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Open Discussion (2018)

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Elliot Temple on July 23, 2018

Messages (30 of 976) (Show All Comments)


Anonymous at 12:14 PM on March 25, 2019 | #12064 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 11:43 PM on March 25, 2019 | #12068 | reply | quote

How Amazon dealt with its constraints

https://zackkanter.com/2019/03/13/what-is-amazon

> With an established pattern for solving the practical and bureaucratic issues that arose from infinite shelf space, Amazon began systematically removing bottlenecks to growth.

...

> ... in the world of infinite shelf space – and platforms to fill them – the limiting reagent for Amazon’s growth would not be its website traffic, or its ability to fulfill orders, or the number of SKUs available to sell; it would be its own bureaucracy.


Josh Jordan at 9:38 AM on March 26, 2019 | #12069 | reply | quote

#12069 Nice article but questionable attacks on advertising. Advertising isn't random. The company with the best product + most profit can hire the best advertising firm. There are incentives only to advertise good products, especially in the longer term. There are incentives within a company to advertise whichever products are most wanted by customers (will get better responses both to the ads and to the products) and the same stuff applies between companies.

It's possible to knowingly make a bad product and try to sell a bunch via advertising expertise and then move on to a new product under a new brand, but that is not typical behavior and is, in general, a worse way to make money over time compared to running a better business.

Advertising does favor products with a bit higher margins (so they can fit some advertising into the margins). But there's nothing wrong with that. If a product is too low margin to spare budget to communicate about it with customers, the product doesn't really work (unless e.g. you can get enough word of mouth going, or advertise it via a very cheap method like having a single twitter account for it and somehow getting it a million followers with a budget of the salary for one person working on it 20% of the time and $200/month expenses).


curi at 10:53 AM on March 26, 2019 | #12070 | reply | quote

The idea that incentives can be responded too, and the overall system or process can know what it's doing even if an individual author doesn't *is very similar to how social condition and static memes often work*. Often the actor doesn't consciously know what he's doing, but due to the system of his thinking, the incentives of his emotional conditioning, and other stuff, the overall result is to act in a particular, purposeful, designed way that fits the meme despite not consciously trying to follow the meme.


Anonymous at 12:13 PM on March 26, 2019 | #12071 | reply | quote

#12058 The mocked group responded by trying to verbally fight back and mock Canary Mission's video. They immediately got rekt for it:


Anonymous at 1:46 PM on March 26, 2019 | #12072 | reply | quote

Military being degraded to fit PC/SJW agenda

https://people.com/celebrity/female-rangers-were-given-special-treatment-sources-say/

> But whereas men consistently were held to the strict standards outlined in the Ranger School’s Standing Operating Procedures handbook sources say, the women were allowed lighter duties and exceptions to policy.

> Multiple sources told PEOPLE:

> • Women were first sent to a special two-week training in January to get them ready for the school, which didn’t start until April 20. Once there they were allowed to repeat the program until they passed – while men were held to a strict pass/fail standard.

> • Afterward they spent months in a special platoon at Fort Benning getting, among other things, nutritional counseling and full-time training with a Ranger.

> • While in the special platoon they were taken out to the land navigation course – a very tough part of the course that is timed – on a regular basis. The men had to see it for the first time when they went to the school.

> • Once in the school they were allowed to repeat key parts – like patrols – while special consideration was not given to the men.

> • A two-star general made personal appearances to cheer them along during one of the most challenging parts of the school, multiple sources tell PEOPLE.


Anonymous at 10:18 PM on March 26, 2019 | #12073 | reply | quote


Anonymous at 6:17 PM on March 28, 2019 | #12075 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/mises/status/1112038276288917504

This copy is gross. They could say they explain the issue and answer the questions they pose. Instead they say the podcast is about why their side is right. They are viewing their audience like sports fans who want to cheer for their team, or they view the matter that way themselves.


Anonymous at 10:59 AM on March 30, 2019 | #12078 | reply | quote

How astronavigation is similar to GPS navigation

SR-71 Pilot Richard Graham on the SR-71's astronavigation system:

> The navigation system for the airplane is through what's called an "astro-tracker". It looks up to the stars. On top of the guidance group which we nicknamed as crew members "R2-D2", because it's smart, it does everything on the airplane, it orchestrates the cameras, everything. But on top of the guidance group is a gimballed platform, and on that gimballed platform is a telescope. And that telescope looks through that quartz glass window, and it goes into a search pattern called an ever-expanding rectangular search pattern. So it starts out, and it gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger, in this real rapid search pattern.

