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I think the compassion section has the most wisdom in it, especially the reasoning behind the recommendation: 82. Call your parents when you think of them, tel

I think the compassion section has the most wisdom in it, especially the reasoning behind the recommendation: 82. Call your parents when you think of them, tell your friends when you love them. 83. Compliment people more. Many people have trouble thinking of themselves as smart, or pretty, or kind, unless told by someone else. You can help them out. 84. If somebody is undergoing group criticism, the tribal part in you will want to join in the fun of righteously destroying somebody. Resist this, you’ll only add ugliness to the world. And anyway, they’ve already learned the lesson they’re going to learn and it probably isn’t the lesson you want. 85. Cultivate compassion for those less intelligent than you. Many people, through no fault of their own, can’t handle forms, scammers, or complex situations. Be kind to them because the world is not. 86. Cultivate patience for difficult people. Communication is extremely complicated and involves getting both tone and complex ideas across. Many people can barely do either. Don’t punish them. 87. Don’t punish people for trying. You teach them to not try with you. Punishing includes whining that it took them so long, that they did it badly, or that others have done it better. 88. Remember that many people suffer invisibly, and some of the worst suffering is shame. Not everybody can make their pain legible. 89. Don't punish people for admitting they were wrong, you make it harder for them to improve. 90. In general, you will look for excuses to not be kind to people. Resist these.

