hey

[Kensuke]

So, I'm (yet another) mid-20s web developer from Europe.
I'm currently working for a startup that I hope will become a unicorn.
I'm INTP. I'm cis straight. I'm single.

I like to read Harry Potter fanfictions and escapism in general.

I'm not sentimental (I have low neuroticism) but I can be moved to tears by things like the idea of humanity becoming an interplanetary species, or ending death, or building a great human civilization.

My ethic is pretty convoluted, but basically I try to act as if the others are also myself. A fusion between the Derek Parfit and Alan Watts I guess. Maybe it's just a rationalization of my negation of death? I also don't believe in free will and I think that the ego is an illusion. Of course I'm an atheist and an existentialist. I try to follow the Noble Eightfold Path and the example of Marcus Aurelius. I fail, most of the time.

I was raised Jewish in a very liberal Reform community. Politically I'm a radical centrist, I believe in market economy with strong governmental oversight.

I follow the rationality community (Robin Hanson, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Julia Galef...), Sam Harris, centrists political commentators (John McWhorter, Noah Smith...), skeptics (Michael Shermer...). I also follow a little the cyberpunk community (lainchan, arisuchan...).

I don't know what to add. That's my presentation for you. Happy to meet you.

 

[Cognisant]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

The idea of ending death also brings tears to my eyes - but mostly because of how fucking over-populated the planet would get.

Anyways - hey and welcome. You seem like an interesting specimen

 

[Kensuke]

Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities.

 

[Happy]

What’s your favourite HP fanfic (there is only one correct answer)?

 

[washti]

You DEEP. Hello!

 

[Kensuke]

What’s your favourite HP fanfic (there is only one correct answer)?

I know that many people hate it, but Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

 

[Kensuke]

You DEEP. Hello!

DEEP and DERP

 

[QuickTwist]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[redbaron]

I know that many people hate it, but Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

Correct.

 

[Happy]

I know that many people hate it, but Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

Correct answer. You’re welcome to live here forever

 

[Kensuke]

Eliezer Yudkowsky is basically my spirit animal.

 

[Cognisant]

I've read a crossover of Harry Potter and the SCP Foundation and it was pretty good, I can't remember the name of it though.

 

[Kensuke]

I remember that. It's with Voldemort. He can't believe that he was captured by Muggles.

 

[kora]

Eliezer Yudkowsky is basically my spirit animal.

Salut ça va trankil ?

Welkum 2 4rum

Let us chat. About the dangers of singularities, or identity problems )

My spirit animal is David Chalmers, or a cat maybe idk.

What did you think of the cursed child ? I thought it sucked. But probably it is fun on stage.

 

[Polaris]

Welcome, Kensuke. I am sadly ignorant of all the people in your last paragraph, but I can possibly infer from reading your intro what they may be about.

I'm currently working for a startup that I hope will become a unicorn.

Erm...you mean it won't exist, other than in our imaginations? Sounds cool.

 

[Kuu]

I follow the rationality community (Robin Hanson, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Julia Galef...), Sam Harris,

A lot of food for thought in that corner of the webs, but don't you tend to find half of them insufferable? Maybe its the feeling of a huge handwaving away of politics and economics among many of them...

lainchan

So do you work in infosec or are you just in it for the aestethics? (not that it's a problem)

Also, Kensuke was such an underrated character.

 

[0neKiwi]

I'm cis straight

Hmm... the only "cis" I know is the function such that cis(x) = cos(x) + isin(x).

Welcome to the forum
(though I haven't been here long)

 

[Kensuke]

What did you think of the cursed child ? I thought it sucked. But probably it is fun on stage.

Piece of shit, bad fanfiction tier, not even written by J.K. Rowling herself. Like most fans, I refuse to admit that this is canon.

Welcome, Kensuke. I am sadly ignorant of all the people in your last paragraph, but I can possibly infer from reading your intro what they may be about.

People are calling this little world the "rationality community". It's centered around the community site LessWrong, the blog Slate Star Codex and the blog Overcoming Bias. The podcast Rationally Speaking is also pretty popular. It's associated with the Future of Humanity Institute of the University of Oxford, the Future of Life Institute in the Boston/Cambridge area, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The main areas of concern in the rationality community are:

• Human rationality and thinking
• AI safety research
• Economics
• Ethics
• Harry Potter fanfictions

The movement is also associated with the Effective Altruism movement and things more controversial like the neoreactionary movement. It's almost entirely composed of wealthy and highly educated white libertarian atheists.

Erm...you mean it won't exist, other than in our imaginations? Sounds cool.

A unicorn is a startup valued at over 1 billion USD.

 

[redbaron]

A unicorn is a startup valued at over 1 billion USD.

So you mean it won't exist, other than in our imaginations?

 

[Kensuke]

So you mean it won't exist, other than in our imaginations?

I really don't know. Most startups fail, but our is already making a shitload of money and can scale easy.

 

[redbaron]

I'm just joking around, that's pretty cool!

 

[Cognisant]

Can you tell us what it is?

If you're already making money you've got customers and if you've got customers then your idea's already out there, it's not like a bunch of do-nothings like us will jump on it and do it better.

 

[Kensuke]

Can you tell us what it is?

If you're already making money you've got customers and if you've got customers then your idea's already out there, it's not like a bunch of do-nothings like us will jump on it and do it better.

