Thought so.
When I was evaluating longevity work I thought I would learn philosophy and use that be more effective than past attempts. But maybe spreading reason and Paths Forward would more effective for longevity specifically, since theres only so much one person/organization can do.
I was better at STEM fields and always among the better in my class, but not clearly the best or anything.
I usually didn’t pay attention in class, was daydreaming for the most part. Math classes were going too slowly.
A problem with classes is if you get interested in the topic you get better faster than the others and then classes becoming boring because they are too easy now. You would have to hold back interest in order to enjoy the classes.
Well, why not before? I already liked Oism, and I liked your stuff right away. I was procrastinating. I always thought I had to do something else first, e.g. prepare for exam, do the assignments, learn some programming. When anything got done there was always a new thing to do.
I didn’t feel much urgency, it doesn’t feel like it was 2.5 years ago. Since I always thought that I would join the forum soon, and that I agreed with CF (explicitly, with lip service), I already to some degree identified with being rational and a CFist. That may have relieved any sense of urgency.
I started journaling based on your advice, but I have done it sporadically. I recently started again and I wrote mostly about whether to join the forum now. I did a small project where I considered whether reason was worth it to pursue, and whether I should join CF, by writing out my thoughts. I was going to treat it rationally, be honest and unbiased about it, consider the negatives. I read Reason is Urgent; Now or Never and Philosophy: Who Needs It (the title essay), I already had read them, and had high opinions of both, but this time I was writing comments on them and thinking that it might literally be now or never.
I thought I’d write commentary on the file I wrote and share if I joined.
I like improvements that improve my ability to improve (this makes reason the best thing ever, since it improves about everything, and especially how to learn and improve). I have had this idea since I was quite little, iirc. When I play games I like strategies where I invest as much as possible early on in order to get maximum gain later. The connection is: I think by learning better project management through Goldratt then that would have the most effect on all my later learning. Also he might be the easiest.
But I enjoy reading Rand the most. I want to read all these things and take notes and discuss them. I haven’t taken notes because I wanted to expose them to criticism when I had joined the forum, that also made me put off reading a lot of philosophy because I was waiting. At some point I realized that I wasn’t joining soon (not until the semester was over for example), so I started reading anyway, without taking notes. So I don’t consider myself done with Oism. I think of myself as being a beginner at all of this.
I would have already read it if I could get a physical copy of it without paying tariffs (I want a physical collection of Rand books). I might just get a digital version and the physical one later.
Atlas Shrugged:
—that to withhold your contempt from men’s vices is an act of moral counterfeiting, and to withhold your admiration from their virtues is an act of moral embezzlement—