paulpauper 6y ago
91. don't buy XRP but in seriousness, I think it is easier to apply these rules to people you know than strangers. Look how often people lose patience with each other online. >85. Cultivate compassion for those less intelligent than you. Many people, through no fault of their own, can’t handle forms, scammers, or complex situations. Be kind to them because the world is not. Interestingly, being smart does not protect one from scams. Look at all the smart people who got duped by Madoff. Smart people are just as inclined to believe BS as less intelligent people are , if the BS is dressed up in such a way to appeal to smart people. If anything, being dumb helps, because scams typically require forms and complex schemes, such as investment schemes.
- ben_w 6y ago
  Agree on both counts. > I think it is easier to apply these rules to people you know than strangers. Look how often people lose patience with each other online. Your reply in particular, though also many of the bullet points themselves to an extent, feels like the Sermon on the Mount — no wonder Charlie Stross keeps comparing [Less Wrong, Rationalist philosophy, the Singularity] to Christian theology. > Smart people are just as inclined to believe BS as less intelligent people are , if the BS is dressed up in such a way to appeal to smart people. Indeed. When the Sequences talks of rationality still being rationality even when it’s wearing a clown suit and makeup, it drew my attention to the inverse case of intellectual fraud still being intellectual fraud when it’s dressing itself up like One Of Us.
- drran 6y ago
  It's the problem of trust. Even the smartest people on the planet have the need to trust someone. Trust can be abused, of course.
- carabiner 6y ago
  It's not just about being smart/dumb, it's also about being trusting and agreeable. I think falling prey to the occasional (hopefully not life-destroying) deception is part of the cost of being an easy to work with and trusting person. There are people who will take advantage of you, but most won't. On the balance, this leads to better relationships and a better life. OTOH you can be cynical and questioning of every persons' motives, and that can make many normal interactions exhausting, at work and in social contexts. It can add an edge to you that most people do not like. The ideal would be to have perfect, instant judgement of character, knowing when to be open or closed with people in various contexts. That's the hardest of all, and comes from having great parents/mentors and making lots of mistakes.
  - tharkun__ 6y ago
    The thing is that you can differentiate between contexts. No? At work I'm learning to trust more and be kinder. I actually have colleagues today that are smart and seem to be kind too. Not always the case though before. Most people have been rather dumb so far. And I'm not particularly bright if you ask me. Road: I'll let the guy in. I know how to do zipper style traffic. If the next guy tries to take advantage I'll be sure to try as hard as I can not to let him in. Eff him! The guys that get real close on the highway even though I'm already going 10% over the speed limit? I'll make sure to drop to exactly the speed limit or on the highway Match the speed of the truck right next to me. Back the eff off dude! If he does I'll accelerate and get out of the way. Most don't get it even with gestures. The guy coming on with 30% over the speed limit from behind but I see them or they slow down and stay 3 car lengths behind? I'll make room as soon as I pass the other traffic and might even go 15% over the limit. I'm not unreasonable. Companies? I'll expect you to be unreasonable. You have to prove to me that you're worth it. Sorry but too many bad apples. You don't deliver in the time you said you would and then you don't answer the phone or call me back? Sorry but I will not assume that you are just having a family situation and it's taking you a while due to that. I will assume that you're out to gouge your customers and try to use the get out of jail free card all the time. If you don't call me back the day you said you would I'll assume you're a scumbag trying to cheat me out of my money or you don't want my business.
nickdonnelly 6y ago
#82 is a Pinegrove lyric, great song.
- sprainedankles 6y ago
  Seeing this made me wonder if the author pulled it from the song _or_ if the song/author pulled it from somewhere else. A quick search seems to indicate it's a Pinegrove original, which makes me happy. One of my favorite bands!
  - robert2020 6y ago
    Love that song! Noted it in the list but thought it was off by a word or two... guess not!
  - emmelaich 6y ago
    The number is in fact a link to the PineGrove video. Many of the numbers are green ... try clicking them!
- locusofself 6y ago
  I am a Pinegrove fan myself, but that song sounds like Smashmouth sadly. "So what's wrong with taking the backstreets"
earwaxauditor 6y ago
> Cultivate compassion for those less intelligent than you Also cultivate compassion for the pseudo-rationalism cultists.
- mrmonkeyman 6y ago
  I have immense compassion for you, inferior being.
- ggm 6y ago
  Cultivate compassion for people trapped in religious dogma driven politics
  - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
    Cultivate compassion for people trapped in dogma-driven politics, whether religious or secular dogma. Or did you mean "dogma held with religious fervor/intensity"? If so, I will agree with you. People hold political views the way they used to hold religion, and it has not improved politics...
    - ggm 6y ago
      Really, I was just responding to the prior. They drove the pseudo-rationalist line. I do think there is a toxic culture in rationalism, but I tend to blame it on neoliberal economic reductionism, or libertarianism. I don't think rationalism per se is at the root of it, pseudo-rationalism, what would that even be? purported rationalism but actually.. over-arching asocialism? self interest? Anyway, I saw religiosity as the counter-case to rationalism.
      - earwaxauditor 6y ago
