This topic is for posting what I write about in the comments. Topic, word count, and maybe date if I'm posting it late. I may also mention other activities.
This topic is for posting what I write about in the comments. Topic, word count, and maybe date if I'm posting it late. I may also mention other activities.
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Messages (51)
I wrote 1001 words on Project Planning. I freewrote like 1350 words, mostly about ppl being bad at stuff like arithmetic. That's a pretty normal morning for me. Now it's lunch time. Later today, in general, I'd want to do another productive session, but often something different, e.g. FI/curi replies or streaming/chatting/reading/listening/watching. That's in addition to doing stuff throughout the day, e.g. I'll often check new FI posts when they come in, or as small breaks from other stuff, once I'm past my morning writing. (I'll also often check FI posts, curi comments, and various online stuff, when I wake up, but only stuff that isn't very distracting or hard, otherwise I save it until after my main writing. So that usually includes short replies but not long replies). Today I'm doing consulting later.
2350 words + 2 hours consulting (+ some prep) + whatever misc stuff I do during the day (e.g. I saw Ella replied re AGI, I expect I'll get to that) = enough for a day. While I can push for more, that's tiring. The bottleneck is mental energy/focus/attention/creativity, not time. And I need to save enough mental energy to do non-braindead stuff pretty much all day or else I get bored. I'll be playing some Vindictus today as a (relatively) easy and different thing which is skill-based and interesting. I read a lot of fiction recently but currently I want a break from that (partly it's tiring to read a ton, partly I found a bunch of flaws in Bujold and idk if I wanna read more from her, but I don't have other fiction to read.) I just realized South Park started again, so now I have 2 TV shows to watch (the other is Succession). Actually as I wrote this I just realized I should check when Mountain Men and Life Below Zero seasons start, and there are actually a bunch of eps already out. Other than that I can watch speedrun stuff and maybe a Vindictus stream, which I'd mostly use as a multitask, not a primary activity.
I've been doing lots of writing privately lately, but yesterday I shared a writing sample:
**Paths Forward vs. Closed and Certain**
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/fallible-ideas/t4EFvWhuTRY/0PHNUmtxDAAJ
I wrote 600 words on project planning and 1800 words on simplicity and complexity (trying to understand them in a context-independent way). Lunch time now.
Played vindi less than i wanted yesterday. Will do that later. Might start recording or steaming some vindi video at some point.
Plan to do something else philosophy related later today. Undecided on what.
I wrote 530 words about complexity and 640 freewrite.
I wrote 550 on not starting questions/discussion at zero and 800 on impasses.
I wrote 1320 on discussion impasses, what they are and how to rationally handle them with some examples. I don't think it's good enough for people to understand it and use it who don't already know a lot about my views on the matter. It's just exploratory writing to get my own ideas written down more. Helping people significantly is hard and is somewhat of a separate issue than figuring it out myself and writing that down.
Having a busy weekend.
Wrote 3160 on YesNo.
Sent out newsletter #97 to 607 people.
Today, Project Veritas put out their video with a CNN insider. I want to watch that soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XZmugtLv4
I had a new idea tonight and wrote an additional 1500 words on Criticism Quality Perceptions.
Wrote 300 summarizing the Criticism Quality Perceptions ideas and 1730 more about YesNo.
Keep this thread for on-topic messages.
Wrote 1500 re YesNo.
Added 550 words of additional thoughts on YesNo. It's one monster paragraph. I write overly long paragraphs reasonably often when doing exploratory writing because I'm mostly focused on the ideas, not on how to organize the ideas.
Did stream #36 last night for 95 min. It's currently blocked due to a false copyright claim:
https://curi.us/2205-youtube-and-fair-use#c13817
Today I wrote 2600 words on discussion impasses and last words.
Wrote 1100 more expanding on the same topic and figuring out a lead to write about next time. Break time now.
Wrote 2100 words re rational discussion. Posted it:
https://curi.us/2224-rational-discussion-tips
Wrote another 750 about YesNo.
I wrote 1000 words on tracking discussions. I'm currently deciding what to do with it: free, sell, contributors-only. Free but also make a video and sell that? Bundle it with other stuff (e.g. that video or other material about how to think and discuss rationally) to have a larger thing to sell?
Free *because* it's useful to people, something people should read, practical stuff that'll help people discuss better and which I want them to do?
