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jackchristopheron What If Social Networks Just Aren’t Profitable?

The other factor is non-profit open source social networks.

A lot of people like me are determined to popularize open/p2p, distributed or decentralized social networks.

Technically, we're lunch cutting the for-profit networks. But I think both can coexist. However, if open/free networks come to dominate, closed platforms will diminish in popularity.

Search: "Diaspora", "distributed social network"

jackchristopheron How Richard Stallman Browses the Internet

Well, Paul has a similar "quirk". He uses two PCs. Everyone's seen this by now: http://www.paulgraham.com/distraction.html Also Linus disliked using Google's net connection for his Git talk. Here's one relevant excerpt:

When I am here (Google) I cannot read my e-mails because my e-mail goes onto my machine and the only way I can get into that machine is when I am physically on that network. So maybe I am a cuckoo, maybe I am a bit crazy, and I care about security more than most people do. https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/LinusTalk200705Transcr...

In another part he was about to demonstrates a kernel diff, but stops when he realized he's disconnected from Google's net. Here's the talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8 One of my favorites; a classic. And I don't even do software.

jackchristopheron Why theatre was the most important class I ever took.

One acting concept I found fundamental important to learn was how status transactions work: http://greenlightwiki.com/improv/Status

jackchristopheron How To Build A Ship in a Bottle

The detailed version on how to do "impossible bottles" (with ships): http://www.answers.com/topic/ship-in-a-bottle-2

Some of them a pretty crazy: http://www.moillusions.com/2006/04/impossible-bottles-pictur...

jackchristopheron Taste test: Wal-Mart vs. Whole Foods produce

I don't believe this. Yes, short on average. But I doubt the nasty, brutish part. H-G burnt out. Farmer faded away. Overall I think there are pro/cons between types different societies: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/10/farmers-war.html

[-]http://iweb.tntech.edu/kosburn/history-444/birth_of_war.htm

jackchristopheron First Follower idea is all yours

I was surprised at how fast the article came up, even with Sivers being HN gold. But I submitted it because I wanted to see how HN would expand on the topic of leading and following.

jackchristopheron First Follower idea is all yours

I like Sivers' version because it was more thorough. But it's good to hear the same idea expressed by a new person in a new way. You need new iterations and personalities you trust to make things click. That's essential to them spreading.

jackchristopheron [dead]

Note sure if they should. Coke Vs. Pepsi logos: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/coca-col...

Even in the revised edition Coca-Cola didn't change their logo much after a while.

jackchristopheron Scaling: Why Giants Don't Exist

The overall field is called allometry. Kleiber's Law is another reason behind our size and shapes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiber%27s_law

"for the vast majority of animals, an animal's metabolic rate scales to the ¾ power of the animal's mass."

jackchristopheron Fish Oil may prevent severe mental illness

Here's a well-cited overview of the role n-3s (EPA & DHA) in brain development, among other things: http://www.lef.org/LEFCMS/aspx/PrintVersionMagic.aspx?CmsID=...

Overwhelming evidence for the benefits of DHA comes from a recent review of some 50 studies, which concluded that higher DHA in babies’ diets translates into better brain function, especially for cognitive and visual function.23 Further evidence that DHA may promote healthy nervous system development comes from a recent study in which researchers divided 53 normal, healthy infants into those exclusively breast-fed and those exclusively bottle-fed with a formula containing no DHA. Using assessments of visual, auditory, and sensory perception, they found definite abnormalities in all three tests in the bottle-fed babies at one year of age.

jackchristopheron Geek behaviors present during conversations

"they often make heavy use of technical terminology because it's the most concise and accurate way to convey their thoughts."

If you get your point across by using terms no one understands, you're not getting your point across. It's not efficient at all, since you'll have to explain yourself further. But we all do this, not just "geeks". We're inferentially distance from each other. Who doesn't compress their understand of the world into their own specialist jargon?

jackchristopheron Geek behaviors present during conversations

Yes correcting someone (especially publicly) is status lowering: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:kgxNXpw1kdgJ:greenlightw...

Geeks can't see when they're lowering the status of the other person. In fact, they're inept at knowing when to play higher or play lower. I do improv acting. I find improv acting provides an incredibly useful lens to view social interactions.

(Cached link because the Improv Wiki is down.)

jackchristopheron Matt Mullenweg on public speaking

I do speaking. Here a quick tip: Use prompting questions.

In your notes ask yourself questions that prompt you to make your points, instead of listing out those points directly. Try "So why do I like Git?" instead of "DVCS's are good because the can help avoid some political infighting over code."

jackchristopheron A successful Git branching model

Slightly off topic but the Git model is generally interesting. I'd like to see it used for writing, publishing and sharing ideas (like it can code). To me it seems like it could be a great system.

jackchristopheron Ask HN: What history of economics and technology book would you recommend?

This is my favorite monologue of all time. Inspiring. In it, James Burke sums how sci/tech is fundamental to changing the world. Then he ties Eastern & Western philosophical views. And the explains how the computer revolution will could radically change society: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB8_wPei2ZM (5mins)

If you like Paul you'll like Burke. Here's his bibliography: http://www.amazon.com/James-Burke/e/B002N2NB36/ref=sr_tc_2_0...

jackchristopheron [dead]

That was a perfect example.