Sorry, but no. It's not my idea anyways, I'm just a dev, not the CEO, CTO or anything like that. I won't say what's the name of the startup because I want to remain anonymous.

 

[QuickTwist]

I'm currently working for a startup that I hope will become a unicorn.

Did you know the top 20% of people in a company do about 80% of the work? How do you feel you compare when viewing it that way?

 

[QuickTwist]

Also, I predict that you are not going to stick around here for very long, because once you see how depressing it is here, you will not want to come back because you are far to ambitious to have to deal with that all the time.

 

[Kensuke]

Did you know the top 20% of people in a company do about 80% of the work? How do you feel you compare when viewing it that way?

Hard to say. Everybody is working hard and everybody is a pretty good dev. Maybe I'm in the bottom 80%?

 

[QuickTwist]

Hard to say. Everybody is working hard and everybody is a pretty good dev. Maybe I'm in the bottom 80%?

If you find yourself saying adiós when it looks like the company isn't going anywhere, that's your tip off that you are in the top 20%.

 

[Cognisant]

Do you know that 79% of statistics are made up nonsense and that 110% of the people who spout them are full of shit?

Imo being an entrepreneur is hard work but that work is essentially finding work for people to do and people to do the work. You don't build a fast food business by flipping burgers you do it by setting up a burger joint to self sufficiency then franchising the business.

Kensuke probably isn't the business owner, he's someone the business owner has hired to do something for the business. If the business becomes a unicorn he might get a pay rise if the owner sees value in keeping him onboard but it won't make him rich, it'll make the business owner rich.

That's the difference between an entrepreneur and a manager, the former isn't necessary for the day to day running of the business, their business is setting up businesses not running them.

 

[QuickTwist]

LMAO...

Too much IMO.

 

[Happy]

Also, I predict that you are not going to stick around here for very long, because once you see how depressing it is here, you will not want to come back because you are far to ambitious to have to deal with that all the time.

What are you on about? This is not an exclusively negative place at all. And why are you trying to deter new members?

@Kensuke Disregard the aforequoted (is that a word?) comment. You like HPMOR. You belong.

 

[Happy]

 

[loveofreason]

Yes, Happy, listen to Happy!

Welcome, worthy Kensuke!

There was a time, long ago, before Harry emerged to change the face of escapist childhoods. But the land then was not barren! It was filled with the weird and the wonderful. With flights as grand and stars as bright! The old gods are displeased with this upstart, and demand to be placated, remembered, revered; placed upon the altar of our inner eye. They demand fan fiction of their own!

So beware Lucy and Aslan stalking your dreams, beware the Dragonriders, Thomas Covenant, Melkor. Do not lose your ways in the halls of Gormenghast! Do not consign the old gods to the fahrenheit 451! And bow before the one true Hari, the one to guide our future in the stars, Hari Seldon!

Ok, I just wanted to shamelessly promote some timeless introvert comfort. I kind of missed the Harry craze and was feeling old.

Oh, except for the Melkor bit. He's real. And you really should beware of him. >.>

 

[QuickTwist]

What are you on about? This is not an exclusively negative place at all. And why are you trying to deter new members?

@Kensuke Disregard the aforequoted (is that a word?) comment. You like HPMOR. You belong.

Oh, sorry. Just meant that people who are at all worth their weight, don't stick around. Except for you...

 

[redbaron]

Oh, sorry. Just meant that people who are at all worth their weight, don't stick around. Except for you...

thats ok u make up for the rest of us

 

[QuickTwist]

thats ok u make up for the rest of us

Not very hard, I only weight about 120.

 

[Kensuke]

Yes, Happy, listen to Happy!

Welcome, worthy Kensuke!

There was a time, long ago, before Harry emerged to change the face of escapist childhoods. But the land then was not barren! It was filled with the weird and the wonderful. With flights as grand and stars as bright! The old gods are displeased with this upstart, and demand to be placated, remembered, revered; placed upon the altar of our inner eye. They demand fan fiction of their own!

So beware Lucy and Aslan stalking your dreams, beware the Dragonriders, Thomas Covenant, Melkor. Do not lose your ways in the halls of Gormenghast! Do not consign the old gods to the fahrenheit 451! And bow before the one true Hari, the one to guide our future in the stars, Hari Seldon!

Ok, I just wanted to shamelessly promote some timeless introvert comfort. I kind of missed the Harry craze and was feeling old.

Oh, except for the Melkor bit. He's real. And you really should beware of him. >.>

I love the The Lord of the Rings but a fanfiction of the Tolkien's legendarium isn't really something I want to read. I also like Narnia, but it's too much Christian ethics for me. I can't help but to hear Nietzsche laughing. The thing with HP fanfiction is that I know the setting so much it's fading in the background. I really want to read The Wheel of Time.

 

[loveofreason]

I started the Wheel of Time many years ago, and was really enjoying it... but every time a new book came out and it was heavy enough to club someone... and it didn't end o.O... my attention span gave up!

If you read it all let me know what happens!

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

Also, I predict that you are not going to stick around here for very long, because once you see how depressing it is here, you will not want to come back because you are far to ambitious to have to deal with that all the time.

If one wants to, one can have endless illuminating and engaging discussions here, on a very wide range of topics. Gotta echo Happy here and say I don't see this forum in any way depressing at all.

 

[QuickTwist]

Point taken.

 

[QuickTwist]

Told ya.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

Lol. I suppose it's an acquired taste, this forum

 

[QuickTwist]

Indeed.