Data scientist, MS in statistics, lots of experience with traditional models, have done work in recent years with image models; transformer-based models (not always for language); and more work with the big new LLMs in code translation. Heavy on experience with applications in the healthcare domain.
Interested in the alignment problem - pretty unconvinced that language-based alignment is gonna get us very far - like to learn new stuff, read lots of papers, you know.
US-based, would like to work someplace that I'm relatively confident is not evil. Long-shot, but only a minute to write this. :)
24 y/o CS grad and current SWE doing full-stack manufacturing automation for a thermal camera company (C# and python), looking to lateral into the world of prediction markets, which I've gotten involved in as a traded and developer. I've primarily been developing strategies and tools to trade profitably on Kalshi, some of which you can check out on my GitHub. I'd love to get involved in building out prediction markets while they're taking off, and I'm looking for a gritty, high-risk startup environment.
Prediction markets have also gotten me interested in the broader world of trading; and I've started trying my luck at the quant trading recruiting game. It probably says something useful about me that I find the quant trading interview process more inviting than big tech, I'd way rather spend my free time solving Jane Street puzzle-style problems than grinding Leetcode. I'd love to chat with anyone here in the broader trading industry.
I am interested in entry level positions as a data engineer, data analyst, or similar. I'm currently a computer science teacher in the GTA region of Ontario looking to pivot into industry.
I have a bachelor's in computer science, a certification in data engineering, and a few data related projects. My Python and SQL are good, I have experience with data relevant tools including Airflow, Docker, Pandas, and I have familiarity with some BI.
I am highly motivated to learn new skills. In an ideal world, I end up at an organization that either makes a positive social impact (improving governance, solving coordination problems), or is pushing new technological or scientific innovation (biotech/health, materials, or aerospace). But in the near term, my priority is experience and skilling up.
If I can be an asset to your work, please reach out to me via joesegerdev [at] gmail [dot] com
I'm a lone indy dev working on a Visual Novel that I'd like to turn into a fundraiser for some EA-ish charity.
I need a renp'y/python programmer who can help me with basic visual novel and social sim stuff.
About Uptown Valkyries:
"Uptown Valkyries is an urban fantasy/sci-fi comedy about overpowered sociopathic maniacs with arrested development by the millennia.
Inspired by the likes of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Futurama, Calvin and Hobbes, Monty Python, Adventure Time, plus a chaotic cocktail of anime, games, memes, history, mythology, philosophy, and maybe even real life (if that's still a thing)."
A video of what I've got so far can be viewed here:
Right now I've got about 7500 lines of mostly-ready renpy code in need of speech bubbles, 4000 lines of renpy code in need of sprite and speech bubble placement, and then about 50,000 words of writing in need of everything. I expect to write at least 10,000 words, probably more, before it's done, hopefully by the end of the year.
Feel free to use A.I. if you like.
Please contact me with your time/cost estimate. Email: gc539 (at) ncf.ca
One time $200-500 to meet with me and help me design a willpower-agnostic, future-proofed system to improve my productivity.
I am a father with two young kids who super-commutes 3.5 hours to graduate school. I need someone who understands the pinch of exigency, and how to negotiate prioritizing family and time-flexible work commitments.
The deal. You meet with me for a half-hour screening meeting to see if our philosophies are compatible, and if you can assist me. Then I would send you some information about my life. Then, we would have a one hour meeting where we game plan productivity improving innovations.
If you're not a good fit for this role, but you know someone who is--recommend them to me. If it works out, I will pay a $100 finder's fee.
My circumstances are abnormal and I have uncommon beliefs about the nature of productivity, so I won't be a good match for everyone.
I imagine if you're here with this set of needs, you've probably already heard about Beeminder, TaskRatchet, and/or Boss as a Service, but if you haven't, you might find one or all of those helpful! Best of luck in your search :)
This might be a bit of a long shot, but I’m a Computer Science student based in São Paulo, Brazil, and I’m looking for work or a paid internship. I’m still early in the course, but I’m serious about learning and would appreciate the opportunity to get some real-world experience.
I don’t have a clear niche yet, I’m still figuring out what I enjoy and what I’m good at, but I want to be useful and actually build things, not just do coursework.
Most people here are probably in the US, so remote work makes the most sense — but if there’s an office in São Paulo or nearby, I’d be happy to work on-site too.
I also have a previous degree in International Relations, which isn’t directly relevant, but hey, it exists.
If I managed to catch your interest, feel free to reach out: nivirce [at] gmail [dot] com.
I’m looking for software work that I will do for free.
I used to work in HFT, but don’t need any more money.
I would love to help out a research group who are doing research that benefits humanity but are short of programming skills, or whose funding doesn’t stretch to it.
My interests bias towards fairly classical discrete algorithms, I’m not very au fait with modern ML.
She's a researcher for hire, and by all accounts a very good one. Seems like she'd have a good store of info about what's out there, including start-ups and projects people are considering undertaking. Or, if you're all set financially, maybe it would make sense to hire her to help you find a good opportunity.
Other possibilities
-catchafire.org Found this by googling "tech volunteer opportunities," no idea how good it is.
-start-ups
Here are some job boards for jobs at startups. You could scan the start-ups looking for those aiming to help the world, and contact any you like the look of.
Thank you for taking the time to find out and share this information with me!
I will certainly look into the links you’ve provided.
I’m not looking for a startup though (having done that). For example, I am wondering if I could help a university based research group. I have a PhD in CS so have some idea of what this might be like.
Perhaps a group doing computational biology might be able to benefit from my skills and background.
I would be happy to help with more concrete or “mundane” work too, of course.
In any case, thanks again for your reply. Best wishes!
Weirdly, I have another chunk of info for you, because you mentioned computational biology. Here's a link to GPT4.o's response to a question I asked it for someone whose credentials and interests are quite close to yours, except that he does not want to work at a university. https://chatgpt.com/share/67fd8e04-557c-8008-bfe0-469c29b7759e
Might be pretty useful, unless of course a bunch of the places GPT names are hallucinated! Anyhow, best wishes to you too.
If you’re working on something genuinely interesting and inspiring and are looking to hire a Software Engineer, I want to hear about it.
Been working as an SWE at a big tech company for 3 years but I want a job that I’m excited about. Currently based in NYC but will likely move in the nearish term so probably will need to work remotely.
You can reply here with your email or reach out to me at iz8162k23 at gmail
Are you a software/ML/security engineer looking to work with LLMs and make them useful and available to people? The company I work at, Quora, is looking to hire several engineers, mostly for Poe (our AI product). Take a look at open roles here and apply through my referral link: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/quora?utm_source=oVvnwdKp3k. We have a handful of non-SWE openings as well.
a math-focused builder transitioning to quant research. i spent the last ~3 years managing $10M of BESS/photovoltaic projects in Texas, hands-on from market research through financial modeling and greenfield development. currently deep-diving into quant research prerequisites: probability theory, stochastic calculus, python and machine learning (pytorch).
available immediately for:
a) entry positions in quant research/data science/trading operations - willing to start with a trial period and highly adaptable to opportunities where my skills align, or
b) senior project management roles (remote from Serbia, open to relocation) - this is mostly an attempt to leverage weak connections of this community to see if something interesting beyond the reach of my network pops up.
languages: native russian, fluent english and french, conversational japanese (jlpt n4)
I'm a software engineer, currently at the tail-end of a few-months-long career break, looking to re-enter the job market. I've mostly been working on a Javascript based stack (Node, Express, Mongo, and some React) throughout my 2 - 3 year long career in web development, and I've primarily focused on backend web development the past couple of years, since this is my main area of interest. I'm looking to do more work in backend software/web development using a more diverse tech stack (I've recently (re)learned Python and Django), and I'd also like to dabble in some devops/SRE related work. Here's my LinkedIn profile for further details: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumukh-atreya/
I'm a software engineer with additional skills in math (particularly cryptography and mathematical finance), policy (particularly privacy and child online protection), education, and more offbeat things like magic tricks. I'm most practiced with Typescript and C#, but I pick things up well and have a large stable of languages and technologies I'm experienced with. Folks I've worked with have praised my focus on the underlying purpose of tasks I've taken on, and my interest in helping coworkers understand the technology they'll be working with and get up to speed.
I just started a Substack featuring a novel puzzle I've developed, which I've been using the z3 theorem-prover to help generate (https://lawofthegrokodus.substack.com/p/how-i-make-these). These should show off some of the sort of personal project I do.
I'm on the hunt for new work. So far, I'm primarily looking into other software engineering roles, but I'm happy to consider jobs that would use other parts of my skill set. I'm based in the DC area, but willing to relocate. If I seem like someone you might see a fit for, contact me at euclid11 (at) gmail.com.
Our mental health research lab in LMICs has a lot of momentum, 9 members, ongoing pilot in the Philippines, lots of backers, but no funding yet. We will scale many local therapy teams and stack them into a giant social science research lab/platform. Hugely neglected #1 health disability on earth, with a proven solution that has strangely never actually been uptaken and used, and so needs research to make much more scalable. Looking for clinical and research psychology team members. Help us ramp to funding.
Hey folks! I am a bioprocess engineer looking for roles in biopharma, In-vitro Diagnostics, and systems development/integration. I am based in the greater Boston area. I have a dual background in biochemistry and chemical engineering, and I am well-suited roles requiring systems thinking and/or a process development mindset. I have a keen interest in aligning engineering work to big picture objectives and I have frequently worked cross-functionally to solve problems across departments and disciplines.
It was suggested I might drop my dating profile website here, so I figured I'd give it a try: startawar.weebly.com
TL;DR: 42 year old ER physician turned investor ($13-20 M net worth if that’s important), 6’3 tall. Looking for a woman for the long term goal of marriage and children, but expect to have to meet many amazing women along the way. Ideally intelligent, ambitious, emotionally mature, and under the age of 34 (or have frozen eggs or other fertility plan) and are open to 3 or more kids (surrogacy is fine) and over 5’3" tall, but I am flexible. Flexible in terms of location as I will bear all the costs of traveling to you for dates and open to moving as well. 😀
Hi! I am doing this on behalf of my friend Isaac, who is 25 and lives in the D.C. metro area. He is curious, engaging, and brilliant. He is interested in women around his age, is politically liberal, and his doc can be found here (as written by his good friends).
Female, early 20s, Vancouver, open to long distance, seeking M or F 20-30.
Active (a distance runner). Good listener; will listen to you ramble for hours and remember the things you say. Sweet-tempered, kind, positive.
The one issue is that I work a lot, and am looking for someone who also works a lot. If you have a "thing" and spend most of your waking hours thinking about that thing and how to do it better, then we'll get along.
Female, 20s, DC metropolitan vortex, seeking a man ages 25~40 who's ready to get married and start a family in the near term. Not open to long distance.
Friends describe me as sweet-tempered, guileless, easy to get along with, intelligent, and a great listener. I'm also a great cook and homemaker.
25M suburbs of Philadelphia, looking for a woman of a loosely similar age; child-free, monogamous, open to long-distance if it's a good fit.
I'm very passionate about learning and self-growth - my specialties are math and physics (I have a MSc in the latter). I spend most of my free time teaching myself new things (currently Mandarin + the huggingface course on ML for audio), and this is probably the main source of 'meaning' in my life atm. Currently, I work with my family, but am looking for more 'math-y' work, likely in AI / AI safety (cringe of cringes, he's on the bandwagon!).
I can read/write Latin, Ancient Greek and Mandarin, with varying degrees of mediocrity for the oral components of each. Speaking Mandarin would add a lot to the appeal of a putative partner for me - I couldn't quite conduct a relationship in it, but it would be a lot of fun for me to try! I've been laying off the language-learning recently, but did a bit of toki pona in the past and eventually hope to get around to Esperanto. I've translated and co-produced a Latin dub of the Evangelion movie as a wedding present for my friend (link on request but it's _really_ cringe lol). Other interests include history, neuropharmacology, exercise/personal health, and competitive debate.
In a putative partner, I value intelligence (both fluid and crystallized), straightforwardness, simple-living, and enthusiasm for personal (co-)growth. I have zero dating-experience, but am willing to put in the effort and learn. Please feel free to reach out if you're interested, it'd probably make my year lol.
I have a (waaay too long, somewhat dated) date-me-doc with more details, contact information, and pictures available here:
31 / Male / Berkeley (often in DC for work. Up for dating people anywhere in the world, if we're otherwise compatible)
Vegan. Old guard rationalist. EA by philosophy (though largely disenchanted with the EA movement). Emotionally attuned.
I live an intense pseudo-ascetic life, focused on altruistic work, self-improvement, and personal-spiritual integrity (more details in the link). I'm looking for women who are interested in participating in that kind of life with me.
Most notably, I'm at the office ~all my waking hours, ~6 days a week.
Historically, when dating someone, I've spent a lot of time and attention trying to *help her get better* (for example, writing essays to her or having long conversations to convey what I think are blindspots of her in-practice philosophy, or designing exercises to help her develop skills in her personal bottlenecks).
Ideally, I'd like to find someone who has a similar orientation towards me and and my weaknesses—looking out for the things that I'm blind to, and working to help me see and understand them, with skill and compassion.
Seeking cis woman in her 20s, with romantic intentions, ideally not too far away geographically. I'm somewhat location agnostic but prefer cold climates, and at this time I'm not willing to move countries, except maybe Canada. I've always had an unquenchable wanderlust though, so I like traveling (especially by car... would love a passenger princess), and I rarely stay in the same apartment for more than a year.
I like abstract conversations on a wide variety of topics, and often struggle to nail down my exact opinion on something in a digestible way. This is especially true of politics, where my actions and voting history would suggest "liberal" but I internally perceive my opinions to be a galaxy-brained amalgamation of hot takes that are way outside the Overton window. Personality-wise, I'm about halfway between INTJ and INTP, certainly on the autism spectrum.
I like reading sci-fi, watching old movies (70s - 90s range), and listening to techno / trance music (among other genres that have been described as "don't pass the aux cord" taste). I used to be really into anime, so I can give some stellar recommendations, but admittedly haven't watched any myself in quite a while.
I'm not much of a gym rat, being a stick-thin vegetarian, but I exercise in other ways. I can do long hikes with some incline, and my ex got me into cycling, so if you're an active person don't be afraid to invite me along to your activity, as long as you can tolerate my pace of learning and lack of muscle mass initially. To put it in cliche terms, I want you to inspire me to be the best version of myself.
In terms of creative outlets, I like making mashups, drawing street maps of imaginary cities, and the occasional writing project. I've been procrastinating working on a "short" story (currently 4 chapters) based on a dream I had once, nakedly aspiring to reach the heights of whimsy that Hayao Miyazaki did with his work.
DM for more precise location / discord handle / email, or to ask clarifying questions you don't want answered publicly.
36F, in Victoria BC, Canada (from the southeast US, would consider west coast USA or southern Appalachia)
I'm looking for a man who wants to raise kids together, ideally in some larger-than-nuclear-family setting (like a group house, or living near friends or perhaps your family).
I have a lot of experience with poly relationships, and I'm wanting a strong primary / nesting partnership, with openness to intimacy with others, where we're attuned to the wellbeing of our whole ecosystem of relationships.
I'm earnestly weird, nerdy, warm. I tend to get along well with folks who have backgrounds in software / engineering / science, and I also certainly appreciate building stuff, creative endeavors, music, art, and movement.
For work, I do coaching & workshops for pragmatic action, emotional resilience, and psychedelic integration. I'm a long-time burner, and I lead the Sanctuary team at our regional burn.
I also like acroyoga, ecstatic dance, singing, getting into trippy grooves with Zimbabwean marimba ensembles, cats, looking at cool bugs and plants, building/making stuff, talking nerdy - especially about science, Dzogchen, psychedelics.