        David Hume is an empiricist. Noam Chomsky is more of rationalist. LessWrong-rationalism is just crackpottery. This brings to mind a review of Stephen Hicks “Explaining Postmodernism”. In the book he contrasts postmodernism with objectivism: postmodernists are irrational while objectivists are rational. And once you look long enough at the comparison tables you realize that there is no philosophy there; it’s just “bad thing” v.s. “good thing”. Kind of like “rationalism”, that obvious good thing. Who wouldn’t want to be rational? What’s our philosophy? Uh, to be rational? To be for good things and against bad things? Hence your indignation at putting pseudo in front of that word: how could one possibly object to something called rationalism? Hello, it’s in the name—rationalism! It’s about being rational. What more do you want, Jack? “Per se”... And nice touch with the but-religion-though. That was a zinger.
kzrdude 6y ago
Thanks. The list started out so materialistic I quickly lost interest.
- Kiro 6y ago
  I lost interest when it stopped being materialistic.
cambalache 6y ago
I will exercise these tips for an otherwise sophomoric article
- purplerabbit 6y ago
  Avoid sophistication that diminishes your enjoyment
ianai 6y ago
Honestly, be kind because the universe is cruel enough. Just step back and let entropy do it’s thing if you truly can’t be kind to someone, but there’s no need to hasten “the entropy death of the universe.”
- ralusek 6y ago
  Being mean hastens the heat death of the universe?
  - dash2 6y ago
    Of course! That’s why it’s called “roasting” people.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mkasu 6y ago
There's very good advice in there for people in leading or mentoring positions. I am in academia and I noticed many professors are a mixed bag when it comes to such communication skills. They don't really compliment students much for their work or results. Basically all feedback is target at existing issues and how to improve things. I feel many people can quickly get discouraged by this. When I give students feedback I always start with thanking them for the work and pointing out some things I think they did very well.. Most students seem to appreciate it a lot.
stared 6y ago
I really like it. Used GPT-3 to expand it (T=0.7, the first trial). [PROMPT] Compassion 82. Call your parents when you think of them, tell your friends when you love them. 83. Compliment people more. Many people have trouble thinking of themselves as smart, or pretty, or kind, unless told by someone else. You can help them out. 84. If somebody is undergoing group criticism, the tribal part in you will want to join in the fun of righteously destroying somebody. Resist this, you’ll only add ugliness to the world. And anyway, they’ve already learned the lesson they’re going to learn and it probably isn’t the lesson you want. 85. [END OF PROMPT] When you’re arguing with somebody, know that you’re both right. Think about it this way: let’s say you really want to go to the movies, but your friend really wants to see something else. You both really want to see what you want. This means that you can’t really be right and they can’t really be wrong, because if they are right then you would be wrong, and if you’re wrong then they’re right. 86. When you’re arguing with somebody, know that you’re both wrong. Think about it this way: an expert is somebody who knows more and more about less and less. So, if you’re arguing with somebody you’re likely very ignorant about their subject, and they’re likely very ignorant about yours, so you’re likely wrong, and so is they. 87. If somebody is shouting at you, you can choose to be hurt or you can choose to be curious. If your curiosity wins, you’ll be better able to hear what they really mean, which is usually the opposite of what they’re shouting. 88. Think about people as all being like you, just with a different set of experiences and beliefs. This will help you to be more compassionate to their quirks and more forgiving of their mistakes. 89. Think about people as all being like you, just with a different set of experiences and beliefs. This will help you to better understand and appreciate their quirks and better forgive their mistakes. 90. Treat yourself as you would treat somebody you love. 91. Treat yourself as you would treat your best friend. 92. Treat yourself as you would treat somebody you’re about to have sex with.
- WoodenChair 6y ago
  Other than 89 I’m not impressed with the GPT-3 output here. In fact I would say it’s a good demonstration of the limits of this technology. While syntactically correct sentences that at the surface sound good, if you really think about them they’re not saying anything. They’re much more superficial and meaningless than the thinking that went into the original list.
hnracer 6y ago
#84 is especially good advice. Bandwagon criticism and demonisation is very common in the workplace and pretty much every group environment I've been in, although to varying degrees. Definitely a deep-seated psychology/biological phenomenon at work.
DoreenMichele 6y ago
85. Cultivate compassion for those less intelligent than you. Many people, through no fault of their own, can’t handle forms, scammers, or complex situations. Be kind to them because the world is not. Don't assume someone is not smart because they have trouble with something you find easy. People have different strengths and weaknesses and the same person you are tempted to look down upon as "dumb" may blow you out of the water on some other task.
- lenkite 6y ago
  This is so true. I had a college mate who was truly useless with academics - struggling with pretty much all the courses and math gave him nightmares. (But he did have the determination to retry until he passed). Yet he could disassemble your computer, your motor-bike, your car, diagnose and fix any problem - all within a couple of hours. It was really fun to watch him work. This was sadly before the youtube era. Today, I would have taken videos of him doing this. It was amazing how he knew precisely where every part was and how smooth he was de-assembling and assembling. A mechanical savant. He always used to nail the practicals - welding, foundry, etc.
Siira 6y ago
The game theory of this kind of enlightenment might not work for the majority of people. The null hypothesis is that default human behavior is near-optimal individually.