Sell at a token price *because* people take stuff more seriously if they buy it instead of it being free? A downside is that a token price is a problem for some people, particularly young people who don't yet have jobs, have unsupportive parents, and may not have good access to spending money online.
Free *because* I'm already getting a decent amount of monthly contributions so there's less need to sell stuff?
Sell *because* it's really useful, practical, helpful? Kinda the same reason I want to give it away is a reason it'd be easier to sell. Like I can sell advanced, niche stuff because it's optional anyway, but then it doesn't sell a lot. If I sell beginner stuff then it's a barrier to entry but also easier to sell.
Having some main, adequate material for free, then some extras which are sold, is a thing i've done before. E.g. free grammar essay, charge for the videos going over it, but you could learn from it by itself without the videos. I think when you do this, the people who most need the videos (the worst people who are most struggling to understand) will often be the people least willing to buy them. The videos are an easier sell to the people who already understand the material decently. That's a bit backwards :/
Charging money, even token amounts, also helps screen people and get rid of unserious people. Filtering can be a positive, but there can also be errors where the wrong people get filtered because they don't have or understand money and also don't say so and don't ask for a discount or free copy or whatever.
If I want to sell it, I think I should do an editing pass. It'd offer value as-is, but I still think some editing would be good.
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Comments on this would be appreciated.
I also wrote 550 words about impasse chains today and 350 about paths forward filters.
I'm still up for doing something else philosophical today. Maybe I'll stream and finish the Reisman book on socialized medicine.
Streamed last night. Finished Reisman book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilf3DTgymnM&list=PLKx6lO5RmaeuXinlXLiZtm16HNE20KPdL
Today, wrote 2800 re objective testing in discussions.
Doing some philosophy consulting today.
Wrote 550 on discussing specifics vs. big picture. Wrote 250 adding 8 more paths forward filters to the 3 I listed two days ago. Freewrote 1200.
250 words on tracking discussions, 3500 on error patterns.
> Sell at a token price *because* people take stuff more seriously if they buy it instead of it being free?
That is not a good way to measure how serious someone is about a topic.
#13904 The purpose of that idea is not to measure seriousness, it's to help create seriousness. Most people create more of their own seriousness when they pay. (That wouldn't be the only purpose of charging money.)
Wrote another 200 freewrite and 1800 about an example Malcom Gladwell passage where he makes a big error which you can find mainly by understanding what you read. The method of actually figuring out the meaning of what you read, and understanding what it's saying about reality, is really powerful. It sounds basic but most of the time people just don't do that.
Later I might stream looking at Rand Paul's new book *The Case Against Socialism*. But maybe I'll be too tired instead, idk.
Wrote 1200 on epistemology, outlining and organizing related. And 900 on video game gameplay isn't violent.
Freewrote 1100. Planning light day and do something else later, maybe that Rand Paul book. Lunch now.
Did the Rand Paul anti-socialism book. I'm happy with the video. An hour of criticism.
https://youtu.be/-CqgVuaUc08?t=268
Wrote 350 freewrite, 850 re testing the success of your learning. Busy later today.
Wrote 600 on mind/body split stuff and 550 on intellectual representatives.
Freewrote 2850 words. Related to what philosophy stuff to make, what I want to do, what the world is like, how to deal with the world, etc. Might do more after lunch, or do some reading, or I have an idea for streaming: I saw some examples of social metaphysics to point out.
busy bee curi is. buzz buzz. :D
I freewrote another 500 words. I read 5 chapters (17%) of *No Time to Die* by Kira Peikoff. She is the daughter of Leonard Peikoff. The book is awful and non-Objectivist. She claims to be an Objectivist. I'm going to write a blog post about it and her.
Blogged 600 words: https://curi.us/2225-kira-peikoff-is-a-bad-writer
I also sent out a newsletter today: https://mailchi.mp/47a90d1d0f55/fallible-ideas-7681571
I freewrote 1400 words and then wrote a related 1900 word draft blog post about my discussion policies (attention allocation policies, what I see positively and am more interested in allocating attention to, and what I see negatively).
I wrote 2700 words, mostly about some introductory questions for people trying to start new discussions and policies for debates.
I want to do editing and get something posted related to this discussion policy stuff. I want to get it clear for others and share it, not just write it for my own understanding.
