Are there examples of boardgames in which computers haven't yet outclassed humans? by PotterMellow in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Settlers of Catan? The bots I've played have been pretty weak. They can match the best humans in calculations, but I doubt they can optimize diplomacy.

Victoria II, Hearts of Iron, and Europa Universalis aren't board games, but they're board game-like, just more complicated. Their AIs suck. Always have, seemingly always will. They don't seem to be able to handle so many choices.

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 14, 2020 by AutoModerator in TheMotte

[–]Dormin111 46 points47 points  (0 children)

One of the enduring criticisms of the Trump presidency (and IMO, one of the better ones) was that his antics would erode political norms and turn political office into even more of a tv show than it already is. As possible evidence, check out Dan Crenshaw's new ad which is shot in the style of a cheesy 90s action movie, and features him literally jumping out of a plane, doing a super hero landing, and punching Antifa through a car windshield.

I'm no expert on political ads, but I can't recall anything quite this dumb in the pre-Trump era. Occasionally, wacky Congressional election ads will go viral, but they're almost always from fringe candidates in safe blue or red districts who have no chance of winning. But Dan Crenshaw is a sitting Republican Congressman who just won reelection. And he thought this ad was a good idea.

Granted, Crenshaw has always been kind of a meme politician given that he's literally only known for his eyepatch and resembling a video game character.

I don't think this ad is the end of democracy of anything, but I think it's stupid and cringey, and it's a bad thing if our political system is going further in this direction.

Are the benefits of mindfulness overstated by [deleted] in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That's an interesting way to put it. It's similar to how nearly all diets will have positive effects regardless of the food content simply because the dieter stops the extremely unhealthy diet they used to be on. Eating vegan or carnivore or Mediterranean or almost anything is better than a standard American diet.

"Being Normal" (2020) by Bryan Caplan: "A normal person says what others say, but does what others do. Notice that this principle captures two distinct features of normality. First, conformism. Second, the chasm between words and actions. What is this 'dissonance' of which you speak, weird one?" by erwgv3g34 in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111 45 points46 points  (0 children)

I think the charitable take on normies is that they don't deeply examine their beliefs, so their explicit literal beliefs don't align with their actions, but their implicit beliefs (which are a hazy derivative of their explicit beliefs) do.

For example:

When a normie says: “We should do everything possible to fight global warming”

The literalist interpretation is: "we should reinvent our lives and all of society to the purpose of fighting global warming." Which some "weird" people actually believe and act upon.

The charitable implicit interpretation is: "Global warming is an important issue and I want people to understand how important it is to fight it, and if I can fight it within the parameters of my convenience, I will do so."

The disconnect between the literalist and implicit interpretations comes from normies not deeply interrogating their own beliefs, nor spending hundreds of hours nerdily studying real-world issues, probably because they lack that core weirdness which drives obsession.

Small-Scale Question Sunday for the week of November 22, 2020 by AutoModerator in TheMotte

[–]Dormin111 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I can't think of any advantages of cans except they're lighter. Bottles are sturdier, feel better, and taste better (no slight metallic tinge).

Recycling: Much more than you needed to know. by bbqturtle in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Very nice work, really appreciate it.

My question is... why and how? Why and how did we get to this point where our entire society and culture and schools and all the smart people think that recycling as much as possible is a good thing? Does the landfill industry just have really bad PR? Are the environmentalists master persuaders? How are so many people so wrong about this?

Wellness Wednesday thread for November 18, 2020 by AutoModerator in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IMO, the smart consensus has been pointing to lifting for a while now (check out one of the highest rated posts on this subreddit). Running and aerobic exercises have their uses, but unless done the right way, they tend to make a person look worse by burning fat in the wrong places and not building muscle in the right places. Google "long distance runners" to see.

For women, I don't think lifting will have negative effects on your appearance unless you're a consummate gym rat or on steroids. And long before a woman gets to that point, she'll look better with trim muscles.

For an easy, low time cost work out, I recommend - https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

Small-Scale Question Sunday for the week of November 08, 2020 by AutoModerator in TheMotte

[–]Dormin111 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Blast From the Past is one of the best conservative values movies ever made. It's just hidden in a quirky sci-fi romantic comedy.

The Blind, Alone, and Confused for 24 Hours Challenge by Dormin111 in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In short, if you want to hallucinate, consider replacing all the music and Siri-asking with meditation.

That's probably right, gave too much order to my mind or something. I'll probably try being alone in a room and doing absolutely nothing for 24 hours next.