Hi, I'm Harry, I live in New York City, I can talk your ear off about writing numbers with ones. 😁 Bug photographer; infinity wrangler; squumbly froblumpler.
32M, location unclear (based ish in the bay, nomading to east coast US and ?mexico? soon, open to a lot of different possible endgame/childrearing locations)
- An ex once reported that I'm "really gung ho about the mortifying ordeal of being known".
- I've been known to run taco nights at my house
- Swam from alcatraz to SF.
- Really psyched about work, generally enjoy being someone who works a lot.
- Almost entirely vegetarian.
- Baby fever, but don't do a lot of thinking about my parenting values because I'd rather do that thinking as a group project with a special someone.
- Often singing and humming, hopefully a turning a loved one's name into song.
- I have at least two mysterious backstories.
- Yes the kidney tshirt is real.
- One secret zest for life / high hedonic setpoint trait/behavior that it'd be more fun to surprise you with.
Testimonial:
> What I most admire about Quinn is how much he cares and how much he’s willing to put action into his caring. He genuinely wants to be there for other people. I’ve seen him show so much openness to emotional connection in times when even other resilient and emotionally mature people would have been inclined to take a step back from their existing relationships. I’ve never seen stonewalling or apathy from him. Quinn always cares, and is excited to show that he cares. If you have the same love languages as Quinn, he’ll be able to make you feel super special. Being there for other people and caring doesn’t just mean caring about his friends or partners—he also shows up for communities. At a party, he’s either the host or the guy you assume is the host because he introduces a new burst of energy to each room he’s in.
> Quinn also has a super strong sense of self; he won’t passively fall into trends. I’ve never heard him be insincere or mocking. When so much media and so many conversations contain at least a little bit, and sometimes a lot, of mockery, Quinn has a refreshingly firm focus on topics where he can be completely sincere. Basically, it feels like the idiom “big-hearted” was invented to describe Quinn.
This is less of a "dating" profile as opposed to a "looking for people" profile. I'm a person who peaked in high school, but it was a pretty high peak. Jobless, in eternal grad school, gained some weight, lost some friends, largely due to psychotic depression. That being said, I got a 1540 on the SAT, a 33 on the ACT, got into Cornell and Harvey Mudd but didn't go due to parents not wanting to pay, majored in math, and was half-a-prodigy in philosophy for a bit. No research papers, I just read the Tractatus at 16-17--if that's an achievement, entirely up to you :P
As far as relationships go, I'm a firm (very hopeless) romantic, and I do not think I am really in the position to be a good partner. Not that I'm not working on myself--but in reality I would be asking a lot from any potential person to date me. So it'd be nice to make some friends instead. If anything develops, and I am open to pretty much any gender, then why not? I've been reasonably described as intelligent, verbose, creative, and cranky. I'll try not to follow the pattern of a less well endowed Nietzche and die neurotic and alone--but it's a long road from here to "normalcy".
Looking for more people to chat with and learn your interests to diversify my own! Single and hetero as well so that door is open--not shallow about appearances or age. My interests include political/art/biological history, recent history of science (apollo, project orion, WWII ops research/cybernetics, past and present futurism), and philosophy (computational, systems, epistemology/axiology [again, cybernetics], and I'm trying to get into, let's say, post-nihilism/quietism). Playing some games, mostly friendslop and tabletop these days (should I buy signalis?). My general disposition is what the kids call 'clear-pilled'.
We're all wunderkinds here right? Kind of the ACX byline. Except I'm mediocre at coding. My jam is art (realism/surrealism, so you know I don't suck) and writing novels--I'd love to hear about your worldbuilding or characters if you have them. Recently I realized that I turned all my hobbies into *hustles* and everything I made from work went into FIRE and being alive at all really sucked, honestly. So I'm in my burnout phase looking to spend a year or two happily under-employed and just working out/trying different foods/getting into IRL social groups/appreciating life. I'll get back to that masters eventually...
My discord is @shaeor. Come chat about anything but FIRE!
26 year old bisexual woman in SF Bay Area with a strong preference for women or female-bodied people, but am open to talking to men.
I am interested in and dabble in a lot of things but am still figuring out my place in the world, especially career-wise. I did a cognitive science bachelors, am currently in the environmental nonprofit field, and am also considering a career/further education in law or policy. I love to write, though I don’t do it much anymore and am trying to get back to it.
Outside of work, I like to read, indoor climb, try new events of any topic, learn, garden, and think about arts/crafts and then hardly ever follow through. I’ve been getting more into anime and manga lately. I’m also loosely involved in the kink scene, I attend events on occasion. While I love philosophical discussions, I do have social anxiety that can cause me to have brain fog when I’m around new people. I tend to open up a lot more and say more interesting things after a few meetings.
I’m still trying to figure out what I want in a partner. To me, I think it would look like someone who’s also my best friend and even potential business partner (lots of creative ideas, again just less follow through!). I’d like someone who enjoys independence and is not desperate for just any partner. I enjoy people who are thoughtful, balanced, respectful, and not narrow-minded.
If it matters, my Myers-Briggs type is INTP. I just took a Big 5 test as I saw a commenter below do that, and while I think honestly my answers can vary depending on the day, I got:
•Neuroticism- 80
(highest in anxiety and self consciousness)
•Extraversion- 67
(I’d say I’m an introvert who’s been going out more lately. I do have cravings to talk to new people and have fun experiences, just not every single day)
•Openness to Experience- 102 (very open)
•Agreeableness- 97
•Conscientiousness- 80
Feel free to send me a message on discord with your info/post: chanterielle
I'm looking for other women in OKC / Tulsa to hang out with (open to dating or friendships, or just seeing where it goes).
I'm a software engineer, with my main hobbies being D&D (DMing a local group, player in a remote group), writing short sci-fi, watercolor painting (very mediocre at this at the moment but I'm learning), and hobbyist game development.
I love long conversations and debates. If you have any interest in trying something new together (OKC recommendations: kayaking, axe throwing, roller/ice skating, visiting a makerspace, taking a class together, etc... or just meeting up at a coffee shop to chat), feel free to reach out!
I write book reviews and occasional jokey articles about video games. The most recent is on Nixonland, so if you're still waiting for the ACX review, you can get a poor man's version here. Most of it is devoted to how terrible the hippies were.
keatingmichael.substack.com makes the case for public goods in this moment when attacks on public goods of most kinds (laws, spaces, institutions) are succeeding. I am a founder of startups that operate in public space in cooperation with governments. Advanced degrees in urban planning and business.
For years I've been writing an alternate history based on the concept of 'what if Constantine X Doukas has a sudden bout of competence', guided by the results of playing some grand strategy games*. It's reached the year 1939, and is collaborative, with people invited to create characters and write about their actions in this world. I'd love or more people to join! It can be found at https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/the-empire-strikes-back-part-4.1565575/
* For those who know, it's a Paradox Interactive megacampaign through CK2, EU3, Vic2, now HoI4.
I started a blog a couple months ago, just to give myself a space to be creative. I'm a data scientist during the day, so while I enjoy writing, I don't get many opportunities to do it.
Topics include parenthood, fiction, movies, TV, roleplaying games, board games, politics, economics, data science, philosophy, poetry, and life. My favorite post so far is probably my first, about an Ursula K. Le Guin novel that I had just finished:
Deep caves are some of the last unexplored areas left for us human beings. Like the bottom of the oceans and outer space. Want to know what it's like to discover and explore them? Read on!
Politics, policy, language learning, Esperanto, toki pona, a little bit of EA; how can I/we do good?; (how) can I be happy?; agency, ambition, achievement (& liberty in service thereof), merit; possibly skeuomorphic belletrism.
Those are some of the ideas in my head and my notes, at least—hopefully more of them will make it onto the site soon (some already have)!
... and I have a mostly-written series on rationality/ 'what I learned from the sequences', as yet unposted, that I might get around to soon, after I finish the expansion microscopy stuff.
I read many web serials, some of them delightfully trashy and some of them of a comparable quality and style to published fiction. Here's my current reading list, in order of most enjoyed to least:
If you're new to web serials, Worm (https://parahumans.wordpress.com/) and Practical Guide (above) were probably the two most popular when I started, and might be a good place to start. There also exists a small but thriving niche for rationalist web serials, for those who are into that.
YES, I never hear anyone talk about these outside of specific subreddits. I would like to add The Wandering Inn to that list https://wanderinginn.com/, it's my favourite web serial bar none, really long but the author does an excellent job of capturing a wide range of emotions and character arcs and wonder, and handles complicated and controversial social issues better than most stories I've seen. I truly think everyone should give it a shot
I write about Bayesian Belief Networks, my favorite tool to solve logic and probability puzzles. I'm at https://medium.com/@pbercker but also cross-publish on substack and sometimes publish pretty Bayesian Networks on X. I believe that the best way to put Bayes' theorem to work is with Bayesian Networks, especially for the amateur Bayesian! The best expression of it is ... P(H/e) = [P(e/H) * P(H)] / P(e) ... stop using A and B! Just Meaningless letters ... here you known that H is a hypothesis and e is the evidence and P(H) is the prior probability for the hypothesis and P(e/H) is the likelihood of the evidence given the hypothesis. The rest is calculation!
I wrote a metaphorical philosophy post recently on subjective experience and I'd love to talk to more people about it https://excursions.substack.com/p/life-in-the-jelly tldr: better words for intersubjectivity and shared subjective experience aka culture bubbles
I just started the Substack I've been tinkering with for a while, to highlight a new sort of puzzle I created. Check out Law of the Grokodus (https://lawofthegrokodus.substack.com/) if you like number-placement logic, crossword-style clues, or (forthcoming) a lens where dogs are nest parasites and elves could be changeling survivors. But for now, some homemade puzzles!
My wife provides college admissions consulting virtually and occasionally in-person in the LA area. She is a master at helping your kid tell their story in a way that resonates with admissions departments and stands out from all the other kids with good grades. If your kid is going to be a high school senior this fall, get in touch.
Parents tell her they love not being the project manager for the admissions process any more. If your kid is younger and you're starting to think about college, she consults in earlier phases as well. She's had particular success with the UC system, as well as Ivies and the NESCAC.
DM on this platform and I'll drop you her email address.
2. Collective action - for goals that need a group to succeed.
3. Temporary anonymity (optional) - when it’s risky to be first.
Commitments are provisional and dependent on the number of participants reaching a critical mass. “I’ll do this, as long as other people do it too.”
Examples:
Coordinate wealth pledges - "I'll donate 1% of my crypto holdings to X cause if 1000 other holders commit"
Aggregating Expertise - "I'll contribute 10 hrs a month to this project if if 50 other researchers commit"
Create Social Clusters - "I'll relocate to an EA hub if 100 others commit to building long-term community"
Scale epistemic innovations - "Our org will implement prediction markets for policy if 10 other orgs join”.
Enable statistically significant studies - "I'll donate my brain to consciousness research if 1000 others commit, making a statistically significant sample"
and so on...
If you're interested in using the app, you can fill out our 1 min qualification survey:
Looks great! Is there a way to get a notification to try it out when it's available for the general public? Also, what language/s has it been verified for?
Still require: Arabic, Dutch, Malay, Indonesian, Korean, Greek, Hindi, Swedish.
-- Surprisingly difficult finding teachers willing to test the app for an hour.
The 'Quiz Mode' has also been validated for "Physics" and "Statistics" up to Expert (MSc/'PhD') level, although this is not to the same kind as the language learning.
And I've validated it for "Biochemistry" and "Exercise Physiology" up to "Hard", which roughly corresponds to Undergraduate.
The password is only there until release to prevent bots from using the API. After release it'll be open-access into the app and for A0, but auth will be required to use levels above this. All authorised (verified) accounts will have free limited access to test of course.
Really I should sort out a waiting list etc for those curious or for beta-testing etc*. Added 'deep dive' function today to quiz mode. Maybe waiting list is next.
*If you'd be interested in beta feel free to shoot me a message.
It means you can post a bounty on a theorem which will be paid to whoever proves the theorem. It uses automatic proof verification in Lean, and the handling of the bounties happens on the blockchain in a smart contract, so it's sorta trustless.
If you feel stuck on something, we'll start with the pragmatic level and get your systems in gear. From there, we'll explore and untangle deeper layers of feelings and beliefs, building up your self-awareness and self-trust, making it much easier to make decisions and take actions that you feel good about.
I draw from methods like Internal Family Systems, Coherence Therapy (as adapted for coaching), Core Transformation, and somatic approaches.
Formerly called the Goal-Crafting Intensives, we've run these workshops over 50 times since 2017. Many participants and coaches have come through the EA and rationality communities, and we're also a great fit for folks who are exploring postrat spaces or struggling with burnout.
We operate on a Pay-What-You-Want model, with a $35 deposit to reserve your spot and then contributing whatever feels right at the end of the workshop. There’s no minimum (and no maximum). Seriously—we have people who put in less than $5 and people who put in more than $500.
I have a large number of vacuum tubes to sell. These are all useful for audio. All the big names are here, Mullard, GEC, MOV, Fivre, RCA, Sylvania, etc. In particular there are a ton of Sylvania 6/12sn7. Other standouts include genuinely rare tubes like the GEC e3375, Mullard cv535 (12j5gt), and MOV bl36. There’s a bunch of interesting, but weird tubes like the MOV N43 and N34 plus the GEC ktz43. I will include bases for most of the weirder tubes like these. I keep adding to the spreadsheet but right now I am at over 400 tubes and I haven’t even added all the 6sn7/12sn7 yet. Probably another 100 or so there. This is an amazing haul for DIY or possibly a wholesaler. I want to sell it as a lot. I’m in the northern VA/DC area. Come get them all for $2699, that’s less than $6 a tube! Get in touch and I’ll send you a spreadsheet of what I’ve got cataloged so far.
3) Schitt Freya+ silver $650. It’s a Stereophile class A preamp at a bargain price. It will include the stock new version Tung Sol branded 6sn7. I have a variety of Sylvania 6sn7 and 7n7 available to purchase if you want those as well.
I am selling a bunch of vacuum tubes and vacuum tube equipment.
2) Custom Supratek Cabernet preamplifier. This is a line level preamp made by Mick in Australia. It is one of the best that can be bought. It uses a 6sn7 per side. It also uses 6l6gc as shunt regulators. This particular version has been modified in 2 ways. First of all it has 2 sets of balanced outputs. Perfect for running class D amps, powered monitors, or differential amplifiers in general. It still has a set of RCA outputs as well. The bigger deal is that it can use either 6sn7 or 12sn7 tubes. 6sn7 tube prices have shot into the stratosphere while the 12v versions have stayed reasonably priced. I will include either Miniwatt b36, Tung Sol black glass round plate 12sn7, or Sylvania “Bad Boy” 12sn7 with the preamp. We can discuss prices if you want all of them or others as well. Mick now charges $4000 for the same 6v/12v version. Add to that the shipping, 4-6 weeks, and whatever tariffs/import duty on top of that. I am selling this for $2999 including shipping in the continental US.
I built Translate a Book with AI - translateabook.com - to, you guessed it, translate books with AI. The layout is preserved and we have multiple translation modes, one of which analyzes the whole book to build a glossary before translating it.
We use DeepSeek V3 and I care a lot about getting an actually good result - some of our users are authors that say it's "95% perfect", others are people wanting to read a foreign book or share it with friends and family. The feedback has been very positive and I'd love to hear yours!
I'm writing a book about epistemology and why all knowledge is fundamentally uncertain. You can read the first draft for free now via https://www.fundamentaluncertainty.com/
Marketing pull quote to get your interest: "The modern world faces tremendous challenges: growing political and social tensions, scientific disagreements that defy consensus, and existential threats from advanced technologies. We've thrown billions of dollars and millions of people at these challenges, yet they remain unsolved. It's my belief that they stubbornly refuse to yield to our efforts because attempts to solve them run up against the limits of our ability to know the truth, and we won't make progress until we learn to work with rather than against the fundamental uncertainty inherent in our world."
