Thread May 30 - June 5, 2016
I learned techniques for lucid dreaming and dealing with pain from what was called at the time the Silva Method course, taught by Marilou Seavey and Gerald Seavey.

I also sometimes use a Tibetan Buddhist technique called tonglen, explained by Pema Chodron in her book When Things Fall Apart.

The Silva Method used to be a collection of useful techniques taught in a secular context. However, at some point after I took the course, the organization that coordinated the Silva Method courses became more religious. So a lot of people who were teaching the Silva Method courses and who weren’t happy with the religious direction the organization was taking continued to teach the techniques, but called their courses by different names.

Marilou and Gerald Seavey have a website. They travel to various places around the world to give workshops, and it looks like their focus has shifted to NLP and coaching. However, it looks like they still teach a Silva-Method-like course, and that they are calling it Essential Mind Power Training. http://mindbridgetraining.com/nlp-training/essential-mind-power-training

Here is another pair of former Silva Method instructors, who call their course Dynamind http://www.scienceofhappiness.com/page1/index.html

Jose Silva, who came up with the Silva Method, wrote some books, but they are not a very good introduction to or explanation of the techniques. The workshops are superior.

I’m glad I learned those techniques, and also a bunch of others, including the ones to help memorizing long lists of things, from the workshop. However, these techniques may not be the best way to do lucid dreaming, or deal with pain, or the various other things taught in the course. I haven’t done a comparison with other techniques for lucid dreaming from other traditions, for example. There may be superior ones out there. I’m telling you the way I learned how to do it, since you asked, but I’m not saying it’s the best way to learn it.

At the workshop, I feel like the limitations of the techniques were not discussed, or what to do when you run into problems, or guidance on the nuances that arise after mastering the basics. There wasn’t a support system of community or teachers. I was pretty much on my own after the workshop. I don’t know if that has changed over the years. Also, the incentives of someone selling workshops to make a living don’t necessarily line up with the best interests of the people taking the course, and there is a lot of hype, and a tendency to focus on the benefits, not the drawbacks, and to be less careful than a scientist would be in making claims.

In all, I think I do not wholeheartedly recommend it, but on balance it made my life better, so I recommend it with caveats.

Tonglen I learned from reading the book When Things Fall Apart, but it looks like there’s a more detailed book about Tonglen by the same author Tonglen: The Path of Transformation by Pema Chodron. https://www.amazon.com/Tonglen-Path-Transformation-Pema-Chödrön/dp/B000AN09FS/

I get the impression that Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns know a lot more about meditation techniques than I do, but it’s rare that they write down what they know. It may be that they would teach more in person. I think finding a good teacher for this stuff would be helpful, but it is not straightforward to find such a person.

This is the hyssop flower aka Ezov extract that I was taking for a while. I don’t like their marketing claims, particularly the way that website talks about it, but it did seem to have some small effect on my dreams, as opposed to no discernible effect, which is the case with most herbs and foods I consume. http://www.nutramedix.ec/ns/ezov

Strangeattractor Jun 8, 2016, 7:50 AM
2 points
in reply to: Algon’s comment on: Open Thread May 30 - June 5, 2016
There are herbs that can encourage lucid dreaming. I’ve experimented a bit with hyssop flower, also known as ezov, but it didn’t change my experience of dreaming much, except I woke up feeling like I had been sorting things through and having insights in my sleep. I didn’t recall what I had figured out, but I had the feeling of figuring things out. But I could lucid dream before I started taking it, though I don’t do it often, and I remember my dreams often and write them down. Keeping pen and paper by the bed and writing down dreams can be a way to start if you want to work up to lucid dreaming.

I don’t usually feel pain while dreaming, but I sometimes wake up from too much pain, so that is not always the case.

Many years ago, I did some meditation techniques to shut off pain when I was severely ill, and it worked for a little while, the technique was successful and I didn’t feel pain. But then I moved around and lived my life as if the pain weren’t there and I ended up hurting myself, and being in a worse condition than before. The pain had been stopping me from doing things that my body couldn’t handle. So, I’ve been reluctant to mess with the pain signalling system since then.

I guess I’m telling you these stories because neither lucid dreaming, nor shutting off feeling the pain were answers for me. But that’s me. Different people have different experiences and different bodies, which makes exploring these options not something that one can outsource, and anecdotes and stories are not reliable guides.

Strangeattractor Jun 8, 2016, 7:23 AM
1 point
in reply to: Algon’s comment on: Open Thread May 30 - June 5, 2016
When the pain gets intense, it helps to remind myself “Not all days are as bad as this.” It can feel overwhelming in the moment, and it distorts the view of the future. So I remind myself of that too. “What I’m experiencing right now is a distorted view of the future. So I’m not going to make any major decisions based on it.”