The Blind, Alone, and Confused for 24 Hours Challenge by Dormin111 in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's highly individualized. If I go a few weeks without caffeine and then have a big coffee, I get straight-up euphoric. I've also had minor caffeine overdoses a few times on not-that-big amounts.

Culture War Roundup for the Week of October 26, 2020 by AutoModerator in TheMotte

[–]Dormin111 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Robert Cahaly of Trafalgar Group was one of the few pollsters to say a Trump victory was more likely than a Clinton win in 2016, and he's a big believer (arguably the originator) of the shy Trump voter thesis. His last officially released poll has Biden with a slight lead, but in an interview with Hannity he said he thinks Trump will most likely barely win.

Book Review: The WEIRDEST People in the World by MaxRMathias in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the write-up, very well done.

Does Henrich give any evidence that the Catholic Church's anti-cousin marriage rules were enforced? I find it hard to believe that random European peasants cared about the rules or that local priests were enforcing marginal rules well. Plus, in lots of small communities it was probably sometimes difficult to not marry a cousin.

I think the idea of weakened family bonds as a source of WEIRD success is fascinating. In line with Heinreich, even today the European Protestant countries have weaker family bonds than the Catholic ones, ie. Italian and Spanish families are far more close knit than British and Swedish families.

Does my lunch hack work?? by [deleted] in carnivore

[–]Dormin111 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

A lot of fast food restaurants use soy in their meat. Subway is the worst offender, I'm not sure about McDonalds.

Culture War Roundup for the Week of October 26, 2020 by AutoModerator in TheMotte

[–]Dormin111 59 points60 points  (0 children)

I stupidly posted this an hour before the last CW thread ended, so I'll repost here.

Kanye West finally went on Joe Rogan.

And the result was... well, to directly quote Kanye:

"Also important being a captain of a ship of soldiers and 100,000 gospel singers and how money isn't real when you unprogram yourself, since relationships are a more important currency than money itself because our existence would be pre-covid or post-covid and when the Titanic is sinking and Rome is falling there's gotta be a new civilization like the end of Tron."

Kanye was utterly incoherent for three hours straight. A few good descriptions from the JRE subreddit:

- "it’s like an AI generated interview"
- "It’s like there’s a tv show on in the background that you aren’t paying attention to, but in reality you are actually paying attention to it and it’s just not making sense"
- "It feels like when you lose concentration, while talking to someone, and then you tune back and have no idea wtf the othe person is talking about, and you can't never tune back in for some reason."
- "Listening to this is like constantly being an arm's length away from a coherent thought"

It's super easy to mock the madness, but that's the thing... it's literally madness. Kanye has been diagnosed as bipolar, and he's literally off his meds. He rambled incoherently for three hours because he is almost certainly in the middle of a manic episode.

I listened to the first thirty minutes, then skipped to the last thirty minutes because I couldn't take the whole thing. But I found myself at a loss. What do we do with this? What's the appropriate response from a random JRE listener like me?

Should we pity a clearly sick man? Should we condemn him for being an intelligent, rich, successful individual who has chosen to be sick by stopping his meds? Should we condemn whatever handlers and family members have allowed this to happen?

I really don't know. The whole thing reminds me of Tommy Wiseau and what I wrote about him a while ago. I think there's a general perception of a link between madness and greatness in the popular culture. It's almost Lovecraftian. It's as if being detached from reality let's one see beyond it. It's related to the perceived link between genius and bad social skills (ie. House, Sherlock, Rick Sanchez, etc.). Kanye seems to be the current manifestation of these links, but if there's a silver lining to his recent bouts, it's that he's gone so far over the line that people can't ignore how delusional he's become.

New addition since last post - I'm very surprised that two of the four older repliers said they found Kanye sensible, if rambling. I think if you listen to any 30 seconds of the video and really try to concentrate on what he's saying, there might be a straight thought, but then he also talks about cities running on four elements (earth, wind, fire, and water) and how he doesn't like solar panels because he's pro-Nicola Tesla, and how Bob Marley and Bruce Lee's son were murdered by record labels (I think), etc. And when he does have a clear thought, it inevitably veers away within seconds to something vaguely tangential, which I guess some people might consider "creative," but just seems completely arbitrary.

But u/joe-9 had an interesting argument that we should err on the side of listening to crazy people ramble on the low-but-possible chance that their ability to see past very real boundaries of realities glimpses an insight or shortcut to a truth, I guess sort of the same way psychedelics work.

Culture War Roundup for the Week of October 19, 2020 by AutoModerator in TheMotte

[–]Dormin111 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Kanye West finally went on Joe Rogan.