I'm an interview coach who works with technical folks (esp PM types) to prep for job interviews. I'm excellent at helping very smart people improve their communication and influence skills. I've worked with hundreds of clients, and helped land gigs at all the major tech companies. High paying jobs are increasingly scarce, the competition is tougher; your ability to market yourself is more critical than ever. Free consultation to see if it's a good fit. Reach out directly - ajsmitha7 [at] gmail.com
The complete books are available for purchase either in paperback or as pdfs.
(Oh, and for anyone out there who appreciates the even darker art of poetry, you might consider my tiny collection of poems, 𝐼𝑙𝑙 𝐸𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐴𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒. More on that here: https://www.bravernewmath.com/ill-enough-alone)
I'm in my early 20s living in the DC-Baltimore area (well, Frederick MD, to be specific). I'm interested in a lot of wordcel things, especially econ/rationality blogs and would love some irl friends to hang out and do things with on weekends.
Anyone here in the Bordeaux region of France? Or even somewhere in France? Might anyone be interested in retiring in this area of Southern France? I'm retired on a very modest pension but could help someone to move in this area if interested (but be warned that I think France is over-rated! Don't believe all the nice hype about French people!). Property prices are going through the roof these last few years, ever since post-Covid. Modest people like me are being frozen out from decent housing and stuck in sub-par badly constructed apartment buildings of the 60s and 70s. Every seen that that French movie The Delicatessen? Delicatessen is a 1991 French post-apocalyptic science fiction black comedy film - except that it's a fairly accurate portrayal of life in this building. There's even a butcher shop right around the bend, except he doesn't murder any of the renters!
I’ll be in Sacramento for the summer and would love to make some entrepreneurial/creative/writer friends locally without driving to SF every weekend! Anyone around?
I run a rationality meetup in Waterloo, Ontario, which meets every Thursday. Regular turnout is around a dozen people or so, and there's a fun affiliated discord that you can only get an invite to if you've been to at least one in-person meetup.
Probably 10% more autism then the standard factorio community. Train game is already dysfunctional in that way; you just split up work and tell people to focus on their own builds.
If there's anyone in Romania (especially Timisoara), feel free to contact me! I'd be willing to meet up in any form or just keep in touch, especially since I missed the last deadlines.
Watch my performance in Portland, OR! On the first Saturday of every month (through December), I recite, from memory, a "book" (about an hour-long chunk) of Paradise Lost, the epic Genesis fanfiction that John Milton wrote in the 1660's about Satan's fall from Heaven and Adam and Eve's fall from the paradise of Eden. It's at Rose City Book Pub on 1329 NE Fremont, 7:30pm.
The upcoming performance on Sat, May 3 is Book 2; it's a really good one, with a demonic council full of passionate oratory, then the beginning of Satan's "hero's journey" and his encounter with his ex Sin and their baby Death. I get to do eight distinct voices, plus narrator voice!
There's no charge, though it's polite to buy drinks and/or food from the bar. I'm just obsessed with this poem and like sharing my special interest =)
How can it be that this community has said next to nothing about the tragic case of Lucy Letby in the UK? It is destined to be the worst case of miscarriage of justice in recent UK history. It is nearly morally certain that she is innocent but yet now serving 15 life sentences as UK's worst "serial baby killer" ever. She's accused of having murdered 7 neonates and attempted to murder 7 more. She was convicted in August 2024. But just a few months ago an international panel of medical experts examined each and every single case and were unanimous that none of the babies were murdered, but each died of natural causes and/or because of poor standard of care in that one hospital, the Countess of Chester Hospital. It all started with very bad statistics which would never have happened had a Bayesian approach been done. Indeed from a Bayesian point of view this case would never have made it to the courts. But certain vested interests (in the form of two dodgy doctors who hated Lucy Letby) pushed and pushed to have the police involved even though the coroner's initial reports turned up no evidence of foul play. The UK constabulary only reluctantly got involved but once another dodgy "medical expert" (just a self-invited man from out of town!) showed up on the scene he got a ball rolling that no one could stop. This sorry mess all began in 2015. Lucy was arrested several times, in 2018 and 2019 and released. But they finally arrested her in 2020 and officially charged her. The poor girl has been traumatized by all this and tragically did not get the best initial defense who bungled her defense. She has a new defense team and has garnered attention in the US and in Canada. It's worth mentioning that this panel of medical experts convened at their own expense and worked pro-bono for the new defense team. The added feature in this case is that there is very good reason to believe that two doctors in particular who worked at that hospital essentially steered and manipulated the police into a line of inquiry that excluded any possible malfeasance and/or negligence on their part which may turn out to be the best explanation for the spike in death at this hospital.
Wow, I heard about this case in passing around 2022 but the story was told to me without a year attached-- I assumed it was an early 20th century case at the latest, and had no idea it was ongoing. That is very tragic. Is there anything worthwhile that commenters can do? Sign one of those petition things? Dial random MPs?
There's quite an active protest campaign in the UK who take to the streets on occasion to keep this in the public eye. Some legal experts in the USA are keeping track. No less a figure than Lord Sumption (retired Supreme Court justice) has come out to say that he believes the guilty verdict is "unsafe" as the Brits call such a miscarriage of justice. Nothing short of public "naming and shaming" will reverse this absurd ruling. Most recently, it appears that two of the doctors who sounded the "alarm" (a "fake alarm," some would say) have been suspended. There is a new inquiry looking to charge the hospital with "corporate manslaughter" - possibly as the real reason why there was a sudden spike in mortality - and the doctors suspected it was their fault but had to shift the blame elsewhere quickly. But meanwhile, Lucy Letby will continue to sit in prison for another year at least.
I and Tim Blais are working on adapting Unsong to a musical. It's slow but we plan to preview a few songs at Vibecamp this year. We are looking for collaborators for that preview (i.e. to sing)
Last year I finished (read: stopped working on, it's certainly not finished quality-wise) a screenplay, and now I have no idea what to do with it.
It's a five-part miniseries about a group of sexy young people trying to scare each other. It started out sort of psychological horror but the sex crept in and expanded to fill the space available. It was written for an audience of exactly one and I have absolutely no idea how it would come across to anyone else - whether the tense bits are tense, the drama-y bits dramatic, whether the stuff I found funny is funny, whether the plot twists are cringingly obvious or unreasonably out of the blue, etc.
I'd quite like to see it turned into a real product, but I've no experience with film production and I'm pretty sure your first project is supposed to be a five minute short film, not a four hour long miniseries.
I talked in passing to a few people who write stuff and want to go the route of pitching/selling it to investors (do you call them investors? you know what I mean anyway.) I'm not sure I'm temperamentally suited for that - plus this thing is not the standard committee-driven "safe" plot and I would resist any compromises that push it in that direction. Also, it might just be my bad luck, but everything I've seen of that world has been strawman-level woke. I'm a white straight guy with a story written for white straight guy sensibilities and I'll be bottom of the barrel with the type of people I'm thinking of.
Anyway I was just wondering if anyone else is in a similar boat, or interested in such things and would like to read it, or just has an opinion on what I could do with it.
Have you considered producing (part of) it as a stage play? It's obviously not the same, but there are lots of amateur theatre troupes out there that would be pretty comfortable working with a new writer, and a lot of the important bits (is the writing good, is the story compelling, does the timing work) are the same across media.
You might also just be able to go for it, if you have some friends who'd be willing to get involved, and are willing to let the project take years. Buy a decent camera and a tripod or Steadicam, and just accept that the finished product will not be professional-quality.
That's an idea I hadn't thought of! I'll keep it in mind for future stuff.
I'm pretty sure it won't work for what I've got though - I'm doing a lot of using scene jumps and camera cuts to misdirect the viewers, and I don't think that would be so easy to translate into the new format.
I love the idea of just getting on with it and making a film. Just as soon as I have the money and time for a project like that. One day...
If anyone is looking for hostel style housing in Berkeley, check out: https://attic.raj.quest. My house has a 3rd floor that we've put a bunch of beds in - it's probably your cheapest option if you want weird/flexible dates in Berkeley.
If anyone is looking for Rationalist adjacent housing in the Boulder/Denver area, I have two rooms available for rent in a 4 bedroom house. I attend the Boulder area meetups and host board game nights with largely rationalist adjacent people once or twice a month, so you would have an easy plugin to the existing rationalist community. Duration is negotiable, so would be a good option if you wanted to try living in the area but don't want to commit to something long term.
Email for this purpose is caleb5953539 [at] gmail [dot] com if you are interested or would like more information
I'm fascinated by the collective process of narrowing bounds on mathematical constants (Ramsey numbers, the Busy Beaver function, etc.). I wanted to create visualizations but couldn't find a convenient source of historical bounds updates across mathematical problems, so I created Leaps in Bounds, a repository of progress on mathematical unknowns:
The two main goals for the compiled data are to present them for browsing in a visually informative way, and to provide them for download in various formats (JSON, CSV, etc.).
I'm not a professional mathematician, so I welcome any suggestions on how to make this more useful and intuitive to mathematicians and enthusiasts. Contributions are also welcome via the GitHub Discussions!
I'm not sure if what I want is a community, a meetup, a date, or even just a shibboleth.
I want to meet more people for whom "are you on the left or right" is not the first, last, and only question. I want to talk with people who find humans interesting, even humans who were part of oppressive systems or did seriously bad things. Who will engage with a book or movie beyond how it fits into the culture war.
I don't mean apolitical. A lot of smart people have strong political feelings, but can still see the virtues in people who disagree with them.
In the past I would have said the rationalists, but the past few months has really been disillusioning for rationalists as a group (which is not saying the same for individuals.)
Just looking for any lifeline here. Based in NYC, but that may not matter.
I think we're on similar wavelengths. I'm also keen to talk to more interesting people and not have everything poisoned by politics.
(At the same time, I'm beginning to wish I *was* in more of a bubble surrounded by people who agree with me about things. Paradoxically I think if I knew I had a home base, a community I could trust to be there for me, then I'd find it far less grating to hear everyone else's politics harped on daily. It would be like some semi-perceived threat had been removed, I have backup, or an escape valve, or something. Anyway that's by the bye and nothing to do with what you're saying.)
Also interested in a lifeline. Based in UK, which isn't much good to you in NYC.
Yeah this is basically the same I was thinking. And it's a lot easier to be open to risky openness when you have a home that feels secure. If you're ever in NYC, send a message.
Im confused by the timeline your suggesting, this has been my every year except this one. The internet fractured years ago; I have doubt we will ever return to the golden age when reddit was the front page of the internet and you could trust that it would be fairly uncensored; and ai slop probably would've broke it even if it wasnt.
Navigating the fractured internet is a better question, I found my "fedi" server by looking at which one was the most censored, that probably is to spicey for a new yorker; but prehaphs you could find one of those lists and jump down a few hundred positions.
My position: AGI will not exist in the next 1-5 years.
Sums: Any amount no less than 50 USD, subject to inflation.
The bet will be public and written formally, we will decide on a precise definition of AGI and some indicator of its existence, payments will be made on the resolution of the bet.
You might want to provide a basic description here of what you think constitutes the AGI that won't exist. It'll help people determine whether or not they think it'll come to pass in the next five years; the wronger you are on the internet, the more engagement you get.
I'm teaching an in-person class on computational biology / bioinformatics this weekend (April 19-20) in NYC. The only prerequisite is basic Python, no biology experience required.
I was actually in the process of figuring out how to improve my Python skills, so your videos are gonna be very helpful! Also I didn't know your blog and it looks neat! I like cool blogs.
Also also, these days I keep noticing that bioinformatics and related stuff would be a super cool thing to learn more about, even though it's not really my background at all (I'm a cogsci master's student with an undergrad in polisci!). Any chance we could find half an hour or so to chat about it, and basically see if there are parts of these fields which would make particular sense for me to explore, given my background?
If so, hit me up at augustin[period]portier[a t]proton[period]me
Not a strict deadline, but I'm gonna send out an email tomorrow afternoon with details on the location, logistics, etc, so it would be good if you sign up before then.
(Meta-comment on the dating section and other stuff like it)
I don't know if the insights from the psychology of compatibility have failed to filter out into the general population in a comprehensible form, or maybe they never existed at all, but man... we're really grasping in the dark out here, aren't we? There's no clear language of who we are and who we're looking for, everyone is trying a different approach, we have no idea how to map the relevant variables. It makes it all so inconvenient and risky, and if there's anything I know to reliably dissuade humans from taking action it's inconvenience and risk.
I'm sure this is a monstrously tough, maybe insoluble, problem for psychology at least with current tech, but I'd be curious if anyone has a deeper perspective on why the compatibility thing -- explaining variance in why and how humans come to like each other -- is so damned difficult.
> There's no clear language of who we are and who we're looking for, everyone is trying a different approach, we have no idea how to map the relevant variables.
No less an authority than Gwern has pointed out that there ARE no relevant variables:
"To summarize: everyone agrees on who's hot or not, and it is better to be hot than not; past that degree of assortative mating, predicting pairwise success of romance appears to be essentially impossible.
I'm particularly impressed by Joel et al 2017, where participants spent half an hour filling out several hundred of the most useful survey/psych questions (many extremely similar to what 'date documents' record) first, and past the global 'hot or not' ratings everyone could agree on, they throw high-powered random forests at trying to predict pairs of men/women, and the pairwise random forests do not merely fail to add much predictive power, they actually make the predictions worse! I, uh, did not predict that.
If you can take hundreds of participants filling out hundreds of tailored survey items about all their preferences and ideals and desired traits of romantic partners, and our highest-powered statistical methods identify less than zero signal, and this is also consistent with other analyses like asking whether your preferences predict satisfaction with partners (apparently not!), then I cannot see any reason for optimism about 'dealbreakers' existing and being so important you should structure all dating based on it. They would appear to be highly negotiable; perhaps true dealbreakers exist only in retrospect (such as at workshops or couples consulting therapists in the middle of messy breakups). Note the pernicious learning problem here inherent to screening: how will you ever learn you were wrong to screen out someone based on a supposed 'dealbreaker' if you screen everyone that way? It's not like you (or anyone else) will randomly pick half to go on a date with anyway and diligently acquire a sample of a few hundred n which can show that the two processes have the same (low) success rate for additional dates/relationships...
If neither you nor anyone else can predict your actual romantic compatibility with a random person beyond the basics of assortative mating, no matter how many questionnaires you fill out or dealbreakers you list, because you will 'click' with whomever you click, and that's the end of it, no point asking 'why', the heart has its reasons all your dealbreaker reasons know not, etc, then it seems like one ought to be thinking of dating as a numbers game in finding the maximum of n draws, more like the lottery of apple breeding than filtering airplane flights on Travelocity looking for the perfect flight with zero layovers leaving at noon for $200."
My own take on this is that romance is an incremental series of filtering steps that is critically dependent on random combinations of personality interacting with environmental context. In other words, who you click with is critically sensitive to mood, both yours and the other persons, and mood is only semi-conscious and itself critically sensitive to small changes in stimuli and time.
What I think happens at each step is that initially, expectations are low so encounters are easy--just some casual conversation over a drink, perhaps. As the relationship extends over time, expectations rise, so that further extension of the relationship becomes progressively more difficult, until a sense of commitment kicks in. Think of this as a kind of sunk cost fallacy except in this case it isn't a fallacy. As commitment rises, it becomes easier to extend the relationship, until eventually both parties feel locked into a long term relationship. This process can obviously reverse itself.
Think of these "steps" as filtering experiences. Before you encounter anybody, you have, in theory at least, the entire world as your potential partner pool. By the end of it, you're down to just one. Remember that every potential partner you meet is also filtering everyone they meet in the same way.