It can be hard to look forward to the future when I’m not enjoying the present, when it’s so awful, and there’s no known path or plan to make thing better. It can be extremely frustrating to just endure. It can feel so futile and pointless.

When I have a better day later, I notice and point it out to myself and remember the worse day when it felt like I wouldn’t have anything to look forward to, and am glad that I stayed alive long enough to experience it. And then I can remember that little conversation with myself when it gets intensely worse again, even though I don’t recapture the good feeling at that time.

Suicide can seem pretty attractive under conditions of intense pain. Thoughts of suicide can be something like a valve, or an escape fantasy, or a fantasy of having an off switch for the pain. Repetitive thoughts can be related to exhaustion or illness. I think a lot of these thoughts and feelings can have a physiological basis, and are not necessarily something to identify with. They are probably pretty good at signaling “something is wrong” but not very good at “this is an accurate and complete picture of my desires”. Paying attention to what you physically did just before the thoughts sometimes could lead to insights.

Strangeattractor Jun 7, 2016, 8:40 AM
2 points
on: Thoughts on hacking aromanticism?
Regarding validation, I don’t think it’s useful to combine that idea with romantic self-esteem. They seem to be different things to me, though somewhat related.

If it is just romantic self-esteem, then I’m confused. If the goal is to be aromantic, why care about romantic self-esteem at all? It seems like the level of romantic self-esteem is a measurement or variable that is irrelevant to the non-romance-based life that you are building. Like, sure “that person is checking me out” or “their partner just tagged me as a threat and staked their claim” is a neat little boost emotionally, but it seems irrelevant to the type of life that you’d be building. “I could be doing more to find partners” seems a matter of time management, and is probably a poor band-aid over insecurities. It seems to me that making this about romantic self-esteem is still putting it in terms that do not really fit with an aromantic mindset.

Validation makes more sense to me. One suggestion could be to get validation from other activities, where people see who you are, and what you do, and give feedback on it and appreciate it. But there may not be many contexts and opportunities for that sort of thing in our cultures.

When I think about the type of validation I get from being in a romantic relationship, it is subtle. I think sometimes that we see each other and ourselves though lenses, or mirrors (metaphorically speaking.) Sometimes, when I’m not sure about my own view of myself, I lean a bit on my partner’s view of me. Usually, that picture of me is delightfully more pleasant than my view of myself. But, even within a romantic relationship, it is good to develop skills to assess oneself and the effects of one’s behaviours, and one’s place in the world, without relying on using the other person as a distorted mirror. Sometimes if the other person is in a bad mood or depressed it can distort in the other direction, showing a more dire view than is accurate. So...not relying completely on outside validation is a skill to develop even inside a romantic relationship, that makes the relationship better, and can help get through some tough times.

When I say “not completely relying on outside validation” I don’t mean stop seeking it at all. I still pay attention to it, but I think of it more as a weighted probability input, with a much lower percentage weighting than I used to give it. That’s better than leaning on it 100% without much other plan for how to form an accurate picture of oneself. It is nevertheless a more uncomfortable place to be.

On a slightly different topic, another way to keep the focus off of romance is to review what you are focused on and why, what you want to be the top thing on your mind. It may take writing things down and deliberate reminders. I think it’s easier to not get caught up in thinking about “hey I’m not doing this thing related to romance” when there is something to keep your thoughts on instead.

Strangeattractor May 24, 2016, 10:15 PM
0 points
in reply to: ArisKatsaris’s comment on: May 2016 Media Thread
I’ve been reading livetweets of the Oracle vs Google trial by jury, presided over by Judge Alsup, who learned to code. In a previous trial, Judge Alsup had declared that the software API in question was uncopyrightable. However, his decision was overturned by the federal court, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. So now they are redoing the trial with a new jury, with the premise that an API is copyrightable, in order to decide whether Google’s reimplementation of a Java API from Sun at the time (later bought by Oracle) was “fair use” of copyrightable materials.

The decision in this trial has the potential to impact the future of software development. The 9 billion dollars being asked for by Oracle is actually not the biggest thing at stake in this case. It is being decided by jurors who were picked because they know very little about how software development works.

In the courtroom livetweeting the events are Sarah Jeong https://twitter.com/sarahjeong/ and Parker Higgins https://twitter.com/xor/ and a few other people, most of whom are on Sarah Jeong’s list: https://twitter.com/sarahjeong/lists/oracle-v-google or using the hashtag #googacle https://twitter.com/hashtag/googacle

Strangeattractor Apr 27, 2016, 6:43 AM
2 points
on: Suggest best book as an introduction to computational neuroscience
How to build a brain by Chris Eliasmith is one possibility.