Roleplaying as a "student" is playing a low status role, to the high status role of "teacher". In that instance you get what you want by playing low. But in another situation you might play high (for another to play low) to get what you want. You could bark orders at someone, and if they follow through they played low to your high. Of course, if this was a serious and non-consensual interaction it'd wear on the players after a while. Improv, since it's fundamentally about roleplaying, parallels BDSM.

Having a boss who was too serious about his high status role would suck, for instance. The fun ones are the ones who joke about their role.

jackchristopheron [dead]

A lot here are from SF. It's an improv hub. BATS Improv has classes, and I highly recommend them for really anyone. But specifically "nerds" would immensely benefit.

Improv basically teaches you to be relentlessly prosocial. You learn what an interesting social interaction (or scene) looks like. You learn conversation and organization skills; how to lead, how to follow, how to work on teams, how to speak. It's all roleplaying.

Actually, you learn the gist of what they would teach your in the "seduction community". Those are more specialized skills. But there's no social stigma attached. And that's not a knock on them either.

jackchristopheron [dead]

Yeah, the first AI would pass the Turing test by insulting the researchers. :)

But seriously, depending on what you mean by AI (general or narrow), you're right. If it was interacting in a realistic social way with humans, it'd have to understand "status".

Actually, I know of some people working on AGI that are aware of the "status" concept. Although they seem to conflate the improv meaning with general social status. On Less Wrong.com they talk about it from time to time.

jackchristopheron [dead]

(Yeah, you did. ;)) And as an aside I think that upvoting and downvoting in practice becomes mostly about status raising or lowering. Subconsciously it's about the gain or loss of prestige of a comment (and person).

Also, it's interesting to read (HN) headlines with status transactions in mind. When reading a headline ask yourself, who got lowered? Who was raised? Take Microsoft takes a loss to Firefox The obvious thing is FF>MS, but who else is lowered or raised?

So here's an example of a conversation analyzed by Keith Johnstone's who basically the father of improv: http://www.thestage.co.uk/connect/acblack/improkj.php

I would submitted this a while ago, but it'd be hard to make clear what my intention for doing that was.

jackchristopheron [dead]

Oh, absolutely. Altering "status" is something people do all the time to get what they want, albeit mostly unconsciously. Here's an improvisers view of the mechanics behind making a sale: http://biz-improv.com/wordpress/?p=22

I have a bunch of web resources (on improv) pertaining to status transactions. Feel free to email me, everyone.

jackchristopheron [dead]

In improv acting we explicitly learn how status transactions work. Note that "status" in this context means something slightly different: http://greenlightwiki.com/improv/Status

Understanding status changed how I fundamentally view interactions. I've wanted to submit (or even write) something on this for HN, but I haven't figured an angle to do it from.

jackchristopheron UCSF Endocrinologist debunks "Calories In / Calories Out" Model

To steal a line, dietary science is younger than it looks. Don't be surprised if decade spanning long held beliefs start collapsing.

Another good video. Stanford nutritionist and self-described vegetarian admits benefits of low carb diets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREuZEdMAVo

jackchristopheron How to write a great blog comment

Yeah, that's a lot of trouble to get your stuff (possibly) noticed. I'm sick of this expectation. Technology should address this as a problem. Am I really expected to do a blog to be part of "the conversation"? Am I only listened to when I do the social media dance? I don't like this world.

Something needs to replace the blogger/commenter dynamic. Something that puts people on equal footing by default. The blog dynamic too easily devolves into a high status/low status game.

jackchristopheron EtherPad Open Source Release

Yeah, the three things I wanted to see in EtherPad was XMPP support, easy embed and email name association.

jackchristopheron Fructose increases diabetes and heart disease

To steal a line, nutrition is younger than it seems. We screwed it up fundamentally. This is just another example.

This study contradicts the glycemic index theory which claims glucose, specifically rice and potatoes, are the worst carbohydrates sources because they're high-GI. Truth is, we're better adapted to glucose. The body converts all carbohydrates (except fiber) sources to glucose, and then to glycogen. There's a reason blood sugar is glucose. The body prefers it.

Fructose - Glucose Study Showdown [1] (a)13.9% increase in LDL cholesterol but doubled Apoprotein B (b) 44.9% increase in small LDL

[1] Dr. Davis is a cardiologist that has reversed atherosclerotic plaque in thousands of patients. He recommends a diet where most calories come from fat. Here's his analysis of studies relating fructose to heart disease: http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Fructose

jackchristopheron [dead]

Here's a 113 day old Where's nickb thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=775507

Actually, there's several post like the above one. Here's all (recent) posts with nickb in title: http://searchyc.com/submissions/nickb

Nickb tells his background history here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=99966

jackchristopheron [dead]

His last activity was 158 days ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=nickb

Wow. My goodness. Is his death confirmed? It wasn't clear from the thread. I'm unsure of who else (from HN) knew him. Can anyone clarify?

jackchristopheron The AI box experiment

There are two good old threads on HN about this:

Ask Eliezer Yudkowsky: How did you convince the Gatekeeper to release the potentially genocidal AI?: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=195959

My theory on Eliezer Yudkowsky's AI-Box Experiment http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=327427

jackchristopheron Criticism, Cheerleading, and Negativity

I criticize by creation, not by finding fault. - Michaelangelo

From this old but good HN thread on criticism: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=424699