So this sequence happens over the course of minutes at first encounter. When two people first see one another, expectations are essentially zero, so it's easy and simple to proceed to the next step (eye contact) and so on until conversation occurs. Expectations keep rising, typically in the form of "does it feel right" interrogatories (Is this person funny enough? Interesting in the right way? Too anxious? Too into themselves? etc.) What each person's criteria are is unique to each person's life experiences, and therefore essentially unpredictable.
They also change with changing mood. What might work in a sports bar may not work in a workplace, or in the neighborhood park, or on a dating app. This is true for both potential partners. It's entirely possible that person A might be attracted to person B in the bar, but not vice versa, yet had they met at a park, it could have gone the other way around (B is now into A, but not vice versa). This might also have been the case on Monday, but by Friday everything has changed (because each of them has experienced things that changed their mood).
Go through this entire process at the second encounter, then the third, etc. Yet with each successive encounter, commitment rises, so each party becomes less eager to look for a different companion. At some point, again unpredictable, both individuals will mutually feel that they are ready to commit to a long term romantic attachment.
So the best strategy is to have as many causal conversations with as many different people as you can, and wait until something sticks. Be ready, if progress seems to stall, to look elsewhere, beginning all over again.
Fortunately, I think this is skill based, so one gets better at it over time, provided one is brutally honest with oneself about one's mistakes. I don't know how many causal conversations it takes to get to the next step, but it isn't infinite. It may depend on who is in your circle of potential casual encounters (the people you are likely to meet, given where you are).
I also believe that this is all much easier face to face, as that is what we evolved to do. Online just seems to make everything harder (that could be my generation talking).
What I'm describing is a non-linear open system, with far too many variables to track. Random experimentation is probably going to be more successful over time than trying to decipher one's own and other's preferences.
I find this data difficult to reconcile with common sense and my own exerience. While I don't know who will "click" (which we need a defintion for). I feel like I can successfully filter out quite a few people who would be a waste of time to meet with even if I can't filter in exactly who will "click"
I feel like I can sometimes tell from pictures alone, is this person generally happy or unhappy. If they post 5 pictures and not a smile in a single one I'm going to assume unhappy. I also feel like I can tell to some degree if they are easy going or high maintenence. I'm not saying I know with 100% certainty if they are easy going but I do feel confident that I the people I'm filtering out as high-maintenance I'm 90% likely to be right about.
As for "click", with, I can "click" with someone who is not a match. Maybe they're married, maybe they live on the other side of world, maybe they are in situation I don't want to deal with.
But also, what does "click" mean. Does it mean we'll get married and have a 15+ year happy relationship? Or does it mean we'll be attracted to each other but find out a few dates or months later we aren't really a match. Like I know a couple who was together for 10+ years but she ultimately dumped him because she wanted kids and he didn't. Maybe she's happy with those 10 years. Or maybe she should have put that on her list, "must want kids", and skipped him?
> I'm not saying I know with 100% certainty if they are easy going but I do feel confident that I the people I'm filtering out as high-maintenance I'm 90% likely to be right about.
But to Gwern's point, how do you *really* know this unless you actually go against what you know and try to date them anyways??
One of the more impactful offhand conversations I had with a friend once a long time ago was him opining on the value of "variety dating." Just drop all your filters except one or two, and go for it. I tried it, and was genuinely positively surprised multiple times. You can "click" and vibe and really get along with a MUCH wider variety of people than you think, even many you would have said "definitely not, that's crazy."
But if you never put it to the test, you don't really know.
> But also, what does "click" mean. Does it mean we'll get married and have a 15+ year happy relationship?
I mean, Gwern wrote that particular passage, so I can't really say - but I'd say it's just the sign that chemistry and compatibility are there and you can try for more.
Nobody can predict in advance a 15+ year happy relationship or marriage. Pretty much every single pair of people that got in front of an altar and said "I do" thought that their relationship would be happy and long lasting and at least 2/3 of them were wrong (~42% vintage divorce rates and half again "at least one party is net unhappy" rates).
I think you're putting on a lot on "and try to date them anyways". My chances to date anyone feel slim to none. I meet hardly anyone in my life routine that's close to my age (60), available, and that I'm mildly attracted to. Getting anyone to answer on the 4 dating sites I'm on is near impossible. And add to that, if I'm not interested I can't fake it, which I partly read into "and try to date them anyways". It feels like a lie and I definitely had my share of angry/upset people who I went a more than 1 date where for me, 1st date I knew I wasn't interested, we had no chemistry, conversion was difficult, wasn't "fun". but, they asked for a 2nd date and I thought "yea, ok, maybe I should try again" and then when I said not interested after the 2nd date they were very upset. This has happened more than once.
You can read all kinds of articles and people upset they got rejected on dates and claims that it's a kind of psychological torture. Maybe that's hyperbole on their part but I does make me feel responcibility be true to my feelings rather than ignore them on the off chance that I'm wrong and they're a match.
I agree it's people who say it's a numbers game. It's hard to increase those numbers for some of us. I also get that you're saying I could increase the numbers by asking out people who's profiles turn me off on the change that my interpretation of their profile is off. I'll try to take the hint and lower my threshold, not to 0, but lower than it is.
My guess is that self-report is just a terrible way to measure human compatibility and that there are no relevant variables that can be extracted from it. But I think we all know that when in direct conversation with someone else we have an intuitive sense of how much we enjoy talking to that person -- whether our styles of communication are a "match" or have "chemistry" -- and this is the real thing to measure in terms of predicting compatibility, at least in the short term. If I were going to conduct research in this area I'd focus on trying to explain why some people are better to talk to than others, with machine learning.
I mean, come on, surely "Only looking for open relationships and no kids, also I'm 100% gay" and "Only looking for strictly monogamous relationship with many kids, also I'm 100% straight" has SOME predictive power
Happily married middle aged guy here. Curious about same puzzle. Trying to help my friend *P* remarry (btw, he's 44, 2 kids, great guy, Boston).
I wonder what would happen if dating were instead organized around "annoyances you don't mind putting up with." You'd have to somehow name those. Often we can't articulate that about ourselves. Importantly, friends too may be limited.
Imagine a service that (with permission) interviewed exes to build that knowledge. And so your agent (a loving critic) could have honest chat with another agent (potential date's loving critic). Fewer dates but pre-qualified?
I think that's called the "bitch eating crackers" phenomenon? In regards to relationships, anyway, it's when the charming quirks at the start that you didn't mind, or could put up with, become the outsize deal breakers and red flags once you're at the point of breaking up:
So when you've fallen out of love with someone and don't want to be with them anymore, even innocuous things get on your nerves to the extent they make you irrationally angry. I think that's part of why we can't have a nice neat algorithm to sort out pairings, no matter how many questionnaires we fill out.
I will always remember April 17 as the day I learned about bitch eating crackers.
Agree with questionnaires, but the limiting factor there is perhaps self-report. Friends can't help much, never dated you, appreciate your quirks. Maybe the valuable data is buried with all those who dated you for 2, 5, 15 dates.
It is probably difficult, but I'd expect the main problem is that almost nobody is working on it. Maybe it's a low prestige research topic in psychology? I don't really know.
You know what would be cool? Rule The Waves 3 style spreadsheet strategy game but it's about space warfare with accurate orbital mechanics, set entirely within our solar system.
The closest thing that exists is Children of a Dead Earth, and personally, I found it kind of a slog to play, despite being someone with a lot of stuff on Atomic Rockets and an aerospace degree. But it's not really in the same genre.
That said, I second James's recommendation of Aurora. It's not set only in our solar system and it's not based on realistic orbital mechanics, but it's basically RTW3 in space, only with more spreadsheet. It's a pretty intimidating game to get into, so I wrote up a tutorial, starting at https://www.navalgazing.net/Aurora-Tutorial-Part-1
(At one point, Steve was working on Newtonian Aurora, but it died off about 10 years ago without ever getting released.)
If you want something a step below Aurora and Children of a Dead Earth but still pretty crunchy I'd strongly recommend Terra Invicta- it does tick off the "accurate orbital mechanics" and "set entirely within our solar system" boxes.
Seconding this, though with the caveat that, the (at least initial) 'main gameplay loop' is Earth-based political control and the space stuff all comes into play quite a ways into the game. I've maybe fought... two space battles in the 20-40 hours I've played? (Granted I had a few early restarts, not all of that play time is on one campaign)
Which like a concerning number of apps these days is pretty hostile to anyone trying to view it without an account. Entirely up to you of course but I assume if you're posting the link here you want more people to see your work, so posting it somewhere more accessible might help with that.
I'm seconding this. What I got to see of the art was pretty cool and I'd love to see more, but neither I (early-20s urban) nor anyone in my direct social circle have Instagram / TikTok / Twitter to view links at (though Twitter at least can be routed through xcancel to see)
Am already to use it
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Data scientist, MS in statistics, lots of experience with traditional models, have done work in recent years with image models; transformer-based models (not always for language); and more work with the big new LLMs in code translation. Heavy on experience with applications in the healthcare domain.
Interested in the alignment problem - pretty unconvinced that language-based alignment is gonna get us very far - like to learn new stuff, read lots of papers, you know.
US-based, would like to work someplace that I'm relatively confident is not evil. Long-shot, but only a minute to write this. :)
24 y/o CS grad and current SWE doing full-stack manufacturing automation for a thermal camera company (C# and python), looking to lateral into the world of prediction markets, which I've gotten involved in as a traded and developer. I've primarily been developing strategies and tools to trade profitably on Kalshi, some of which you can check out on my GitHub. I'd love to get involved in building out prediction markets while they're taking off, and I'm looking for a gritty, high-risk startup environment.
Prediction markets have also gotten me interested in the broader world of trading; and I've started trying my luck at the quant trading recruiting game. It probably says something useful about me that I find the quant trading interview process more inviting than big tech, I'd way rather spend my free time solving Jane Street puzzle-style problems than grinding Leetcode. I'd love to chat with anyone here in the broader trading industry.
jakestenger5@gmail.com
https://github.com/jsteng19
I am interested in entry level positions as a data engineer, data analyst, or similar. I'm currently a computer science teacher in the GTA region of Ontario looking to pivot into industry.
I have a bachelor's in computer science, a certification in data engineering, and a few data related projects. My Python and SQL are good, I have experience with data relevant tools including Airflow, Docker, Pandas, and I have familiarity with some BI.
I am highly motivated to learn new skills. In an ideal world, I end up at an organization that either makes a positive social impact (improving governance, solving coordination problems), or is pushing new technological or scientific innovation (biotech/health, materials, or aerospace). But in the near term, my priority is experience and skilling up.
If I can be an asset to your work, please reach out to me via joesegerdev [at] gmail [dot] com
I'm a lone indy dev working on a Visual Novel that I'd like to turn into a fundraiser for some EA-ish charity.
I need a renp'y/python programmer who can help me with basic visual novel and social sim stuff.
About Uptown Valkyries:
"Uptown Valkyries is an urban fantasy/sci-fi comedy about overpowered sociopathic maniacs with arrested development by the millennia.
Inspired by the likes of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Terry Pratchett, Futurama, Calvin and Hobbes, Monty Python, Adventure Time, plus a chaotic cocktail of anime, games, memes, history, mythology, philosophy, and maybe even real life (if that's still a thing)."
A video of what I've got so far can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeNW2Kt7wBQ
Updates and more thoughts on what I'm trying to do can be read at:
https://substack.com/@meadowshark
Right now I've got about 7500 lines of mostly-ready renpy code in need of speech bubbles, 4000 lines of renpy code in need of sprite and speech bubble placement, and then about 50,000 words of writing in need of everything. I expect to write at least 10,000 words, probably more, before it's done, hopefully by the end of the year.
Feel free to use A.I. if you like.
Please contact me with your time/cost estimate. Email: gc539 (at) ncf.ca
One time $200-500 to meet with me and help me design a willpower-agnostic, future-proofed system to improve my productivity.
I am a father with two young kids who super-commutes 3.5 hours to graduate school. I need someone who understands the pinch of exigency, and how to negotiate prioritizing family and time-flexible work commitments.
The deal. You meet with me for a half-hour screening meeting to see if our philosophies are compatible, and if you can assist me. Then I would send you some information about my life. Then, we would have a one hour meeting where we game plan productivity improving innovations.
If you're not a good fit for this role, but you know someone who is--recommend them to me. If it works out, I will pay a $100 finder's fee.
My circumstances are abnormal and I have uncommon beliefs about the nature of productivity, so I won't be a good match for everyone.
Reach me at: wertionworld [at] gmail [dot] com.
I offer exactly this service https://christinecorbettmoran.com/Productivity-Coaching
I imagine if you're here with this set of needs, you've probably already heard about Beeminder, TaskRatchet, and/or Boss as a Service, but if you haven't, you might find one or all of those helpful! Best of luck in your search :)
I appreciate the recommendations! I use all of them, and to anyone reading this, they're all great! :)
I'd be interested in reading about the nature of willpower and productivity, if you've written about it.
This might be a bit of a long shot, but I’m a Computer Science student based in São Paulo, Brazil, and I’m looking for work or a paid internship. I’m still early in the course, but I’m serious about learning and would appreciate the opportunity to get some real-world experience.
I don’t have a clear niche yet, I’m still figuring out what I enjoy and what I’m good at, but I want to be useful and actually build things, not just do coursework.
Most people here are probably in the US, so remote work makes the most sense — but if there’s an office in São Paulo or nearby, I’d be happy to work on-site too.
I also have a previous degree in International Relations, which isn’t directly relevant, but hey, it exists.
If I managed to catch your interest, feel free to reach out: nivirce [at] gmail [dot] com.
ACX grantee Spartacus.app is interviewing for a few paid and unpaid internship roles:
1. Social Media / Marketing
2. UX/UI
3. Project Management
4. Campus & Community Outreach / Organizing
The fourth role is heavily incentive ($$$) based and open to anyone. If interested, fill out this form: https://tally.so/r/npzEZZ
For the other roles, contact me with your CV at jordan at spartacus.app
I’m looking for software work that I will do for free.
I used to work in HFT, but don’t need any more money.
I would love to help out a research group who are doing research that benefits humanity but are short of programming skills, or whose funding doesn’t stretch to it.
My interests bias towards fairly classical discrete algorithms, I’m not very au fait with modern ML.
It's surprisingly hard to find really good volunteer opportunities. Here are some decent ideas about good sources of info.
Two people who seem likely to me to be good sources of info. I don't know either of them personally, just am somewhat familiar with their work.
-Ethan Zuckerman https://ethanzuckerman.com
-Elizabeth Van Nostrand
https://acesounderglass.com/hire-me/
She's a researcher for hire, and by all accounts a very good one. Seems like she'd have a good store of info about what's out there, including start-ups and projects people are considering undertaking. Or, if you're all set financially, maybe it would make sense to hire her to help you find a good opportunity.
Other possibilities
-catchafire.org Found this by googling "tech volunteer opportunities," no idea how good it is.
-start-ups
Here are some job boards for jobs at startups. You could scan the start-ups looking for those aiming to help the world, and contact any you like the look of.
https://workatastartup.com/
https://wellfound.com/
https://www.trueup.io/
Thank you for taking the time to find out and share this information with me!
I will certainly look into the links you’ve provided.
I’m not looking for a startup though (having done that). For example, I am wondering if I could help a university based research group. I have a PhD in CS so have some idea of what this might be like.
Perhaps a group doing computational biology might be able to benefit from my skills and background.
I would be happy to help with more concrete or “mundane” work too, of course.
In any case, thanks again for your reply. Best wishes!
Weirdly, I have another chunk of info for you, because you mentioned computational biology. Here's a link to GPT4.o's response to a question I asked it for someone whose credentials and interests are quite close to yours, except that he does not want to work at a university. https://chatgpt.com/share/67fd8e04-557c-8008-bfe0-469c29b7759e
Might be pretty useful, unless of course a bunch of the places GPT names are hallucinated! Anyhow, best wishes to you too.