Wrote 1400 words here: https://elliottemple.com/essays/debates-and-impasse-chains
Did editing (involves writing some new text) and posted these:
https://elliottemple.com/debate-policy
http://curi.us/2226-getting-elliots-attention
http://curi.us/2228-introductory-questions
Freewrote 1200. Was way overly tired from the writing+editing yesterday. Break time.
I wrote another 1000 words today: https://curi.us/2229-discussion-trees-with-example
I had a Discord discussion about global warming which I will put on my blog later, and I edited and posted this: https://curi.us/2230-tracking-discussions
I wrote 500 on claiming to have objectively won a debate (which ppl usually won't even do). I plan to blog that but it's not done.
Was gonna take a break but freewrote another 600 mostly re objectively winning debate points. Actual break time now.
Wrote 750 re social metaphysics and freewrote 600.
Wrote another 700 on Cooperative and Adversarial Discussions.
Wrote 800 re rational discussion.
Edited and posted: https://curi.us/2232-claiming-you-objectively-won-a-debate
Wrote 550 words and posted: https://curi.us/2233-written-and-unwritten-rules-in-discussions
Wrote 2000 on rational discussion. Posted some of it:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/fallible-ideas/h6l5mT53VU4/MxQjDOsAAgAJ
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/fallible-ideas/XZiZ6NPwa4A/-ITjR_H_AQAJ
Most of what I wrote in those posts is the same sort of stuff I'd write normally by myself, rather than parochial replies that have much to do with some other person. And I have my text from those posts actually saved as writing in Ulysses (my writing app).
Here's a contrasting example:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/fallible-ideas/03p6dE5tx3c/6fjqmToCAgAJ
I wrote some good stuff in that post but I don't count it towards me writing goal because it's too mixed up with talking with the other guy rather than writing general purpose stuff that stands on its own out of context.
There's one section in the post, starting "All criticism is contextual.", where I could copy/paste that to an article file and expand on it later. Actually I will do that. So that's another 200 words. But for most emails, I get 0 words that I count towards my writing goal.
PS while explaining stuff, I intentionally post word counts in the order I wrote stuff.
500 more re conventional life outcomes.
950 re impasse chains being original and the state of the world where something like that wasn't invented yet (IMO it's low hanging fruit, shouldn't be that hard to invent) and what people do in discussions, how they could miss it. In short, it's because they don't see discussion impasses as *disagreements* meriting truth-seeking discussion.
I sent out newsletter #99. I have been consistent with sending them since I started.
I streamed last night.
Lunch time.
Slept poorly. Wrote 1200 listing common discussion problems.
Wrote 1050 re rational discussion.
Made 3 YT vids last night.
Looked into Destiny (streamer) a bit today. He looks kinda OK maybe. A commenter advised he's open to debate on topics like capitalism (i'm told he's center left but not hard left). He has a Discord where it looks like one can have a debate without being banned (there are actual rules, so maybe it won't be like the Hugo and Jake Show discord or the Charles Tew discord that banned me and deleted all my messages without warning). Gonna try chatting there and stream it soon. May get Destiny's attention via that or posting something to his subreddit.
Wrote 2000: https://curi.us/2235-discussions-should-use-sources
Streamed over 4 hours last night. Going to stream more today and talk on Destiny's discord again because it has some people willing to discuss. However during the stream I heard lots of people get banned for no reason and that Destiny *deletes archive videos* (wtf!?) and bans people if he doesn't like how a debate turns out. Sad.
Wrote 1000 more words on stream re *Judge Ideas Not Social Behaviors*. Streamed 3 hours.
Freewrote 1100.
Summary
I'm done posting daily writing updates.
Word counts: 2350, 2400, 1170, 1350, 1320, 3160, 3530, 2050, 3700, 2850, 1950, 2800, 2000, 5750, 2100, 1100, 1200, 1150, 3950, 3300, 2700, 1400, 2200, 1100, 2050, 1350, 3450, 1200, 1050, 3000, 1100.
31 days, 69780 words, 2251 average. Highest day 5750, lowest day 1050, no days skipped or below the 1000 daily goal.
This isn't all my writing. It doesn't include discussions or replies. I think regular writing, alone, on topics I choose, is important for making forward progress.
I was writing regularly before I started posting these and I'll continue after.
I think a month is enough for sharing this info. It's enough of an example so people can get a sense of what I'm doing.