The Rationalist Stereotype Survey

May 31, 2016September 27, 2019 ~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

ilzolende:

socialjusticemunchkin:

socialjusticemunchkin:

Now with a scoring guide (choose one or none from each sub-category)

Age:

21-25 years +1

16-20 +½

26-30 years +½

Jewishness:

Yes +1

Kind of + ½

Gender:

trans woman (regardless of hormone usage) +1

any kind of amab using estrogen +1

amab non-binary (no estrogen) +¾

other non-cis or dubiously cis (afab trans, agender, magic button trans, etc.) +½

cis by default (not magic button trans) +¼

Poly:

Yes +1

Kind of, or open to the idea +½

Sexuality, part A:

gray-asexual or demisexual +1

asexual +½

asexual and kinky +1

kinky +½

Sexuality, part B (replace “sexual” with “romantic” if doing so would give you a higher score):

bisexual, pansexual, sapiosexual, any other kind of “gender isn’t really such a big deal”sexual +1

any kind of “gender isn’t a massive deal but it’s somewhat of a deal”sexual +½

gendersexual, but would take the bisexuality pill +½

Gifted child:

very +½ (eg. peerless in one’s childhood environment, or not peerless, but with a highly unusual peer group)

quite +¼ (eg. one of the highest-achieving in one’s slightly less highly unusual peer group)

Badbrains:

at least 2 of: ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression at least to a sub-clinical but noticeable degree +½

one of them +¼

Field:

CS student, or working in programming, AI, CS, etc. +1

self-learning any of the above +½

student or working in mathematics +½

Politics, part 1:

supports open borders, or at least massively increased immigration +½

supports significantly increased immigration +¼

Politics, part 2:

supports basic income by whatever name one wishes to use +½

supports some other kind of less bureaucratic, more market-based approach to welfare +¼

Politics, extra questions (can’t increase the total politics score over 1):

refuses to identify with ideological labels +½

identifies with a weird made-up “non-“ideological label +½ (“futarchy”, “meta-level politics”, etc.)

Geeking out:

transhumanist nerd stuff +1

any other uncommon and specific nerd stuff +1

less unusual SF/F or STEM nerd stuff +½

HPMoR, 3 Worlds Collide, Dragon-Tyrant (add scores from each):

has read all of it, or most and intends to finish +1/3

has read a lot but doesn’t intend to finish, or is starting +1/6

SSC:

regularly +1

sometimes +½

rarely +¼

I tried to not break legacy results compatibility so most people’s scores should be the same and this would just clarify the questionnaire; if people’s results change, it’s because I’ve changed some things to better reflect the original intent based on data acquired so far (looking especially at you, @sigmaleph, because that “politics” answer was the most stereotypical rationalist thing ever and I’m embarrassed to have overlooked that possibility)

And now I have the result categories as well:

(break ties with Newcomb’s dilemma; one-boxers upwards, two-boxers downwards)

12: The Chosen One

10-12: True Yudbot of the Hivemind

8-10: Stereotypical Rationalist

6-8: Typical Rationalist

4-6: Quite rationalist-adjacent

2-4: Kind of adjacent I guess

0-2: I don’t know how you ended up taking the survey, please tell me your story

Taking the revised survey!

0.5 age, 1 Jewishness, 0.25 gender, 1 poly, proooobably 2 sexuality, 0.25 gifted, 0.25 badbrains, 1 CS, (tentatively) 0.5 immigration, (tentatively) 0.5 basic income, 1 transhumanist nerdery, 1 fiction, 1 SSC, putting me at… 10.25.

[attaches “True Yudbot of the Hivemind” keychain to keyring, which even without that has more random keychains than it does useful items]

I wonder if the Jewishness in the rationalist community is just confirmation bias, Jews inviting people from their peer group to join tumblr, or a memetic influence of Jewish scholarship. Like Saul Kripke’s direct reference theory, which applies principles from rabbinic literature and scholarship to the semantics of human language.

I kind of figured it’s because Jews and rationalists have similar taste in fiction. I mean, that’s probably not all there is to it, but Luminosity (the first ratfic I read, and so the one where I wasn’t judging it in comparison to other ratfic) definitely reminded me of the books of Jewish folktales I had as a kid. (“Clever, genre-savvy protagonist achieves goals by exploiting loopholes in the laws of nature.”)

Tags:

#I get 7 and 1/6 with a very conservative reading of the checklist #8 and 5/12 with a less conservative reading #(the other 1.25 is ”pan-kinky” and ”maybe probably qualifies as having anxiety”) #(a *remarkable* number of people have gendered kink preferences) #(this confuses me greatly)

Tag 12 followers you’d like to get to know better…

January 26, 2016September 22, 2019 ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

(12 is kind of a lot, let’s halve it. (Has anyone ever made a meme where the number of followers you were supposed to tag scales with the number of followers you have?))