paulpauper 6y ago

91. don't buy XRP but in seriousness, I think it is easier to apply these rules to people you know than strangers. Look how often people lose patience with each other online. >85. Cultivate compassion for those less intelligent than you. Many people, through no fault of their own, can’t handle forms, scammers, or complex situations. Be kind to them because the world is not. Interestingly, being smart does not protect one from scams. Look at all the smart people who got duped by Madoff. Smart people are just as inclined to believe BS as less intelligent people are , if the BS is dressed up in such a way to appeal to smart people. If anything, being dumb helps, because scams typically require forms and complex schemes, such as investment schemes.

ben_w 6y ago
Agree on both counts. > I think it is easier to apply these rules to people you know than strangers. Look how often people lose patience with each other online. Your reply in particular, though also many of the bullet points themselves to an extent, feels like the Sermon on the Mount — no wonder Charlie Stross keeps comparing [Less Wrong, Rationalist philosophy, the Singularity] to Christian theology. > Smart people are just as inclined to believe BS as less intelligent people are , if the BS is dressed up in such a way to appeal to smart people. Indeed. When the Sequences talks of rationality still being rationality even when it’s wearing a clown suit and makeup, it drew my attention to the inverse case of intellectual fraud still being intellectual fraud when it’s dressing itself up like One Of Us.
drran 6y ago
It's the problem of trust. Even the smartest people on the planet have the need to trust someone. Trust can be abused, of course.
carabiner 6y ago
It's not just about being smart/dumb, it's also about being trusting and agreeable. I think falling prey to the occasional (hopefully not life-destroying) deception is part of the cost of being an easy to work with and trusting person. There are people who will take advantage of you, but most won't. On the balance, this leads to better relationships and a better life. OTOH you can be cynical and questioning of every persons' motives, and that can make many normal interactions exhausting, at work and in social contexts. It can add an edge to you that most people do not like. The ideal would be to have perfect, instant judgement of character, knowing when to be open or closed with people in various contexts. That's the hardest of all, and comes from having great parents/mentors and making lots of mistakes.
- tharkun__ 6y ago
  The thing is that you can differentiate between contexts. No? At work I'm learning to trust more and be kinder. I actually have colleagues today that are smart and seem to be kind too. Not always the case though before. Most people have been rather dumb so far. And I'm not particularly bright if you ask me. Road: I'll let the guy in. I know how to do zipper style traffic. If the next guy tries to take advantage I'll be sure to try as hard as I can not to let him in. Eff him! The guys that get real close on the highway even though I'm already going 10% over the speed limit? I'll make sure to drop to exactly the speed limit or on the highway Match the speed of the truck right next to me. Back the eff off dude! If he does I'll accelerate and get out of the way. Most don't get it even with gestures. The guy coming on with 30% over the speed limit from behind but I see them or they slow down and stay 3 car lengths behind? I'll make room as soon as I pass the other traffic and might even go 15% over the limit. I'm not unreasonable. Companies? I'll expect you to be unreasonable. You have to prove to me that you're worth it. Sorry but too many bad apples. You don't deliver in the time you said you would and then you don't answer the phone or call me back? Sorry but I will not assume that you are just having a family situation and it's taking you a while due to that. I will assume that you're out to gouge your customers and try to use the get out of jail free card all the time. If you don't call me back the day you said you would I'll assume you're a scumbag trying to cheat me out of my money or you don't want my business.

nickdonnelly 6y ago

#82 is a Pinegrove lyric, great song.

sprainedankles 6y ago
Seeing this made me wonder if the author pulled it from the song _or_ if the song/author pulled it from somewhere else. A quick search seems to indicate it's a Pinegrove original, which makes me happy. One of my favorite bands!
- robert2020 6y ago
  Love that song! Noted it in the list but thought it was off by a word or two... guess not!
- emmelaich 6y ago
  The number is in fact a link to the PineGrove video. Many of the numbers are green ... try clicking them!
locusofself 6y ago
I am a Pinegrove fan myself, but that song sounds like Smashmouth sadly. "So what's wrong with taking the backstreets"

earwaxauditor 6y ago

> Cultivate compassion for those less intelligent than you Also cultivate compassion for the pseudo-rationalism cultists.

mrmonkeyman 6y ago
I have immense compassion for you, inferior being.
ggm 6y ago
Cultivate compassion for people trapped in religious dogma driven politics
- AnimalMuppet 6y ago
  Cultivate compassion for people trapped in dogma-driven politics, whether religious or secular dogma. Or did you mean "dogma held with religious fervor/intensity"? If so, I will agree with you. People hold political views the way they used to hold religion, and it has not improved politics...
  - ggm 6y ago
    Really, I was just responding to the prior. They drove the pseudo-rationalist line. I do think there is a toxic culture in rationalism, but I tend to blame it on neoliberal economic reductionism, or libertarianism. I don't think rationalism per se is at the root of it, pseudo-rationalism, what would that even be? purported rationalism but actually.. over-arching asocialism? self interest? Anyway, I saw religiosity as the counter-case to rationalism.
    - earwaxauditor 6y ago
      David Hume is an empiricist. Noam Chomsky is more of rationalist. LessWrong-rationalism is just crackpottery. This brings to mind a review of Stephen Hicks “Explaining Postmodernism”. In the book he contrasts postmodernism with objectivism: postmodernists are irrational while objectivists are rational. And once you look long enough at the comparison tables you realize that there is no philosophy there; it’s just “bad thing” v.s. “good thing”. Kind of like “rationalism”, that obvious good thing. Who wouldn’t want to be rational? What’s our philosophy? Uh, to be rational? To be for good things and against bad things? Hence your indignation at putting pseudo in front of that word: how could one possibly object to something called rationalism? Hello, it’s in the name—rationalism! It’s about being rational. What more do you want, Jack? “Per se”... And nice touch with the but-religion-though. That was a zinger.

kzrdude 6y ago

Thanks. The list started out so materialistic I quickly lost interest.