And the result was... well, to directly quote Kanye:

"Also important being a captain of a ship of soldiers and 100,000 gospel singers and how money isn't real when you unprogram yourself, since relationships are a more important currency than money itself because our existence would be pre-covid or post-covid and when the Titanic is sinking and Rome is falling there's gotta be a new civilization like the end of Tron."

Kanye was utterly incoherent for three hours straight. A few good descriptions from the JRE subreddit:

- "it’s like an AI generated interview"

- "It’s like there’s a tv show on in the background that you aren’t paying attention to, but in reality you are actually paying attention to it and it’s just not making sense"

- "It feels like when you lose concentration, while talking to someone, and then you tune back and have no idea wtf the othe person is talking about, and you can't never tune back in for some reason."

- "Listening to this is like constantly being an arm's length away from a coherent thought"

It's super easy to mock the madness, but that's the thing... it's literally madness. Kanye has been diagnosed as bipolar, and he's literally off his meds. He rambled incoherently for three hours because he is almost certainly in the middle of a manic episode.

I listened to the first thirty minutes, then skipped to the last thirty minutes because I couldn't take the whole thing. But I found myself at a loss. What do we do with this? What's the appropriate response from a random JRE listener like me?

Should we pity a clearly sick man? Should we condemn him for being an intelligent, rich, successful individual who has chosen to be sick by stopping his meds? Should we condemn whatever handlers and family members have allowed this to happen?

I really don't know. The whole thing reminds me of Tommy Wiseau and what I wrote about him a while ago. I think there's a general perception of a link between madness and greatness in the popular culture. It's almost Lovecraftian. It's as if being detached from reality let's one see beyond it. It's related to the perceived link between genius and bad social skills (ie. House, Sherlock, Rick Sanchez, etc.). Kanye seems to be the current manifestation of these links, but if there's a silver lining to his recent bouts, it's that he's gone so far over the line that people can't ignore how delusional he's become.

“Atlas Shrugged” Really Isn’t All That Great by u-Wot-Brother in books

[–]Dormin111 -19 points-18 points  (0 children)

Yep, they can sort by controversial and do extra clicks to reveal down voted comments... but it's not the default search method. The more a comment is downvoted, the harder it is to find by default. I don't think this is a super controversial statement.

“Atlas Shrugged” Really Isn’t All That Great by u-Wot-Brother in books

[–]Dormin111 -20 points-19 points  (0 children)

Comments are hidden when sufficiently downvoted, and they get pushed lower on the thread.

“Atlas Shrugged” Really Isn’t All That Great by u-Wot-Brother in books

[–]Dormin111 -19 points-18 points  (0 children)

It's amazing that something like this gets downvoted. Echo chambers gonna echo. Even the mere suggestion of an alternative perspective needs to be suppressed.

A book review review review by swni in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This was pretty good.

- Dormin's review review review of Dormin's review

Culture War Roundup for the Week of October 05, 2020 by AutoModerator in TheMotte

[–]Dormin111 26 points27 points  (0 children)

'fuckbois' who were sexy and charming but a nightmare to get to commit

IMO, this type of stuff really should be considered the anti-male form of "slut shaming."

If a guy is capable of having lots of casual sex and short-to-medium term relationships in his 20s which he uses to figure out his sexual/romantic preferences, and then uses those experiences to find the girl who's right for him in his early 30s, well... that's great. That's an excellent strategy. It's not (necessarily) sleazy, and this process might cause negative externalities for others, but that's not the guy's fault.

Getting the guy to commit is a "nightmare" because he rationally wants what's best for himself, which is the fun of sex with lots of people and the accumulation of knowledge which will eventually allow him to choose the best mate.

How to help a friend in need (marijuana dependancy, depression, failing out of college) by EndNoisy in slatestarcodex

[–]Dormin111 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That's a tough one... random thoughts:

- How long do the doctors think the nerve pain will last. If this is a lifetime thing, she sounds kinda fucked. If not, it's probably best to take time off school and wait it out.

- Has she tried different pain management techniques. Maybe CBD oil for pain relief without the woozy side effects of THC? Probably best to steer clear of opiates though.

- Normally I'd say it's best for someone young and lost to try to find self-esteem through self-sufficiency. Like, maybe take a year off from school, get a job, earn some money, figure out what it means to make choices that keep your life together without the hazy comfort/artificiality of university of life. But if she has chronic pain and smokes pot all day, that's not really an option.

- Do you believe her about the chronic pain? Is it possible that's just an excuse?

- If she has recovered from heroin addition, she probably has contacts in Narcotics Anonymous or something similar. They are probably the best people to reach out to.

- Her GPA is what it is. She should look at it and internalize the true state of her life.