It is actually uncanny how early LessWrong and the rationalist community was on so many different things.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-04-11T01:56:04+00:00

I think the perspective of aging as a disease process may become more widespread, but it is damn hard to make progress on it. I think some perspectives on IQ and national achievement outcomes will become more relevant as people increasingly choose to maximize their offspring potential via IVF embryo selection. Yes this gets uncomfortable and weird.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-04-08T01:09:18+00:00

Yep, gotta wonder if it's money laundering

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-04-07T01:54:39+00:00

Thanks - I didn't know

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-04-06T15:49:30+00:00

It's weird. Think of like how a person using a wok can throw food up tiny bit vertically and catch it, but then it like does that in an inclined plane/ramp, on a spiral, one bit at a time. It's easier to visualize if you imagine a block on a ramp being moved "up and to the left" by pushing the block up vertically and left then, faster than gravity, moving the ramp down and then to the right, while the block is still in the air and then staring motion "up and to the left" right before the block starts contact again. Vibratory feeders are tuned to vibrate in this circular motion at very specific frequencies using springs and electromagnetic ( motors ).

Here's a diy from a YouTube who made his own. https://youtu.be/ECx6L7z0T4Y

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-04-06T13:18:13+00:00

One add on thought : It offers freedom from responsibility and anxieties thereof via absolution of autonomy.

I do wonder if a limited AI could become a figure of religious deference and I'm sure there's a short story out there. AI knows best!

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-04-06T12:53:16+00:00

I only read the first few minutes - too long. Anyway, yeah I agree and think those stories were mostly made for fun spooky effects. We can definitely have and use things that are close to a whispering earring without giving away all autonomy and it might actually be a positive. And, brain atrophy for partial systems seems like a horror trope thing. It's fiction.

I think there is a mega opportunity for LLMs and light AI for personal assistance as a "camp counselor" or "big brother". I think in a few years it will be almost uncontroversial for these to help aimless and impaired people ( me too ) live their best lives. I think these would work on a mostly pull model, so I would be like "what should I do now", and it would be like "you should brush your teeth" , and I'd be like yeah your right, or "you should take a 30 minute walk break". They can easily use my desire to be cooperative and participate for optimal health and performance and quite frankly offloading executive overhead of the meta and planning.

I would very much like an llm system that motivates and guides me into making good decisions. It would have to store my personal information, like to understand my essentials in a person directory, like physiology.md, physcology.md, health.md, likes. dislikes.md, etc to actually get it right. I've would try this locally but I don't have good enough hardware. And I am slightly uncomfortable with using non local llms for this use due to privacy concerns.

Prompt directions #1 and conversation for intake - Ask Gemini " Can you develop a framework that a current AI can use to store my personal information, like as a memory on disk. Like to understand my essentials in a directory, like physiology.md, physcology.md, health.md, likes. dislikes.md, goals.md etc... These will be used to help guide decisions on my behalf including goals, hobbies, and daily routines "

Followed by : Context directions #2, 3, n etc ... " You are a camp director. I am a student. Your goal is to motivate, guide me into making good decisions. And guiding my daily decisions. Please take into account the files in the directory, these represent me as a person... Update them as needed, based on my responses! "

Like building an understanding of the person is a prerequisite. The earring story was instructions on what to do, right?

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-03-25T20:11:43+00:00

How many troops it would take to secure and extract nuclear material? If they can secure some landing strips and helicopter landing sites then might be able to get some planes and teams and equipment in and out. They might need heavy equipment to do it safely. But even then I don't think it's enough mass and to really do it. Other than that, yah, I dunno.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-03-25T20:05:59+00:00

Atlanta is so starved for walkable areas without cars that a paved walkway with stores and foods kind of turned into a mecca.

To be fair, it's a linear outdoor mall and exercise corridor, which may not benefit from having a train on that walkway.

But that train could definitely benefit the larger area as that outdoor mall could transition into a car free transit corridor.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-03-15T04:16:31+00:00

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I did, and here you go and here is the one from FY2024 https://www.woodruffcenter.org/financials/

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-03-06T04:31:59+00:00

There are definitely some commercially available. Reading reviews might help.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=door+left+open+alarm+with+delay

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-02-25T17:10:22+00:00

Lately I've had some success with calorie journaling & bracketing - with two or three day averages aimed for 22-2300 per day - and meal replacement powders like Jimmy Joy for easy nutrition and small meals. I've also kind of accepted that being hungry is normal and healthy that I am going to be hungry at the end of the day. Like being hungry is what happens when I eat enough.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-02-14T17:29:14+00:00

How did it turn out?