Tagged by: @sinesalvatorem (who is still the very first option in the drop-down list Tumblr provides when I press the at key, for reasons I’m not clear on)

Name: Brin

Sign: I was removed under Scorpio. If I had been born, I would have almost certainly been a Sagittarius. (Watching all the astrology posts that go around Tumblr, Sagittarius is a less awful fit than Scorpio, but they are both remarkably terrible for something that’s supposed to be carefully generic.)

Height: 5′3″ (unless you ask my brain’s internal body map, which never updated after my final growth spurt and insists I’m somewhere around 5′1″)

Average hours of sleep: ~9

Lucky number: *shrug*

Last thing I googled: I’m not sure which one was the most recent. It might have been “for what he thought was h2o was h2so4″, because I was trying to remember how the rhyme goes. (Turns out there’s a bunch of different versions. This one seems closest to what I was thinking of, only without the cat.)

Number of blankets I sleep with: On my bed, I keep a light blanket, a medium blanket, a weighted blanket, and a duvet, which I mix and match depending on the temperature and location in my circadian cycle. (People tend to be coldest a couple hours before awakening for the day, and I sometimes wake up then, pull another blanket over me, and go back to sleep.) Last night, I used the weighted blanket and the medium blanket, and didn’t add another one during the night.

Favorite fictional characters: Well, I do own a Constable Odo T-shirt.

Favorite book: Not sure

What are you wearing right now: Black sweatpants, a baggy black sweatshirt my uncle gave me with “United States Army” written on it (I never wear it in public, but it makes for good house clothes), and I was wearing a dark blue hoodie with “Guides Canada” on it (as shown here), but I’ve warmed up enough that I think I’ll take it off now.

When did I start this blog: August 29th, 2011.

Amount of followers: 137, though that’s including the spambots.

What do I post mostly: Things that amused me, neat facts, replies to other people’s stuff.

Do I run any more blogs: I used to run ds9rewatch, but I haven’t been active there lately.

Most active follower: @justice-turtle, who is good at reassuring me that someone is paying attention. *hugs*

What made me get a Tumblr: Following my fourth Tumblr via RSS. RSS Tumblr feeds (at least at that time) didn’t work very well: there was a delay of sometimes multiple days, and often the posts would arrive in scrambled order. I decided I would probably be better off with a proper dashboard.

(I’ve since unfollowed two of those Tumblrs and one was deleted, making @doctorwho the only Tumblr I have followed continuously for my entire time here.)

Why did I get this URL: It was a pre-established username.

I tag: @justice-turtle, @ellaenchanting, @arbitrarilychosen, @cosmic-llin, @cakehorse, and it’s not letting me tag @depizan for some reason. [insert standard disclaimers about lack of pressure for those I tagged and ability to use me as an excuse for those I didn’t]

Tags:

#yes I am very fond of that hoodie #I’m a little worried about what will happen when it wears out #it seems to have been discontinued and I can’t find any evidence on the Internet that it ever even existed #let alone where to find a secondhand one #depizan #meme #oh look an original post

October 31, 2015September 18, 2019 ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

sinesalvatorem:

pervocracy:

ozymandias271:

Excellent “am I transgender?” questions from Hacking Transgender:

Imagine you have just been presented with a magic red button. When pressed the button will change you into the female version of yourself. It will also change the memories of all those you know and love so that they will have always known you as a woman, and regard you as such now. Would you press the button? What if you could only press the button once, and never be able to change back. Would you still press it?

If you were presented with two magic pills, one that would turn you into a woman, and one that would take away your trans feelings and make you into a “regular boy,” which one would you take, and why?

If you were to wake up tomorrow with the body of your desired sex as if you had been born that way, how would you feel? In a month? Year? Decade?

If you were to wake up tomorrow 3 years post-transition, any surgeries or changes you desire completed, hormones taken full hold, a full wardrobe, etc., how would you feel? Month? Year? Decade?

Would you rather be a rich, successful, attractive person of your current sex, or an average person of your desired gender?

If you were married with kids which sounds more appealing, being a husband or a wife? A mom or a dad? A gay man, a straight woman, a gay woman, a straight man?

Which gender would you prefer to live as on an island by yourself? Alone with Family? Friends? Strangers?

How would you feel if you saw a therapist and they told you that you were trans? How about if they said they could tell you really weren’t trans and should never transition?

If there was a test you could take that accurately guessed the taker’s gender, and you were to take it, which answer would you be hoping it gave you?

Well, ouch.

Imagine you have just been presented with a magic red button. When pressed the button will change you into the female version of yourself. It will also change the memories of all those you know and love so that
they will have always known you as a woman, and regard you as such now. Would you press the button? What if you could only press the button once, and never be able to change back. Would you still press it?

Um, altering other people’s memories without their consent is morally wrong. I’d have to figure out who all the affected people would be and ask for their consent.

But after that’s taken care of? Absolutely; no doubt.

If you were presented with two magic pills, one that would turn you
into a woman, and one that would take away your trans feelings and make you into a “regular boy,” which one would you take, and why?

Oh, wow. Hmm. Younger me would probably have opted for “make me normal”, since that was my most salient desire for a long time. But now, I think I value being me more than being acceptable. Especially now that I’ve been mostly accepted. As such, I think I lean more toward making my body fit my brain than the reverse.