If you’re working on something genuinely interesting and inspiring and are looking to hire a Software Engineer, I want to hear about it.
Been working as an SWE at a big tech company for 3 years but I want a job that I’m excited about. Currently based in NYC but will likely move in the nearish term so probably will need to work remotely.
You can reply here with your email or reach out to me at iz8162k23 at gmail
I'm looking for a job in the Atlanta area. I'm a college dropout and I currently work at Panda Express.
Are you a software/ML/security engineer looking to work with LLMs and make them useful and available to people? The company I work at, Quora, is looking to hire several engineers, mostly for Poe (our AI product). Take a look at open roles here and apply through my referral link: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/quora?utm_source=oVvnwdKp3k. We have a handful of non-SWE openings as well.
Reply to this comment if you have any questions.
a math-focused builder transitioning to quant research. i spent the last ~3 years managing $10M of BESS/photovoltaic projects in Texas, hands-on from market research through financial modeling and greenfield development. currently deep-diving into quant research prerequisites: probability theory, stochastic calculus, python and machine learning (pytorch).
available immediately for:
a) entry positions in quant research/data science/trading operations - willing to start with a trial period and highly adaptable to opportunities where my skills align, or
b) senior project management roles (remote from Serbia, open to relocation) - this is mostly an attempt to leverage weak connections of this community to see if something interesting beyond the reach of my network pops up.
languages: native russian, fluent english and french, conversational japanese (jlpt n4)
cv upon request, contact: svrmnnk at gmail.com
I'm a software engineer, currently at the tail-end of a few-months-long career break, looking to re-enter the job market. I've mostly been working on a Javascript based stack (Node, Express, Mongo, and some React) throughout my 2 - 3 year long career in web development, and I've primarily focused on backend web development the past couple of years, since this is my main area of interest. I'm looking to do more work in backend software/web development using a more diverse tech stack (I've recently (re)learned Python and Django), and I'd also like to dabble in some devops/SRE related work. Here's my LinkedIn profile for further details: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumukh-atreya/
I'm a software engineer with additional skills in math (particularly cryptography and mathematical finance), policy (particularly privacy and child online protection), education, and more offbeat things like magic tricks. I'm most practiced with Typescript and C#, but I pick things up well and have a large stable of languages and technologies I'm experienced with. Folks I've worked with have praised my focus on the underlying purpose of tasks I've taken on, and my interest in helping coworkers understand the technology they'll be working with and get up to speed.
I just started a Substack featuring a novel puzzle I've developed, which I've been using the z3 theorem-prover to help generate (https://lawofthegrokodus.substack.com/p/how-i-make-these). These should show off some of the sort of personal project I do.
I'm on the hunt for new work. So far, I'm primarily looking into other software engineering roles, but I'm happy to consider jobs that would use other parts of my skill set. I'm based in the DC area, but willing to relocate. If I seem like someone you might see a fit for, contact me at euclid11 (at) gmail.com.
Our mental health research lab in LMICs has a lot of momentum, 9 members, ongoing pilot in the Philippines, lots of backers, but no funding yet. We will scale many local therapy teams and stack them into a giant social science research lab/platform. Hugely neglected #1 health disability on earth, with a proven solution that has strangely never actually been uptaken and used, and so needs research to make much more scalable. Looking for clinical and research psychology team members. Help us ramp to funding.
Here’s a one pager and contact me for more:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CluNfEC7WB6jTkAo6rpHM-6ZcLSxUh09RXlIrirnWhQ/edit?usp=sharing
Hey folks! I am a bioprocess engineer looking for roles in biopharma, In-vitro Diagnostics, and systems development/integration. I am based in the greater Boston area. I have a dual background in biochemistry and chemical engineering, and I am well-suited roles requiring systems thinking and/or a process development mindset. I have a keen interest in aligning engineering work to big picture objectives and I have frequently worked cross-functionally to solve problems across departments and disciplines.
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-devaud-0675b01ba/
Technical resume: bit.ly/4jcgvFv
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It was suggested I might drop my dating profile website here, so I figured I'd give it a try: startawar.weebly.com
TL;DR: 42 year old ER physician turned investor ($13-20 M net worth if that’s important), 6’3 tall. Looking for a woman for the long term goal of marriage and children, but expect to have to meet many amazing women along the way. Ideally intelligent, ambitious, emotionally mature, and under the age of 34 (or have frozen eggs or other fertility plan) and are open to 3 or more kids (surrogacy is fine) and over 5’3" tall, but I am flexible. Flexible in terms of location as I will bear all the costs of traveling to you for dates and open to moving as well. 😀
Hi! I am doing this on behalf of my friend Isaac, who is 25 and lives in the D.C. metro area. He is curious, engaging, and brilliant. He is interested in women around his age, is politically liberal, and his doc can be found here (as written by his good friends).
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mX3Js5U4cwewVle-gjtmdbt5eX8QvdLjTkFCVI70l_8/edit?usp=sharing
30M and I'll throw my profile in here again:
https://fortunate-dragon-241.notion.site/Robi-Rahman-18dc6efe060a43f08163d67832f13719
Female, early 20s, Vancouver, open to long distance, seeking M or F 20-30.
Active (a distance runner). Good listener; will listen to you ramble for hours and remember the things you say. Sweet-tempered, kind, positive.
The one issue is that I work a lot, and am looking for someone who also works a lot. If you have a "thing" and spend most of your waking hours thinking about that thing and how to do it better, then we'll get along.
email test128902 [at] gmail [dot] com
Female, 20s, DC metropolitan vortex, seeking a man ages 25~40 who's ready to get married and start a family in the near term. Not open to long distance.
Friends describe me as sweet-tempered, guileless, easy to get along with, intelligent, and a great listener. I'm also a great cook and homemaker.
More info on my dating doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12NNPqHmwqHQd3x3HM_P3OzM7ELQRLYcEFS79zEIxtXw/edit?tab=t.0
25M suburbs of Philadelphia, looking for a woman of a loosely similar age; child-free, monogamous, open to long-distance if it's a good fit.
I'm very passionate about learning and self-growth - my specialties are math and physics (I have a MSc in the latter). I spend most of my free time teaching myself new things (currently Mandarin + the huggingface course on ML for audio), and this is probably the main source of 'meaning' in my life atm. Currently, I work with my family, but am looking for more 'math-y' work, likely in AI / AI safety (cringe of cringes, he's on the bandwagon!).
I can read/write Latin, Ancient Greek and Mandarin, with varying degrees of mediocrity for the oral components of each. Speaking Mandarin would add a lot to the appeal of a putative partner for me - I couldn't quite conduct a relationship in it, but it would be a lot of fun for me to try! I've been laying off the language-learning recently, but did a bit of toki pona in the past and eventually hope to get around to Esperanto. I've translated and co-produced a Latin dub of the Evangelion movie as a wedding present for my friend (link on request but it's _really_ cringe lol). Other interests include history, neuropharmacology, exercise/personal health, and competitive debate.
In a putative partner, I value intelligence (both fluid and crystallized), straightforwardness, simple-living, and enthusiasm for personal (co-)growth. I have zero dating-experience, but am willing to put in the effort and learn. Please feel free to reach out if you're interested, it'd probably make my year lol.
I have a (waaay too long, somewhat dated) date-me-doc with more details, contact information, and pictures available here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QAoA64PWoXq5E04hXOiDYvlwFPoIHn6MVWv27r0xErc/edit?usp=sharing
48M in New York looking for a woman to marry and have kids with. Open to moving.
I’m a bookish curmudgeon, but secretly sentimental. My groaning quips are—I swear—balanced by hopefulness.
If you’re cerebral or inquisitive—or at least jive well with someone who is—then we might complement enough to compliment.
Literature has also meant a great deal to me—Martin Amis, Don DeLillo, Nabokov. I’d love to share books and slow music with you.
Professionally, I manage web developers. I’d love to inflict that on you.
https://elityre.com/date.html
31 / Male / Berkeley (often in DC for work. Up for dating people anywhere in the world, if we're otherwise compatible)
Vegan. Old guard rationalist. EA by philosophy (though largely disenchanted with the EA movement). Emotionally attuned.
I live an intense pseudo-ascetic life, focused on altruistic work, self-improvement, and personal-spiritual integrity (more details in the link). I'm looking for women who are interested in participating in that kind of life with me.
Most notably, I'm at the office ~all my waking hours, ~6 days a week.
Historically, when dating someone, I've spent a lot of time and attention trying to *help her get better* (for example, writing essays to her or having long conversations to convey what I think are blindspots of her in-practice philosophy, or designing exercises to help her develop skills in her personal bottlenecks).
Ideally, I'd like to find someone who has a similar orientation towards me and and my weaknesses—looking out for the things that I'm blind to, and working to help me see and understand them, with skill and compassion.
27 / M / Great Lakes region (USA)
Seeking cis woman in her 20s, with romantic intentions, ideally not too far away geographically. I'm somewhat location agnostic but prefer cold climates, and at this time I'm not willing to move countries, except maybe Canada. I've always had an unquenchable wanderlust though, so I like traveling (especially by car... would love a passenger princess), and I rarely stay in the same apartment for more than a year.
I like abstract conversations on a wide variety of topics, and often struggle to nail down my exact opinion on something in a digestible way. This is especially true of politics, where my actions and voting history would suggest "liberal" but I internally perceive my opinions to be a galaxy-brained amalgamation of hot takes that are way outside the Overton window. Personality-wise, I'm about halfway between INTJ and INTP, certainly on the autism spectrum.
I like reading sci-fi, watching old movies (70s - 90s range), and listening to techno / trance music (among other genres that have been described as "don't pass the aux cord" taste). I used to be really into anime, so I can give some stellar recommendations, but admittedly haven't watched any myself in quite a while.
I'm not much of a gym rat, being a stick-thin vegetarian, but I exercise in other ways. I can do long hikes with some incline, and my ex got me into cycling, so if you're an active person don't be afraid to invite me along to your activity, as long as you can tolerate my pace of learning and lack of muscle mass initially. To put it in cliche terms, I want you to inspire me to be the best version of myself.
In terms of creative outlets, I like making mashups, drawing street maps of imaginary cities, and the occasional writing project. I've been procrastinating working on a "short" story (currently 4 chapters) based on a dream I had once, nakedly aspiring to reach the heights of whimsy that Hayao Miyazaki did with his work.
DM for more precise location / discord handle / email, or to ask clarifying questions you don't want answered publicly.
36F, in Victoria BC, Canada (from the southeast US, would consider west coast USA or southern Appalachia)
I'm looking for a man who wants to raise kids together, ideally in some larger-than-nuclear-family setting (like a group house, or living near friends or perhaps your family).
I have a lot of experience with poly relationships, and I'm wanting a strong primary / nesting partnership, with openness to intimacy with others, where we're attuned to the wellbeing of our whole ecosystem of relationships.
I'm earnestly weird, nerdy, warm. I tend to get along well with folks who have backgrounds in software / engineering / science, and I also certainly appreciate building stuff, creative endeavors, music, art, and movement.
For work, I do coaching & workshops for pragmatic action, emotional resilience, and psychedelic integration. I'm a long-time burner, and I lead the Sanctuary team at our regional burn.
I also like acroyoga, ecstatic dance, singing, getting into trippy grooves with Zimbabwean marimba ensembles, cats, looking at cool bugs and plants, building/making stuff, talking nerdy - especially about science, Dzogchen, psychedelics.
https://www.manifold.love/SarahMcManus
https://cuties.app/profile/sarah--1690072542145x663512408479021100
If you're interested, you can DM me on twitter @SarahAMcManus
(or you can try discord at sarahmcmanus but I can't guarantee I have my notifications set up right)
Hi, I'm Harry, I live in New York City, I can talk your ear off about writing numbers with ones. 😁 Bug photographer; infinity wrangler; squumbly froblumpler.
You can see a longer profile here: https://cuties.app/profile/harry-sniffnoy-1730759798669x571414465727442940
Or a shorter version here: https://hjaltman.github.io/dmd/
And a third variant here if you prefer: https://www.manifold.love/Sniffnoy
32M, location unclear (based ish in the bay, nomading to east coast US and ?mexico? soon, open to a lot of different possible endgame/childrearing locations)
- An ex once reported that I'm "really gung ho about the mortifying ordeal of being known".
- I've been known to run taco nights at my house
- Swam from alcatraz to SF.
- Really psyched about work, generally enjoy being someone who works a lot.
- Almost entirely vegetarian.
- Baby fever, but don't do a lot of thinking about my parenting values because I'd rather do that thinking as a group project with a special someone.
- Often singing and humming, hopefully a turning a loved one's name into song.
- I have at least two mysterious backstories.
- Yes the kidney tshirt is real.
- One secret zest for life / high hedonic setpoint trait/behavior that it'd be more fun to surprise you with.
Testimonial:
> What I most admire about Quinn is how much he cares and how much he’s willing to put action into his caring. He genuinely wants to be there for other people. I’ve seen him show so much openness to emotional connection in times when even other resilient and emotionally mature people would have been inclined to take a step back from their existing relationships. I’ve never seen stonewalling or apathy from him. Quinn always cares, and is excited to show that he cares. If you have the same love languages as Quinn, he’ll be able to make you feel super special. Being there for other people and caring doesn’t just mean caring about his friends or partners—he also shows up for communities. At a party, he’s either the host or the guy you assume is the host because he introduces a new burst of energy to each room he’s in.
> Quinn also has a super strong sense of self; he won’t passively fall into trends. I’ve never heard him be insincere or mocking. When so much media and so many conversations contain at least a little bit, and sometimes a lot, of mockery, Quinn has a refreshingly firm focus on topics where he can be completely sincere. Basically, it feels like the idiom “big-hearted” was invented to describe Quinn.
https://quinnd.net/date/
25, M(NB), Northern AZ
This is less of a "dating" profile as opposed to a "looking for people" profile. I'm a person who peaked in high school, but it was a pretty high peak. Jobless, in eternal grad school, gained some weight, lost some friends, largely due to psychotic depression. That being said, I got a 1540 on the SAT, a 33 on the ACT, got into Cornell and Harvey Mudd but didn't go due to parents not wanting to pay, majored in math, and was half-a-prodigy in philosophy for a bit. No research papers, I just read the Tractatus at 16-17--if that's an achievement, entirely up to you :P
As far as relationships go, I'm a firm (very hopeless) romantic, and I do not think I am really in the position to be a good partner. Not that I'm not working on myself--but in reality I would be asking a lot from any potential person to date me. So it'd be nice to make some friends instead. If anything develops, and I am open to pretty much any gender, then why not? I've been reasonably described as intelligent, verbose, creative, and cranky. I'll try not to follow the pattern of a less well endowed Nietzche and die neurotic and alone--but it's a long road from here to "normalcy".
Discord is .lackadaisical.
Hello! Sent you a Discord friend request: my username is `zmavli`.
25m, FL
Looking for more people to chat with and learn your interests to diversify my own! Single and hetero as well so that door is open--not shallow about appearances or age. My interests include political/art/biological history, recent history of science (apollo, project orion, WWII ops research/cybernetics, past and present futurism), and philosophy (computational, systems, epistemology/axiology [again, cybernetics], and I'm trying to get into, let's say, post-nihilism/quietism). Playing some games, mostly friendslop and tabletop these days (should I buy signalis?). My general disposition is what the kids call 'clear-pilled'.
We're all wunderkinds here right? Kind of the ACX byline. Except I'm mediocre at coding. My jam is art (realism/surrealism, so you know I don't suck) and writing novels--I'd love to hear about your worldbuilding or characters if you have them. Recently I realized that I turned all my hobbies into *hustles* and everything I made from work went into FIRE and being alive at all really sucked, honestly. So I'm in my burnout phase looking to spend a year or two happily under-employed and just working out/trying different foods/getting into IRL social groups/appreciating life. I'll get back to that masters eventually...