> Inside the R2-D2, we have the Julian day of the year, which is the sequential number of the day, like January 1 is 1, January 2 is 2. That's called the Julian day of the year... It has a chronometer in the computer, accurate to 1/100th of a second. And it's got a 64-star catalog of the 64 brightest stars in the Northern hemisphere.

> So the theory is, we know where all the stars are all the time. So if this computer knows the exact year, the exact day of the year, the exact time of the day, and it goes looking for this 64-star catalog, it'll search and look on, and eventually lock on to the 3 brightest stars in the Northern hemisphere that it can find. And it does that while we're on the ground taxiing out from the hangar.

> On a day like today, as clear as it is, it would lock on on the ground within about probably a minute, maybe. If it's hazy, it may take 2 minutes. If it's overcast, obviously you can't get anything until you get above the overcast, and the R2-D2 does its thing.

> But I've always been impressed how you pull out of the hangar, as soon as you taxi for about 30 seconds, on about a day like this, or a minute, it locks on to 3 stars. It gets them right away.

> And that's how you navigate. And when you think about it, and realistically, it's no different than a GPS today. A GPS that we use for our cars and airplanes and all kinds of navigation locks on to what? They lock on to *artificial stars* we call satellites, with an exact known position, a highly-accurate chronometer inside each satellite. So, what we're doing is using the real stars, and anyone with GPS is using the artificial stars for accuracy. So, same thing, just different means.

> It's very, very accurate. Once you're on course, what we call the "black line" of the map, the navigation system will keep you within probably less than about 1000 feet each side to the left or right of the course at Mach 3 all the time. It does a very good job keeping it on the course.

Source: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/17207/sr-71s-r2-d2-could-be-the-key-to-winning-future-fights-in-gps-denied-environments


Josh Jordan at 2:10 PM on March 30, 2019 | #12079 | reply | quote

new vid, curi writes an FI email:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTErWs2Hd2I


Anonymous at 6:59 PM on March 30, 2019 | #12080 | reply | quote

Justin commented on part of an interview Dave Rubin did with some Objectivists

https://youtu.be/DhAP6j6vVEU


Justin's Publicist at 8:15 PM on March 30, 2019 | #12081 | reply | quote

Good description of a way to make fake PUA vids:

https://krauserpua.com/2018/04/10/lol-justin-wayne-caught-hiring-actresses-again/

1. Open girl with mild physical compliment while expressing ZERO sexual intent through non-verbals. This simulates a direct opener for the viewer but puts no pressure on the girl to think she’s being hit on.

2. Immediately tell her you’re NOT hitting on her, but are actually a talent scout for a business (e.g. modelling, PR work, waitressing). Crucially, MUTE this audio and disguise it by offering a voice-over pretending you are still hitting on her.

3. Continue to play the grey area where you say mildly sexual things verbally, with zero sexual non-verbals, and mute any time you disclaim hitting on her, or continue explaining the job interview you’re trying to set up.

4. When she agrees to the job interview determines if it’s an “idate” or a “day 2”. Mute some of the number close because that’s obviously interview logistics.

5. Record the “date” and do very light kino, which she’ll accept as simply you being a creepy boss and not take seriously as an attempt to fuck her.

6. Pass it off as a successful seduction to low-IQ Indians who desperately want to believe an ugly charmless Indian immigrant can get lots of white women. Accuse any critics of racism while you yourself play the race card to scam your very own countrymen.


Anonymous at 11:57 PM on March 31, 2019 | #12085 | reply | quote

An example of popular entertainment from the pro wrestling world:

https://twitter.com/wwe/status/1112900324820283393?s=21

Just a ton of fake angry fighting and violence.