Kiro 6y ago
I lost interest when it stopped being materialistic.

cambalache 6y ago

I will exercise these tips for an otherwise sophomoric article

purplerabbit 6y ago
Avoid sophistication that diminishes your enjoyment

ianai 6y ago

Honestly, be kind because the universe is cruel enough. Just step back and let entropy do it’s thing if you truly can’t be kind to someone, but there’s no need to hasten “the entropy death of the universe.”

ralusek 6y ago
Being mean hastens the heat death of the universe?
- dash2 6y ago
  Of course! That’s why it’s called “roasting” people.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

mkasu 6y ago

There's very good advice in there for people in leading or mentoring positions. I am in academia and I noticed many professors are a mixed bag when it comes to such communication skills. They don't really compliment students much for their work or results. Basically all feedback is target at existing issues and how to improve things. I feel many people can quickly get discouraged by this. When I give students feedback I always start with thanking them for the work and pointing out some things I think they did very well.. Most students seem to appreciate it a lot.

stared 6y ago

I really like it. Used GPT-3 to expand it (T=0.7, the first trial). [PROMPT] Compassion 82. Call your parents when you think of them, tell your friends when you love them. 83. Compliment people more. Many people have trouble thinking of themselves as smart, or pretty, or kind, unless told by someone else. You can help them out. 84. If somebody is undergoing group criticism, the tribal part in you will want to join in the fun of righteously destroying somebody. Resist this, you’ll only add ugliness to the world. And anyway, they’ve already learned the lesson they’re going to learn and it probably isn’t the lesson you want. 85. [END OF PROMPT] When you’re arguing with somebody, know that you’re both right. Think about it this way: let’s say you really want to go to the movies, but your friend really wants to see something else. You both really want to see what you want. This means that you can’t really be right and they can’t really be wrong, because if they are right then you would be wrong, and if you’re wrong then they’re right. 86. When you’re arguing with somebody, know that you’re both wrong. Think about it this way: an expert is somebody who knows more and more about less and less. So, if you’re arguing with somebody you’re likely very ignorant about their subject, and they’re likely very ignorant about yours, so you’re likely wrong, and so is they. 87. If somebody is shouting at you, you can choose to be hurt or you can choose to be curious. If your curiosity wins, you’ll be better able to hear what they really mean, which is usually the opposite of what they’re shouting. 88. Think about people as all being like you, just with a different set of experiences and beliefs. This will help you to be more compassionate to their quirks and more forgiving of their mistakes. 89. Think about people as all being like you, just with a different set of experiences and beliefs. This will help you to better understand and appreciate their quirks and better forgive their mistakes. 90. Treat yourself as you would treat somebody you love. 91. Treat yourself as you would treat your best friend. 92. Treat yourself as you would treat somebody you’re about to have sex with.

WoodenChair 6y ago
Other than 89 I’m not impressed with the GPT-3 output here. In fact I would say it’s a good demonstration of the limits of this technology. While syntactically correct sentences that at the surface sound good, if you really think about them they’re not saying anything. They’re much more superficial and meaningless than the thinking that went into the original list.

hnracer 6y ago

#84 is especially good advice. Bandwagon criticism and demonisation is very common in the workplace and pretty much every group environment I've been in, although to varying degrees. Definitely a deep-seated psychology/biological phenomenon at work.

DoreenMichele 6y ago

85. Cultivate compassion for those less intelligent than you. Many people, through no fault of their own, can’t handle forms, scammers, or complex situations. Be kind to them because the world is not. Don't assume someone is not smart because they have trouble with something you find easy. People have different strengths and weaknesses and the same person you are tempted to look down upon as "dumb" may blow you out of the water on some other task.

lenkite 6y ago
This is so true. I had a college mate who was truly useless with academics - struggling with pretty much all the courses and math gave him nightmares. (But he did have the determination to retry until he passed). Yet he could disassemble your computer, your motor-bike, your car, diagnose and fix any problem - all within a couple of hours. It was really fun to watch him work. This was sadly before the youtube era. Today, I would have taken videos of him doing this. It was amazing how he knew precisely where every part was and how smooth he was de-assembling and assembling. A mechanical savant. He always used to nail the practicals - welding, foundry, etc.

Siira 6y ago

The game theory of this kind of enlightenment might not work for the majority of people. The null hypothesis is that default human behavior is near-optimal individually.