My discord is @shaeor. Come chat about anything but FIRE!
Hello! Sent you a friend request and a DM on Discord. My username is `zmavli`.
26 year old bisexual woman in SF Bay Area with a strong preference for women or female-bodied people, but am open to talking to men.
I am interested in and dabble in a lot of things but am still figuring out my place in the world, especially career-wise. I did a cognitive science bachelors, am currently in the environmental nonprofit field, and am also considering a career/further education in law or policy. I love to write, though I don’t do it much anymore and am trying to get back to it.
Outside of work, I like to read, indoor climb, try new events of any topic, learn, garden, and think about arts/crafts and then hardly ever follow through. I’ve been getting more into anime and manga lately. I’m also loosely involved in the kink scene, I attend events on occasion. While I love philosophical discussions, I do have social anxiety that can cause me to have brain fog when I’m around new people. I tend to open up a lot more and say more interesting things after a few meetings.
I’m still trying to figure out what I want in a partner. To me, I think it would look like someone who’s also my best friend and even potential business partner (lots of creative ideas, again just less follow through!). I’d like someone who enjoys independence and is not desperate for just any partner. I enjoy people who are thoughtful, balanced, respectful, and not narrow-minded.
If it matters, my Myers-Briggs type is INTP. I just took a Big 5 test as I saw a commenter below do that, and while I think honestly my answers can vary depending on the day, I got:
•Neuroticism- 80
(highest in anxiety and self consciousness)
•Extraversion- 67
(I’d say I’m an introvert who’s been going out more lately. I do have cravings to talk to new people and have fun experiences, just not every single day)
•Openness to Experience- 102 (very open)
•Agreeableness- 97
•Conscientiousness- 80
Feel free to send me a message on discord with your info/post: chanterielle
22F, Oklahoma City
I'm looking for other women in OKC / Tulsa to hang out with (open to dating or friendships, or just seeing where it goes).
I'm a software engineer, with my main hobbies being D&D (DMing a local group, player in a remote group), writing short sci-fi, watercolor painting (very mediocre at this at the moment but I'm learning), and hobbyist game development.
I love long conversations and debates. If you have any interest in trying something new together (OKC recommendations: kayaking, axe throwing, roller/ice skating, visiting a makerspace, taking a class together, etc... or just meeting up at a coffee shop to chat), feel free to reach out!
discord: smallshotofdepresso
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Backcountry skiing, climbing, the outdoors, and how these things interact with the social world are the focus of https://passingtime.substack.com/
I write book reviews and occasional jokey articles about video games. The most recent is on Nixonland, so if you're still waiting for the ACX review, you can get a poor man's version here. Most of it is devoted to how terrible the hippies were.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-161749780?source=queue
keatingmichael.substack.com makes the case for public goods in this moment when attacks on public goods of most kinds (laws, spaces, institutions) are succeeding. I am a founder of startups that operate in public space in cooperation with governments. Advanced degrees in urban planning and business.
For years I've been writing an alternate history based on the concept of 'what if Constantine X Doukas has a sudden bout of competence', guided by the results of playing some grand strategy games*. It's reached the year 1939, and is collaborative, with people invited to create characters and write about their actions in this world. I'd love or more people to join! It can be found at https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/the-empire-strikes-back-part-4.1565575/
* For those who know, it's a Paradox Interactive megacampaign through CK2, EU3, Vic2, now HoI4.
I started a blog a couple months ago, just to give myself a space to be creative. I'm a data scientist during the day, so while I enjoy writing, I don't get many opportunities to do it.
https://dhjacobson.substack.com/
Topics include parenthood, fiction, movies, TV, roleplaying games, board games, politics, economics, data science, philosophy, poetry, and life. My favorite post so far is probably my first, about an Ursula K. Le Guin novel that I had just finished:
https://dhjacobson.substack.com/p/you-must-turn-around
I think I have hit upon something interesting in my most recent essay: Why Do Online Zoomers Enjoy Discussing Aesthetics?
https://www.sambish.com/essays/aesthetics/
It is an oral history of the sometimes impenetrable internet culture that the youth (I am one of them) have created
I write about politics and society from a Hananiac perspective. My latest essay focuses on the Trump tariffs, seen through the lens of a mostly fictional far-right meeting: https://alexanderturok.substack.com/p/peaks-and-troughs-of-white-nationalist
I've also written about Gavin Newsom's unusual personal life: https://alexanderturok.substack.com/p/gavin-newsom-man-of-his-time
I also write short stories about notional worlds, such as this one set in a world where creationism is true: https://alexanderturok.substack.com/p/the-garden-of-eden
Cave exploration trips reports: https://blog.alexfischer.science
Deep caves are some of the last unexplored areas left for us human beings. Like the bottom of the oceans and outer space. Want to know what it's like to discover and explore them? Read on!
Super fun and interesting, subscribed.
Website (more website than blog): https://0x799.org/
Politics, policy, language learning, Esperanto, toki pona, a little bit of EA; how can I/we do good?; (how) can I be happy?; agency, ambition, achievement (& liberty in service thereof), merit; possibly skeuomorphic belletrism.
Those are some of the ideas in my head and my notes, at least—hopefully more of them will make it onto the site soon (some already have)!
Hi
I blog occasionally at myscifijob.substack.com; brain preservation, cryonics, uploading brains in the nearish future, expansion microscopy, and more.
Especially check out:
What a brain looks like (series)
https://myscifijob.substack.com/p/what-a-brain-looks-like
Highlights from Society for Neuroscience conference
https://myscifijob.substack.com/p/highlights-from-sfn
... and I have a mostly-written series on rationality/ 'what I learned from the sequences', as yet unposted, that I might get around to soon, after I finish the expansion microscopy stuff.
I read many web serials, some of them delightfully trashy and some of them of a comparable quality and style to published fiction. Here's my current reading list, in order of most enjoyed to least:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/65058/pale-lights
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/44132/the-calamitous-bob
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63759/super-supportive
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/75345/changeling
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/45331/horizon-of-war-the-realistic-isekai-chronicles
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/82044/grass-eaters-hfy
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/92144/the-legend-of-william-oh
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/83080/sexy-steampunk-babes (yes, really; this one has baffling NSFW scenes that aren't very well written and a "dare you enter my magical realm?" premise, but the writing is quite good)
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/81522/slave-origin-playthrough-grimdark-gamelit
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36299/beneath-the-dragoneye-moons
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/76478/hoard
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/39408/beware-of-chicken
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/86334/murder-in-the-temple-litrpg-progression-fantasy
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/79822/outrun-cyberpunk-litrpg
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/102618/foxfire-esq
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/33600/stray-cat-strut
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/83315/systema-delenda-est
Also, as a bonus, now-completed web serials that I really liked:
https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/
https://tiraas.net/ (slow start, but it's not too bad and it hits its stride about ten chapters in)
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26675/a-journey-of-black-and-red
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25082/blue-core (not as technically excellent as the other three and includes baffling NSFW scenes, but resonates with me for difficult to describe reasons)
If you're new to web serials, Worm (https://parahumans.wordpress.com/) and Practical Guide (above) were probably the two most popular when I started, and might be a good place to start. There also exists a small but thriving niche for rationalist web serials, for those who are into that.
Thank you for posting. This is my favorite genre to read. Other mentions that I’m sure people are aware of that are my favorites:
I’m glad to see you mention Journey of black and red, it’s long and a slow start but one of my favorite works that nobody talks about
Hpmor (10)
Significant digits 7
Worm 9
Mother of learning (10)
The perfect run 10
journey of black and red (9/10)
Cradle (6/10 but everyone loves it)
Worth the candle (9/10)
Shadows of the limelight (7/10)
YES, I never hear anyone talk about these outside of specific subreddits. I would like to add The Wandering Inn to that list https://wanderinginn.com/, it's my favourite web serial bar none, really long but the author does an excellent job of capturing a wide range of emotions and character arcs and wonder, and handles complicated and controversial social issues better than most stories I've seen. I truly think everyone should give it a shot
I write about Bayesian Belief Networks, my favorite tool to solve logic and probability puzzles. I'm at https://medium.com/@pbercker but also cross-publish on substack and sometimes publish pretty Bayesian Networks on X. I believe that the best way to put Bayes' theorem to work is with Bayesian Networks, especially for the amateur Bayesian! The best expression of it is ... P(H/e) = [P(e/H) * P(H)] / P(e) ... stop using A and B! Just Meaningless letters ... here you known that H is a hypothesis and e is the evidence and P(H) is the prior probability for the hypothesis and P(e/H) is the likelihood of the evidence given the hypothesis. The rest is calculation!
I write a blog at digitalseams.com , covering topics like APIs, HCI, and other interesting connections. The titles of the last few posts:
* Is backward compatibility even possible?
* Every app is a messaging app
* The siren song of infinite flexibility
* Microwaves, wi-fi, and HTTP
Hope to see you there!
https://open.substack.com/pub/soarinkierk
Come join the fun—I post weekly.
I wrote a metaphorical philosophy post recently on subjective experience and I'd love to talk to more people about it https://excursions.substack.com/p/life-in-the-jelly tldr: better words for intersubjectivity and shared subjective experience aka culture bubbles
I just started the Substack I've been tinkering with for a while, to highlight a new sort of puzzle I created. Check out Law of the Grokodus (https://lawofthegrokodus.substack.com/) if you like number-placement logic, crossword-style clues, or (forthcoming) a lens where dogs are nest parasites and elves could be changeling survivors. But for now, some homemade puzzles!
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My wife provides college admissions consulting virtually and occasionally in-person in the LA area. She is a master at helping your kid tell their story in a way that resonates with admissions departments and stands out from all the other kids with good grades. If your kid is going to be a high school senior this fall, get in touch.
Parents tell her they love not being the project manager for the admissions process any more. If your kid is younger and you're starting to think about college, she consults in earlier phases as well. She's had particular success with the UC system, as well as Ivies and the NESCAC.
DM on this platform and I'll drop you her email address.
We are a remote design co-op providing services like:
- visual identity design
- 3d modelling
- motion graphics
- web design and UI/UX
Some.of our works are available here: https://www.behance.net/klad_design
I'm looking for people to play Inflection Point with me.
https://inflectionpointgame.com/
It's a real time turn based strategy war game, like Civilization but a lot simpler. It's free to play and runs in the browser.
Message me on discord: benjaminikuta
Check out ACX 2024 grantee, Spartacus.app
We combine 3 key concepts:
1. Conditional Pledges - maximize impact, minimize risk.
2. Collective action - for goals that need a group to succeed.
3. Temporary anonymity (optional) - when it’s risky to be first.
Commitments are provisional and dependent on the number of participants reaching a critical mass. “I’ll do this, as long as other people do it too.”
Examples:
Coordinate wealth pledges - "I'll donate 1% of my crypto holdings to X cause if 1000 other holders commit"
Aggregating Expertise - "I'll contribute 10 hrs a month to this project if if 50 other researchers commit"
Create Social Clusters - "I'll relocate to an EA hub if 100 others commit to building long-term community"
Scale epistemic innovations - "Our org will implement prediction markets for policy if 10 other orgs join”.
Enable statistically significant studies - "I'll donate my brain to consciousness research if 1000 others commit, making a statistically significant sample"
and so on...
If you're interested in using the app, you can fill out our 1 min qualification survey:
https://tally.so/r/m6p1XA
We can help create a proposal, manage the campaign, do marketing and content creation as part of our pilot program.
Posted about my language learning app in the subreddit ~6 months ago and a few expressed interest - it's now nearly ready for beta release.
Feel free to check it out: www.shaeda.io
Looks great! Is there a way to get a notification to try it out when it's available for the general public? Also, what language/s has it been verified for?
Hi. I added a waiting list. It uses Substack so should be one-click. shaeda.io.
Thank you very much. @shaeda.io is the IG where I post small updates every now and then.
So far: Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Italian, French, Georgian*, Thai, Mandarin, Vietnamese*, Polish, German.
Still require: Arabic, Dutch, Malay, Indonesian, Korean, Greek, Hindi, Swedish.
-- Surprisingly difficult finding teachers willing to test the app for an hour.
The 'Quiz Mode' has also been validated for "Physics" and "Statistics" up to Expert (MSc/'PhD') level, although this is not to the same kind as the language learning.
And I've validated it for "Biochemistry" and "Exercise Physiology" up to "Hard", which roughly corresponds to Undergraduate.
Rough design mockup here**: https://snipboard.io/9A6k1w.jpg
And mobile here: https://snipboard.io/tGHuk4.jpg
And here: https://snipboard.io/aBfmti.jpg
*Up to C2, not C2+
**Unsure if the Spanish shown here is correct as this is from the designer using Figma, not what the app generated.
How does one get a password?
Hi. Added waiting list. It uses Substack so should be quite easy. shaeda.io.
Hi.
The password is only there until release to prevent bots from using the API. After release it'll be open-access into the app and for A0, but auth will be required to use levels above this. All authorised (verified) accounts will have free limited access to test of course.
Really I should sort out a waiting list etc for those curious or for beta-testing etc*. Added 'deep dive' function today to quiz mode. Maybe waiting list is next.
*If you'd be interested in beta feel free to shoot me a message.
I made a project called the theorem marketplace: https://theorem-marketplace.com
It means you can post a bounty on a theorem which will be paid to whoever proves the theorem. It uses automatic proof verification in Lean, and the handling of the bounties happens on the blockchain in a smart contract, so it's sorta trustless.
(Also check out this description of the idea: https://ratandtiger.substack.com/p/a-theorem-marketplace-a-modest-proposal, and a description of its current state: https://ratandtiger.substack.com/p/a-theorem-marketplace-awaits-your)
Maybe you know someone who'd find value in this :)
Vadim, I'm interested in learning more - can we chat?
Sure. Substack has DMs, we can chat there (or use it to exchange email addresses / some other contacts).
I do coaching for purposeful action, emotional resilience, and psychedelic integration.
Book a free intro call: https://calendly.com/sarah-mcmanus/consultation
If you feel stuck on something, we'll start with the pragmatic level and get your systems in gear. From there, we'll explore and untangle deeper layers of feelings and beliefs, building up your self-awareness and self-trust, making it much easier to make decisions and take actions that you feel good about.
I draw from methods like Internal Family Systems, Coherence Therapy (as adapted for coaching), Core Transformation, and somatic approaches.
More info: https://pricklesandgoo.com/
Public notebook gathering coaching resources: https://roamresearch.com/#/app/HowToHuman/page/BSFuobcvJ
Join us for our spring Beyond Goals workshops on May 17th & 18th!
We offer 5 hours of live coaching, course content, and coworking for you to clarify your goals, align your path, work with blocks, and find flow.
See times in your time zone & sign up here: https://gobeyondgoals.com/?utm_source=acx
Formerly called the Goal-Crafting Intensives, we've run these workshops over 50 times since 2017. Many participants and coaches have come through the EA and rationality communities, and we're also a great fit for folks who are exploring postrat spaces or struggling with burnout.
We operate on a Pay-What-You-Want model, with a $35 deposit to reserve your spot and then contributing whatever feels right at the end of the workshop. There’s no minimum (and no maximum). Seriously—we have people who put in less than $5 and people who put in more than $500.
Hope to see you there!
Recruiting for a new anonymous discussion forum here: https://tempchan.com/#YTHRHmSqdDfMMAtCLJnVHw
I have a large number of vacuum tubes to sell. These are all useful for audio. All the big names are here, Mullard, GEC, MOV, Fivre, RCA, Sylvania, etc. In particular there are a ton of Sylvania 6/12sn7. Other standouts include genuinely rare tubes like the GEC e3375, Mullard cv535 (12j5gt), and MOV bl36. There’s a bunch of interesting, but weird tubes like the MOV N43 and N34 plus the GEC ktz43. I will include bases for most of the weirder tubes like these. I keep adding to the spreadsheet but right now I am at over 400 tubes and I haven’t even added all the 6sn7/12sn7 yet. Probably another 100 or so there. This is an amazing haul for DIY or possibly a wholesaler. I want to sell it as a lot. I’m in the northern VA/DC area. Come get them all for $2699, that’s less than $6 a tube! Get in touch and I’ll send you a spreadsheet of what I’ve got cataloged so far.