Also it was dumb, cops would keep people who might fight each other more separate and not leave them in a position to try to drive away with the cop car


Anonymous at 7:29 PM on April 1, 2019 | #12086 | reply | quote

#12086

*Our Culture, What's Left Of It* by Theodore Dalrymple

> Having spent a considerable proportion of my professional career in Third World countries in which the implementation of abstract ideas and ideals has made bad situations incomparably worse, and the rest of my career among the very extensive British underclass, whose disastrous notions about how to live derive ultimately from the unrealistic, self-indulgent, and often fatuous ideas of social critics, I have come to regard intellectual and artistic life as being of incalculable practical importance and effect. John Maynard Keynes wrote, in a famous passage in *The Economic Consequences of the Peace*, that practical men might not have much time for theoretical considerations, but in fact the world is governed by little else than the outdated or defunct ideas of economists and social philosophers. I agree: except that I would now add novelists, playwrights, film directors, journalists, artists, and even pop singers. They are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, and we ought to pay close attention to what they say and how they say it.

Did he forget to include "pro wrestlers" after "pop stars"? Or perhaps it's their writers and producers who matter, who are close enough to film directors or playwrights already. (He must have thought TV matters too, not just plays or films, so I don't think we should read the categories narrowly).

Speaking of bad ideas and how they affect people's lives and the more "lowbrow" ones don't get thorough enough criticism, I was thinking of making a video complaining about this:

https://genius.com/Galantis-bones-lyrics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATaN1meCOlo

Only 2.4m views though it's only 2 months old. I heard it on the radio in an Uber the other day.


Anonymous at 8:23 PM on April 1, 2019 | #12087 | reply | quote

A different (PUA) take on the Hero's Journey (discussed by Jordan Peterson, based on Jung and Campbell material):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtQLh0bA7Vg


Anonymous at 10:55 PM on April 1, 2019 | #12088 | reply | quote


Anonymous at 1:42 PM on April 3, 2019 | #12090 | reply | quote

I found an article about Gumroad, the site I sell stuff on. Was interesting to find out what had been going on with them for the last few years. Also the founder/ceo is @shl on twitter, I will try following him.

https://medium.com/s/story/reflecting-on-my-failure-to-build-a-billion-dollar-company-b0c31d7db0e7

Brief summary is they got 8 million in funding, hired 20 ppl, didn't grow enough, fired 15, the rest eventually quit, but he didn't want to shut it down because it was paying like 2 million a month to creators. It has kept growing up to over 4 million a month sent out to creators and the business is stable now and makes some profit.


curi at 11:07 AM on April 4, 2019 | #12092 | reply | quote

The left wants to take away the guns of Koreatown so that Hispanics and blacks can loot and pillage.

Not really joking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pwl4pvr300


Anonymous at 11:50 AM on April 6, 2019 | #12095 | reply | quote


Anonymous at 12:14 PM on April 6, 2019 | #12096 | reply | quote

>Ariel Feinerman: Is any progress in the OncoSENS programme? Have you found any ALT genes? Is any ongoing research in WILT?

>Aubrey de Grey: No – in the end that program was not successful enough to continue with, so we stopped it. There is now more interest in ALT in other labs than there was, though, so I’m hopeful that progress will be made. But also, one reason why I felt that it was OK to stop was that cancer immunotherapy is doing so well now. I think there is a significant chance that we won’t need WILT after all, because we will really truly defeat cancer using the immune system.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2019/04/155678.html


Anonymous at 12:30 AM on April 7, 2019 | #12097 | reply | quote

In his book *Game*, about picking up women, Roosh gives a short intro to some philosophy stuff. Ideas matter. Reading a book and agreeing is inadequate to change your ideas.

https://www.rooshvstore.com/books/game

The beginning talks about cultural decline including rape accusations and "toxic" masculinity. Roosh tries to keep the book fairly non-political and avoiding placing blame, but says this stuff isn't ignorable, your way of dealing with women needs to take it into account.


Anonymous at 11:54 PM on April 7, 2019 | #12099 | reply | quote

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WD38BRP

> Within a few years, Chase had become one of the most prominent posters on the pickup artist community's mASF forum... Rated the #7 most valuable poster out of some 100,000 forum members, including nearly all of pickup's greatest names.

Chase, the best PUA writer, is from usenet and posted lots there, and mentioned it in in his Amazon marketing :D


Anonymous at 11:36 PM on April 8, 2019 | #12117 | reply | quote

Is cheerleading a dangerous sport? Most seem to think so. What are your thoughts?

https://www.cheershirts.net


anonymous at 1:44 PM on December 10, 2019 | #14782 | reply | quote

Want to discuss this? Join my forum.

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