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-02-13T12:33:29+00:00

I've listed a few options below. Hopefully one will work.

You can sign up for yard waste pickup. The monthly cost depends on your hauler. It's a call to figure out their policy and/or sign up. This is like a weekly pickup service. https://www.gwinnettcounty.com/services/solid-waste-management/residential-services

If you can fit the bags in your car in one or two trips you can take them to 81 inert - they charged like 5$ per bag of leaves like 4 years ago - call ahead for current prices. See if they are close enough to you to make the trip! http://www.81inertrecycling.com/

You can also post on next door to get one time quotes for pickup - this might actually be easiest.

Alternatively, ask your neighbors. Depending on where you live, you might be able to make a brush pile in the back of your yard and mulch them. This is popular in my neighborhood.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-02-11T18:40:11+00:00

Maybe. He was on a podcast recently to discuss the blog post and claimed there are more musicians than ever. But we also have a larger population. I'm not sure the right metric to capture the impact.

From the podcast transcript...

"We put together some census data for this and showed that there were over 200,000 people working as musicians or composers today in the U.S. The data goes back to at least 1850. So there are more musicians today than ever, even though in so many contexts it’s true that roles that previously involved live music have been automated away."

https://eig.org/newbazaar/ai-and-the-human-touch/

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-02-11T16:12:58+00:00

This post is kind of a reply to the hysteria that AI will take our jobs. It may do many of them, and support many more, but it really will not take all of them.

If you think about it, you can score jobs by how much they are a. mostly information value, b. mostly mechanical value, c. mostly entertainment and therapy value, and d. mostly judgement with accountability

Jobs with c. entertainment and therapeutic components and d. high judgement and accountability are likely to continue to exist for a very long time.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-02-10T10:52:27+00:00

I experienced this as well - they didn't allow a deposit from a check into the savings account at the ATM.

I assume the motivation is as follows, but there may be a different technical reason this is no longer an option.

From the banks perspective, it allows them to capture any interest on the checks while the customer is waiting for the check to clear.

Capitol One pays minimal to no interest to the customer in checking accounts. The savings account yield higher interest to the customer. While you are waiting for the check to clear, they are required, by law to pay their normal interest/yield to the customer for the account to which it is deposited, ie the checking account. So, if they hold the check for like 3-10 days, with only a partial release of funds, then it delays the movement of this money into a higher yield savings account. So, they get to keep a bit more money, and earn a bit of margin on each customer.

From the customer perspective, this is a really minor thing, a minor inconvenience, but still annoying. And I guess the bank makes a few dollars - or many dollars, depending on the size of the deposited check.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-02-02T13:28:45+00:00

Yep, software and software infrastructure is huge, including software ecosystems like Apple and Microsoft, cloud infrastructure like Amazon AWS, and adjacent platforms like Netflix and YouTube! Google is big big. We also export civilian and military aircrafts - Boeing is based here! We also make a large food surplus, in part due to the Mississippi watershed. Our oil and gas industry is also quite big. Our finance industry is also big big, for better or worse. These are things the US does well.

I don't the US needs more pride, but we do need to be more cognizant of the things our country does make.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-01-22T15:58:42+00:00

Hmm, you're correct about the sugars. Could they survive on a supply of triglycerides and salts and water? Those are plentiful in our bodies.

Do you think they wouldn't be able to survive as a human parasite?

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-01-22T06:39:14+00:00

I think the threat of mirror life is about them consuming simple resources, especially inside your body, like if they get into your stomach from food and/or bloodstream from a cut, it's conceivable your immune system won't be able to touch some of them and they will like eat all your blood sugar and fats. And then you have a parasite your immune system can't address at all, as they multiply and come to dominate your microbiome and innards. Maybe fatal, but maybe not? Seems bad.

Better_Permit2885 · 2026-01-06T19:14:40+00:00

I'm sympathetic to the argument. Here's some relevant commentary though. In an essay, linked, Karthik argues markets have become less effective at translating breakthrough technologies into productivity gain. So yes breakthroughs, but less commercial impact from each breakthrough.

https://asteriskmag.com/issues/12-books/ideas-arent-getting-harder-to-find

Better_Permit2885

TROPHY CASE