I am selling a variety of vacuum tube equipment.
3) Schitt Freya+ silver $650. It’s a Stereophile class A preamp at a bargain price. It will include the stock new version Tung Sol branded 6sn7. I have a variety of Sylvania 6sn7 and 7n7 available to purchase if you want those as well.
I am selling a bunch of vacuum tubes and vacuum tube equipment.
2) Custom Supratek Cabernet preamplifier. This is a line level preamp made by Mick in Australia. It is one of the best that can be bought. It uses a 6sn7 per side. It also uses 6l6gc as shunt regulators. This particular version has been modified in 2 ways. First of all it has 2 sets of balanced outputs. Perfect for running class D amps, powered monitors, or differential amplifiers in general. It still has a set of RCA outputs as well. The bigger deal is that it can use either 6sn7 or 12sn7 tubes. 6sn7 tube prices have shot into the stratosphere while the 12v versions have stayed reasonably priced. I will include either Miniwatt b36, Tung Sol black glass round plate 12sn7, or Sylvania “Bad Boy” 12sn7 with the preamp. We can discuss prices if you want all of them or others as well. Mick now charges $4000 for the same 6v/12v version. Add to that the shipping, 4-6 weeks, and whatever tariffs/import duty on top of that. I am selling this for $2999 including shipping in the continental US.
I built Translate a Book with AI - translateabook.com - to, you guessed it, translate books with AI. The layout is preserved and we have multiple translation modes, one of which analyzes the whole book to build a glossary before translating it.
We use DeepSeek V3 and I care a lot about getting an actually good result - some of our users are authors that say it's "95% perfect", others are people wanting to read a foreign book or share it with friends and family. The feedback has been very positive and I'd love to hear yours!
Have you got an API for batch translation of many books?
Currently batch orders are done by reaching out to me, and I'm gathering feedback on people's exact batch needs to build a self-serve API / UX.
I'd be happy to assist you and hear your use case. You can reach out to robin@translateabook.com
I'm writing a book about epistemology and why all knowledge is fundamentally uncertain. You can read the first draft for free now via https://www.fundamentaluncertainty.com/
Marketing pull quote to get your interest: "The modern world faces tremendous challenges: growing political and social tensions, scientific disagreements that defy consensus, and existential threats from advanced technologies. We've thrown billions of dollars and millions of people at these challenges, yet they remain unsolved. It's my belief that they stubbornly refuse to yield to our efforts because attempts to solve them run up against the limits of our ability to know the truth, and we won't make progress until we learn to work with rather than against the fundamental uncertainty inherent in our world."
(Relatedly, I have a Substack Newsletter you can follow: https://uncertainupdates.substack.com/ )
I'm an interview coach who works with technical folks (esp PM types) to prep for job interviews. I'm excellent at helping very smart people improve their communication and influence skills. I've worked with hundreds of clients, and helped land gigs at all the major tech companies. High paying jobs are increasingly scarce, the competition is tougher; your ability to market yourself is more critical than ever. Free consultation to see if it's a good fit. Reach out directly - ajsmitha7 [at] gmail.com
Visit bravernewmath.com for previews of the three greatest mathematics textbooks ever written... or at least the three greatest ever written by me:
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝑨𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒍𝒈𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂: 𝐴𝑛 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ
𝑭𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒖𝒔::𝐴𝑛 𝐼𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ
𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕
The complete books are available for purchase either in paperback or as pdfs.
(Oh, and for anyone out there who appreciates the even darker art of poetry, you might consider my tiny collection of poems, 𝐼𝑙𝑙 𝐸𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐴𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒. More on that here: https://www.bravernewmath.com/ill-enough-alone)
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I'm about to move to Montrose, CO. Anybody live near there who wants to hang out?
where: find me in East Bay coffee shops
who: a coder trying to escape the rat race
interests: (vision) language models, quantization, considering opening a Pilates studio (or 3rd space) in the area, sci-fi
I'm in my early 20s living in the DC-Baltimore area (well, Frederick MD, to be specific). I'm interested in a lot of wordcel things, especially econ/rationality blogs and would love some irl friends to hang out and do things with on weekends.
Discord: buttn
email: expressionpulsar@gmail.com
Anyone here in the Bordeaux region of France? Or even somewhere in France? Might anyone be interested in retiring in this area of Southern France? I'm retired on a very modest pension but could help someone to move in this area if interested (but be warned that I think France is over-rated! Don't believe all the nice hype about French people!). Property prices are going through the roof these last few years, ever since post-Covid. Modest people like me are being frozen out from decent housing and stuck in sub-par badly constructed apartment buildings of the 60s and 70s. Every seen that that French movie The Delicatessen? Delicatessen is a 1991 French post-apocalyptic science fiction black comedy film - except that it's a fairly accurate portrayal of life in this building. There's even a butcher shop right around the bend, except he doesn't murder any of the renters!
I am in Ithaca, New York. Surely there are some of you guys here... I can't be the only one, right?
yo (I have never actually been to anything of theirs but you should also check out the Cornell ea club)
I’ll be in Sacramento for the summer and would love to make some entrepreneurial/creative/writer friends locally without driving to SF every weekend! Anyone around?
I run a rationality meetup in Waterloo, Ontario, which meets every Thursday. Regular turnout is around a dozen people or so, and there's a fun affiliated discord that you can only get an invite to if you've been to at least one in-person meetup.
Today we're discussing the Train to Crazy Town: https://www.lesswrong.com/events/JyAZawoofMJHk4eZ6/the-train-to-crazy-town
Next week, we'll be discussing https://ai-2027.com/. Check us out if you're interested.
If you're near Sofia, Bulgaria, please come to our meetup next Sunday (April 27th): https://www.lesswrong.com/events/NzoYJfAayCyRW4wL4/sofia-acx-april-2025-meetup
I'm organising a series of "Land Talks" about radical land policy and technology, in Farringdon, London.
First one is on 6th May https://lu.ma/mm4dg8fy - please sign up and share with anyone you know who is interested in Georgism, or planning data or ...
I recently created an X community for folks in the UK to motivate each other to consistently tinker with their hardware/robotics side projects.
I plan on hosting "show and tell" events every now and then for us to talk about our projects in person.
If you're in the UK, please consider joining!
Link:
https://x.com/i/communities/1909488443907768331/about
Very interested in the show and tell events, but I'm not on Twitter and can't see that changing. Any other way you're letting people know about them?
Right now things are small enough that I can DM you on substack, haha
Definitely do feel free to do that. And Happy Easter.
Interested in ACX meetups in Japan? Subscribe here: https://rationalitysalon.substack.com/
The diplomacy game apparently worked out, maybe there should be a factorio game
I'd be down for factorio.
Interesting idea, curious what that would look like with a large number of people who don't know each other well.
Probably 10% more autism then the standard factorio community. Train game is already dysfunctional in that way; you just split up work and tell people to focus on their own builds.
yes, there should.
If there's anyone in Romania (especially Timisoara), feel free to contact me! I'd be willing to meet up in any form or just keep in touch, especially since I missed the last deadlines.
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Watch my performance in Portland, OR! On the first Saturday of every month (through December), I recite, from memory, a "book" (about an hour-long chunk) of Paradise Lost, the epic Genesis fanfiction that John Milton wrote in the 1660's about Satan's fall from Heaven and Adam and Eve's fall from the paradise of Eden. It's at Rose City Book Pub on 1329 NE Fremont, 7:30pm.
The upcoming performance on Sat, May 3 is Book 2; it's a really good one, with a demonic council full of passionate oratory, then the beginning of Satan's "hero's journey" and his encounter with his ex Sin and their baby Death. I get to do eight distinct voices, plus narrator voice!
There's no charge, though it's polite to buy drinks and/or food from the bar. I'm just obsessed with this poem and like sharing my special interest =)
How can it be that this community has said next to nothing about the tragic case of Lucy Letby in the UK? It is destined to be the worst case of miscarriage of justice in recent UK history. It is nearly morally certain that she is innocent but yet now serving 15 life sentences as UK's worst "serial baby killer" ever. She's accused of having murdered 7 neonates and attempted to murder 7 more. She was convicted in August 2024. But just a few months ago an international panel of medical experts examined each and every single case and were unanimous that none of the babies were murdered, but each died of natural causes and/or because of poor standard of care in that one hospital, the Countess of Chester Hospital. It all started with very bad statistics which would never have happened had a Bayesian approach been done. Indeed from a Bayesian point of view this case would never have made it to the courts. But certain vested interests (in the form of two dodgy doctors who hated Lucy Letby) pushed and pushed to have the police involved even though the coroner's initial reports turned up no evidence of foul play. The UK constabulary only reluctantly got involved but once another dodgy "medical expert" (just a self-invited man from out of town!) showed up on the scene he got a ball rolling that no one could stop. This sorry mess all began in 2015. Lucy was arrested several times, in 2018 and 2019 and released. But they finally arrested her in 2020 and officially charged her. The poor girl has been traumatized by all this and tragically did not get the best initial defense who bungled her defense. She has a new defense team and has garnered attention in the US and in Canada. It's worth mentioning that this panel of medical experts convened at their own expense and worked pro-bono for the new defense team. The added feature in this case is that there is very good reason to believe that two doctors in particular who worked at that hospital essentially steered and manipulated the police into a line of inquiry that excluded any possible malfeasance and/or negligence on their part which may turn out to be the best explanation for the spike in death at this hospital.
Wow, I heard about this case in passing around 2022 but the story was told to me without a year attached-- I assumed it was an early 20th century case at the latest, and had no idea it was ongoing. That is very tragic. Is there anything worthwhile that commenters can do? Sign one of those petition things? Dial random MPs?
There's quite an active protest campaign in the UK who take to the streets on occasion to keep this in the public eye. Some legal experts in the USA are keeping track. No less a figure than Lord Sumption (retired Supreme Court justice) has come out to say that he believes the guilty verdict is "unsafe" as the Brits call such a miscarriage of justice. Nothing short of public "naming and shaming" will reverse this absurd ruling. Most recently, it appears that two of the doctors who sounded the "alarm" (a "fake alarm," some would say) have been suspended. There is a new inquiry looking to charge the hospital with "corporate manslaughter" - possibly as the real reason why there was a sudden spike in mortality - and the doctors suspected it was their fault but had to shift the blame elsewhere quickly. But meanwhile, Lucy Letby will continue to sit in prison for another year at least.
I and Tim Blais are working on adapting Unsong to a musical. It's slow but we plan to preview a few songs at Vibecamp this year. We are looking for collaborators for that preview (i.e. to sing)
More details here: https://x.com/bashu_thanks/status/1912981994474004623
Last year I finished (read: stopped working on, it's certainly not finished quality-wise) a screenplay, and now I have no idea what to do with it.
It's a five-part miniseries about a group of sexy young people trying to scare each other. It started out sort of psychological horror but the sex crept in and expanded to fill the space available. It was written for an audience of exactly one and I have absolutely no idea how it would come across to anyone else - whether the tense bits are tense, the drama-y bits dramatic, whether the stuff I found funny is funny, whether the plot twists are cringingly obvious or unreasonably out of the blue, etc.
I'd quite like to see it turned into a real product, but I've no experience with film production and I'm pretty sure your first project is supposed to be a five minute short film, not a four hour long miniseries.
I talked in passing to a few people who write stuff and want to go the route of pitching/selling it to investors (do you call them investors? you know what I mean anyway.) I'm not sure I'm temperamentally suited for that - plus this thing is not the standard committee-driven "safe" plot and I would resist any compromises that push it in that direction. Also, it might just be my bad luck, but everything I've seen of that world has been strawman-level woke. I'm a white straight guy with a story written for white straight guy sensibilities and I'll be bottom of the barrel with the type of people I'm thinking of.
Anyway I was just wondering if anyone else is in a similar boat, or interested in such things and would like to read it, or just has an opinion on what I could do with it.
Have you considered producing (part of) it as a stage play? It's obviously not the same, but there are lots of amateur theatre troupes out there that would be pretty comfortable working with a new writer, and a lot of the important bits (is the writing good, is the story compelling, does the timing work) are the same across media.
You might also just be able to go for it, if you have some friends who'd be willing to get involved, and are willing to let the project take years. Buy a decent camera and a tripod or Steadicam, and just accept that the finished product will not be professional-quality.
That's an idea I hadn't thought of! I'll keep it in mind for future stuff.
I'm pretty sure it won't work for what I've got though - I'm doing a lot of using scene jumps and camera cuts to misdirect the viewers, and I don't think that would be so easy to translate into the new format.
I love the idea of just getting on with it and making a film. Just as soon as I have the money and time for a project like that. One day...
If anyone is looking for hostel style housing in Berkeley, check out: https://attic.raj.quest. My house has a 3rd floor that we've put a bunch of beds in - it's probably your cheapest option if you want weird/flexible dates in Berkeley.
If anyone is looking for Rationalist adjacent housing in the Boulder/Denver area, I have two rooms available for rent in a 4 bedroom house. I attend the Boulder area meetups and host board game nights with largely rationalist adjacent people once or twice a month, so you would have an easy plugin to the existing rationalist community. Duration is negotiable, so would be a good option if you wanted to try living in the area but don't want to commit to something long term.
Email for this purpose is caleb5953539 [at] gmail [dot] com if you are interested or would like more information
I'm fascinated by the collective process of narrowing bounds on mathematical constants (Ramsey numbers, the Busy Beaver function, etc.). I wanted to create visualizations but couldn't find a convenient source of historical bounds updates across mathematical problems, so I created Leaps in Bounds, a repository of progress on mathematical unknowns:
https://leapsinbounds.org/
The two main goals for the compiled data are to present them for browsing in a visually informative way, and to provide them for download in various formats (JSON, CSV, etc.).
I'm not a professional mathematician, so I welcome any suggestions on how to make this more useful and intuitive to mathematicians and enthusiasts. Contributions are also welcome via the GitHub Discussions!
Great name.
I'm not sure if what I want is a community, a meetup, a date, or even just a shibboleth.
I want to meet more people for whom "are you on the left or right" is not the first, last, and only question. I want to talk with people who find humans interesting, even humans who were part of oppressive systems or did seriously bad things. Who will engage with a book or movie beyond how it fits into the culture war.
I don't mean apolitical. A lot of smart people have strong political feelings, but can still see the virtues in people who disagree with them.
In the past I would have said the rationalists, but the past few months has really been disillusioning for rationalists as a group (which is not saying the same for individuals.)
Just looking for any lifeline here. Based in NYC, but that may not matter.
I think we're on similar wavelengths. I'm also keen to talk to more interesting people and not have everything poisoned by politics.
(At the same time, I'm beginning to wish I *was* in more of a bubble surrounded by people who agree with me about things. Paradoxically I think if I knew I had a home base, a community I could trust to be there for me, then I'd find it far less grating to hear everyone else's politics harped on daily. It would be like some semi-perceived threat had been removed, I have backup, or an escape valve, or something. Anyway that's by the bye and nothing to do with what you're saying.)
Also interested in a lifeline. Based in UK, which isn't much good to you in NYC.
Yeah this is basically the same I was thinking. And it's a lot easier to be open to risky openness when you have a home that feels secure. If you're ever in NYC, send a message.
Thanks for the offer - I extend the same to you, should your life ever go so wrong that you end up in the UK midlands.
Im confused by the timeline your suggesting, this has been my every year except this one. The internet fractured years ago; I have doubt we will ever return to the golden age when reddit was the front page of the internet and you could trust that it would be fairly uncensored; and ai slop probably would've broke it even if it wasnt.
Navigating the fractured internet is a better question, I found my "fedi" server by looking at which one was the most censored, that probably is to spicey for a new yorker; but prehaphs you could find one of those lists and jump down a few hundred positions.
https://tweaking.thebad.space/ aim for 50%? Or 10%? idk
Open to bets on AGI.
Timeline: within the next 1-5 years
My position: AGI will not exist in the next 1-5 years.
Sums: Any amount no less than 50 USD, subject to inflation.
The bet will be public and written formally, we will decide on a precise definition of AGI and some indicator of its existence, payments will be made on the resolution of the bet.
You might want to provide a basic description here of what you think constitutes the AGI that won't exist. It'll help people determine whether or not they think it'll come to pass in the next five years; the wronger you are on the internet, the more engagement you get.
I'm teaching an in-person class on computational biology / bioinformatics this weekend (April 19-20) in NYC. The only prerequisite is basic Python, no biology experience required.
Here's the class info page:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZHkfER5K4wDysY-K1w_LUMCuv1_VITD5dI5ZQ4LZx1s
And here's the form to sign up:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JrPeqBCJAwcf3W29aB4tIGOMirXk4jGo5D2eDdIj7yM
I can't attend, due to being on the other side of the Atlantic, but damn that sounds cool. That's all I have to say.
:-)
Thanks! If you're interested in learning about it, I also have some videos up on Youtube:
http://youtube.com/c/mikesaint-antoine
Thanks a lot!
I was actually in the process of figuring out how to improve my Python skills, so your videos are gonna be very helpful! Also I didn't know your blog and it looks neat! I like cool blogs.
Also also, these days I keep noticing that bioinformatics and related stuff would be a super cool thing to learn more about, even though it's not really my background at all (I'm a cogsci master's student with an undergrad in polisci!). Any chance we could find half an hour or so to chat about it, and basically see if there are parts of these fields which would make particular sense for me to explore, given my background?
If so, hit me up at augustin[period]portier[a t]proton[period]me
Sorry about the late response, but yeah sure! I think I'll be free for a zoom meeting next weekend. I'll send you an email and we can schedule it.
Is there a deadline to sign up?
Not a strict deadline, but I'm gonna send out an email tomorrow afternoon with details on the location, logistics, etc, so it would be good if you sign up before then.
Is it okay to sign up and then cancel?
Yeah sure. It's also fine to come for one of the days and not the other if you want, since the two lessons are mostly independent of each other.
Awesome!
(Meta-comment on the dating section and other stuff like it)
I don't know if the insights from the psychology of compatibility have failed to filter out into the general population in a comprehensible form, or maybe they never existed at all, but man... we're really grasping in the dark out here, aren't we? There's no clear language of who we are and who we're looking for, everyone is trying a different approach, we have no idea how to map the relevant variables. It makes it all so inconvenient and risky, and if there's anything I know to reliably dissuade humans from taking action it's inconvenience and risk.
I'm sure this is a monstrously tough, maybe insoluble, problem for psychology at least with current tech, but I'd be curious if anyone has a deeper perspective on why the compatibility thing -- explaining variance in why and how humans come to like each other -- is so damned difficult.
> There's no clear language of who we are and who we're looking for, everyone is trying a different approach, we have no idea how to map the relevant variables.
No less an authority than Gwern has pointed out that there ARE no relevant variables:
"To summarize: everyone agrees on who's hot or not, and it is better to be hot than not; past that degree of assortative mating, predicting pairwise success of romance appears to be essentially impossible.
I'm particularly impressed by Joel et al 2017, where participants spent half an hour filling out several hundred of the most useful survey/psych questions (many extremely similar to what 'date documents' record) first, and past the global 'hot or not' ratings everyone could agree on, they throw high-powered random forests at trying to predict pairs of men/women, and the pairwise random forests do not merely fail to add much predictive power, they actually make the predictions worse! I, uh, did not predict that.
If you can take hundreds of participants filling out hundreds of tailored survey items about all their preferences and ideals and desired traits of romantic partners, and our highest-powered statistical methods identify less than zero signal, and this is also consistent with other analyses like asking whether your preferences predict satisfaction with partners (apparently not!), then I cannot see any reason for optimism about 'dealbreakers' existing and being so important you should structure all dating based on it. They would appear to be highly negotiable; perhaps true dealbreakers exist only in retrospect (such as at workshops or couples consulting therapists in the middle of messy breakups). Note the pernicious learning problem here inherent to screening: how will you ever learn you were wrong to screen out someone based on a supposed 'dealbreaker' if you screen everyone that way? It's not like you (or anyone else) will randomly pick half to go on a date with anyway and diligently acquire a sample of a few hundred n which can show that the two processes have the same (low) success rate for additional dates/relationships...
If neither you nor anyone else can predict your actual romantic compatibility with a random person beyond the basics of assortative mating, no matter how many questionnaires you fill out or dealbreakers you list, because you will 'click' with whomever you click, and that's the end of it, no point asking 'why', the heart has its reasons all your dealbreaker reasons know not, etc, then it seems like one ought to be thinking of dating as a numbers game in finding the maximum of n draws, more like the lottery of apple breeding than filtering airplane flights on Travelocity looking for the perfect flight with zero layovers leaving at noon for $200."
From his excellent comment here:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6yiayg5QWtWme4JN8/anatomy-of-a-dating-document?commentId=ctD7rHdPpwdSW8jMt
My own take on this is that romance is an incremental series of filtering steps that is critically dependent on random combinations of personality interacting with environmental context. In other words, who you click with is critically sensitive to mood, both yours and the other persons, and mood is only semi-conscious and itself critically sensitive to small changes in stimuli and time.
What I think happens at each step is that initially, expectations are low so encounters are easy--just some casual conversation over a drink, perhaps. As the relationship extends over time, expectations rise, so that further extension of the relationship becomes progressively more difficult, until a sense of commitment kicks in. Think of this as a kind of sunk cost fallacy except in this case it isn't a fallacy. As commitment rises, it becomes easier to extend the relationship, until eventually both parties feel locked into a long term relationship. This process can obviously reverse itself.
Think of these "steps" as filtering experiences. Before you encounter anybody, you have, in theory at least, the entire world as your potential partner pool. By the end of it, you're down to just one. Remember that every potential partner you meet is also filtering everyone they meet in the same way.
So this sequence happens over the course of minutes at first encounter. When two people first see one another, expectations are essentially zero, so it's easy and simple to proceed to the next step (eye contact) and so on until conversation occurs. Expectations keep rising, typically in the form of "does it feel right" interrogatories (Is this person funny enough? Interesting in the right way? Too anxious? Too into themselves? etc.) What each person's criteria are is unique to each person's life experiences, and therefore essentially unpredictable.
They also change with changing mood. What might work in a sports bar may not work in a workplace, or in the neighborhood park, or on a dating app. This is true for both potential partners. It's entirely possible that person A might be attracted to person B in the bar, but not vice versa, yet had they met at a park, it could have gone the other way around (B is now into A, but not vice versa). This might also have been the case on Monday, but by Friday everything has changed (because each of them has experienced things that changed their mood).
Go through this entire process at the second encounter, then the third, etc. Yet with each successive encounter, commitment rises, so each party becomes less eager to look for a different companion. At some point, again unpredictable, both individuals will mutually feel that they are ready to commit to a long term romantic attachment.
So the best strategy is to have as many causal conversations with as many different people as you can, and wait until something sticks. Be ready, if progress seems to stall, to look elsewhere, beginning all over again.
Fortunately, I think this is skill based, so one gets better at it over time, provided one is brutally honest with oneself about one's mistakes. I don't know how many causal conversations it takes to get to the next step, but it isn't infinite. It may depend on who is in your circle of potential casual encounters (the people you are likely to meet, given where you are).
I also believe that this is all much easier face to face, as that is what we evolved to do. Online just seems to make everything harder (that could be my generation talking).
What I'm describing is a non-linear open system, with far too many variables to track. Random experimentation is probably going to be more successful over time than trying to decipher one's own and other's preferences.
Good luck!
I find this data difficult to reconcile with common sense and my own exerience. While I don't know who will "click" (which we need a defintion for). I feel like I can successfully filter out quite a few people who would be a waste of time to meet with even if I can't filter in exactly who will "click"
I feel like I can sometimes tell from pictures alone, is this person generally happy or unhappy. If they post 5 pictures and not a smile in a single one I'm going to assume unhappy. I also feel like I can tell to some degree if they are easy going or high maintenence. I'm not saying I know with 100% certainty if they are easy going but I do feel confident that I the people I'm filtering out as high-maintenance I'm 90% likely to be right about.
As for "click", with, I can "click" with someone who is not a match. Maybe they're married, maybe they live on the other side of world, maybe they are in situation I don't want to deal with.
But also, what does "click" mean. Does it mean we'll get married and have a 15+ year happy relationship? Or does it mean we'll be attracted to each other but find out a few dates or months later we aren't really a match. Like I know a couple who was together for 10+ years but she ultimately dumped him because she wanted kids and he didn't. Maybe she's happy with those 10 years. Or maybe she should have put that on her list, "must want kids", and skipped him?
> I'm not saying I know with 100% certainty if they are easy going but I do feel confident that I the people I'm filtering out as high-maintenance I'm 90% likely to be right about.
But to Gwern's point, how do you *really* know this unless you actually go against what you know and try to date them anyways??
One of the more impactful offhand conversations I had with a friend once a long time ago was him opining on the value of "variety dating." Just drop all your filters except one or two, and go for it. I tried it, and was genuinely positively surprised multiple times. You can "click" and vibe and really get along with a MUCH wider variety of people than you think, even many you would have said "definitely not, that's crazy."
But if you never put it to the test, you don't really know.
> But also, what does "click" mean. Does it mean we'll get married and have a 15+ year happy relationship?
I mean, Gwern wrote that particular passage, so I can't really say - but I'd say it's just the sign that chemistry and compatibility are there and you can try for more.
Nobody can predict in advance a 15+ year happy relationship or marriage. Pretty much every single pair of people that got in front of an altar and said "I do" thought that their relationship would be happy and long lasting and at least 2/3 of them were wrong (~42% vintage divorce rates and half again "at least one party is net unhappy" rates).
Relationships are "hard mode."
I think you're putting on a lot on "and try to date them anyways". My chances to date anyone feel slim to none. I meet hardly anyone in my life routine that's close to my age (60), available, and that I'm mildly attracted to. Getting anyone to answer on the 4 dating sites I'm on is near impossible. And add to that, if I'm not interested I can't fake it, which I partly read into "and try to date them anyways". It feels like a lie and I definitely had my share of angry/upset people who I went a more than 1 date where for me, 1st date I knew I wasn't interested, we had no chemistry, conversion was difficult, wasn't "fun". but, they asked for a 2nd date and I thought "yea, ok, maybe I should try again" and then when I said not interested after the 2nd date they were very upset. This has happened more than once.
You can read all kinds of articles and people upset they got rejected on dates and claims that it's a kind of psychological torture. Maybe that's hyperbole on their part but I does make me feel responcibility be true to my feelings rather than ignore them on the off chance that I'm wrong and they're a match.
I agree it's people who say it's a numbers game. It's hard to increase those numbers for some of us. I also get that you're saying I could increase the numbers by asking out people who's profiles turn me off on the change that my interpretation of their profile is off. I'll try to take the hint and lower my threshold, not to 0, but lower than it is.
My guess is that self-report is just a terrible way to measure human compatibility and that there are no relevant variables that can be extracted from it. But I think we all know that when in direct conversation with someone else we have an intuitive sense of how much we enjoy talking to that person -- whether our styles of communication are a "match" or have "chemistry" -- and this is the real thing to measure in terms of predicting compatibility, at least in the short term. If I were going to conduct research in this area I'd focus on trying to explain why some people are better to talk to than others, with machine learning.
I mean, come on, surely "Only looking for open relationships and no kids, also I'm 100% gay" and "Only looking for strictly monogamous relationship with many kids, also I'm 100% straight" has SOME predictive power
Happily married middle aged guy here. Curious about same puzzle. Trying to help my friend *P* remarry (btw, he's 44, 2 kids, great guy, Boston).
I wonder what would happen if dating were instead organized around "annoyances you don't mind putting up with." You'd have to somehow name those. Often we can't articulate that about ourselves. Importantly, friends too may be limited.
Imagine a service that (with permission) interviewed exes to build that knowledge. And so your agent (a loving critic) could have honest chat with another agent (potential date's loving critic). Fewer dates but pre-qualified?
I think that's called the "bitch eating crackers" phenomenon? In regards to relationships, anyway, it's when the charming quirks at the start that you didn't mind, or could put up with, become the outsize deal breakers and red flags once you're at the point of breaking up:
https://www.reddit.com/r/thebachelor/comments/9otbeu/for_all_those_who_dont_know_what_bec_btch_eating/
So when you've fallen out of love with someone and don't want to be with them anymore, even innocuous things get on your nerves to the extent they make you irrationally angry. I think that's part of why we can't have a nice neat algorithm to sort out pairings, no matter how many questionnaires we fill out.
I will always remember April 17 as the day I learned about bitch eating crackers.
Agree with questionnaires, but the limiting factor there is perhaps self-report. Friends can't help much, never dated you, appreciate your quirks. Maybe the valuable data is buried with all those who dated you for 2, 5, 15 dates.
It is probably difficult, but I'd expect the main problem is that almost nobody is working on it. Maybe it's a low prestige research topic in psychology? I don't really know.
You know what would be cool? Rule The Waves 3 style spreadsheet strategy game but it's about space warfare with accurate orbital mechanics, set entirely within our solar system.
The closest thing that exists is Children of a Dead Earth, and personally, I found it kind of a slog to play, despite being someone with a lot of stuff on Atomic Rockets and an aerospace degree. But it's not really in the same genre.
That said, I second James's recommendation of Aurora. It's not set only in our solar system and it's not based on realistic orbital mechanics, but it's basically RTW3 in space, only with more spreadsheet. It's a pretty intimidating game to get into, so I wrote up a tutorial, starting at https://www.navalgazing.net/Aurora-Tutorial-Part-1
(At one point, Steve was working on Newtonian Aurora, but it died off about 10 years ago without ever getting released.)
If you want something a step below Aurora and Children of a Dead Earth but still pretty crunchy I'd strongly recommend Terra Invicta- it does tick off the "accurate orbital mechanics" and "set entirely within our solar system" boxes.
Seconding this, though with the caveat that, the (at least initial) 'main gameplay loop' is Earth-based political control and the space stuff all comes into play quite a ways into the game. I've maybe fought... two space battles in the 20-40 hours I've played? (Granted I had a few early restarts, not all of that play time is on one campaign)
Not set entirely within the solar system but Aurora 4x is probably what you're looking for.
If you stop and think about it, everything you’re striving for and worrying about comes from a desire to be mutually in love with reality
And reality wants to be known and loved by you.
GPU time mini-grant for researchers, students or kids.
https://tcz.hu/zoltans-flops
It's closed already but email me if you are interested to apply, I can squeeze you in. Email address on the site.
My vector art (No AI involved, unless specifically stated): https://www.instagram.com/alexandermikolasart
requires a login, may want to put it elsewhere
It's Instagram...
Which like a concerning number of apps these days is pretty hostile to anyone trying to view it without an account. Entirely up to you of course but I assume if you're posting the link here you want more people to see your work, so posting it somewhere more accessible might help with that.
I'm seconding this. What I got to see of the art was pretty cool and I'd love to see more, but neither I (early-20s urban) nor anyone in my direct social circle have Instagram / TikTok / Twitter to view links at (though Twitter at least can be routed through xcancel to see)