If you were to wake up tomorrow with the body of your desired sex as if you had been born that way, how would you feel? In a month? Year? Decade?

Holy shit what’s everyone going to think!? Will my teachers, classmates, friends, or parents even recognise me? Are any of my IDs valid? What would I need to do to convince them I was the same person?

Well, whatever. I can worry about that when I get out of bed. In the meantime: I can sing! I love my voice and everything is perfect; even though the rest of everything is broken.

I think after the first month I’d have sorted out most of the problems, so strictly positive by then.

If you were to wake up tomorrow 3 years post-transition, any surgeries or changes you desire completed, hormones taken full hold, a full wardrobe, etc., how would you feel? Month? Year? Decade?

Same as above, I think?

Would you rather be a rich, successful, attractive person of your current sex, or an average person of your desired gender?

Average how? I really really don’t want to be average intelligence (especially not the global average). I’d rather lose my gender than My People. And how rich is rich? Or average? I’d love love love to be as rich as the average American. I’d have struck gold. If I have to be as wealthy as the average person from my own country, fuck no. I don’t even expect to be that poor if I stay. I’m rich where I’m from, but my Canadian friends are blown away by my poverty. I am not going deeper.

But if I get to be an average member of my in group, then yes. Definitely. No doubt.

If you were married with kids which sounds more appealing, being a
husband or a wife? A mom or a dad? A gay man, a straight woman, a gay woman, a straight man?

Wife, mother, and gay woman; of course. I already intend to be all of those things.

Well, that one was easy. Moving on….

Which gender would you prefer to live as on an island by yourself? Alone with Family? Friends? Strangers?

Female, female, female, feeeemale. Next…

How would you feel if you saw a therapist and they told you that you
were trans? How about if they said they could tell you really weren’t
trans and should never transition?

To the first: No shit? To the second: I’d want to know what they meant by “trans”. I sure as hell experience dysphoria. I’d want to know on what basis they think transition would be bad for me. I’d want to get and third opinions.

(However, if even one therapist said that, my faker feels would be exacerbated for the rest of my life.)

If there was a test you could take that accurately guessed the taker’s gender, and you were to take it, which answer would you be hoping it gave you?

Female. Definitely. The alternative is dysphoria-inducing as all hell.

Am I the only one weirded out that people are actually answering this quiz?

I mean, when I read through it the first time and got to that last bit:

If there was a test you could take that accurately guessed the taker’s gender, and you were to take it, which answer would you be hoping it gave you?

I thought “Oh, I see. That’s this test. All of the other questions were red herrings intended to get you hoping one way or another: this is the only real question on the list.”

Am I in the minority on this interpretation, or are people just answering them anyway for the hell of it?

(I have been having trouble with reading subtext into things that the writers didn’t actually intend, so it is very possible that my interpretation is not what I was supposed to come away with.)

Tags:

#gender #reply via reblog #this is not actually the sort of thing I did #when I was performing the semi-mandatory gender screening that all Tumblrites are expected to undergo #I didn’t actually go in with the intention of doing a screening at all #I was reading about the effects of transitioning because Knowledge #and I noticed #’hey’ #’my visceral reactions are consistent with there being a part of me’ #’that’s convinced my body is the Objective Best Body’ #’and is confused and horrified by the idea of people altering their bodies to be less like mine’ #'(and nods along like ”well of *course*” when presented with the idea of people altering their bodies to be *more* like mine)’ #’I bet this probably qualifies for my semi-mandatory gender screening’ #’something to point to when someone asks if I’m’ #'(or rhetorically asks if people in general are)’ #’*really* cis or if I just haven’t thought about it enough’ #’well that’s one thing off the to-do list’ #(I suppose that test doesn’t rule out the existence of a purely social thing) #(but tbh I don’t think I’ve got any of that either) #tag rambles

Image ~ October 19, 2015June 8, 2020 ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

caylakluver:

I’m facing the apocalypse with The Rock, Ezio Auditore, and Darrell Hammond. I’ll take it.

You?

catoncoals:

Gordon Ramsay, The Inquisitor, and Harry Dresden. @harriedwizard Hope you’re up for a party, hoss.

silverruby:

Hmm.. Captain Titus of the Ultramarines, Inquisitor Ravenor and Breq Mianaai… SWEEEEET LOL I’m the most useless member of the team- but I can cook and mend so there’s that….

dogslug:

Alpha Dave, Dirk, Karkat, and Sollux + …the judges from Chopped? + Alton Brown

I think I’ll be safe and also well-fed.

meaganfanart:

Commander Shepard (female), Gordon Ramsay, and Jason Bourne… It was a weird Netflix night, okay? But yeah, that’s a pretty good team right there. I imagine we’ll all be romance options for Shepard.

hclark70:

Oh please I have no problems with Kiron the Dragon rider (Mercedes Lackey’s Joust series), Kaiki Deishu (the con man), and Melzar the frost mage as a team and kicking zombie ass.

ashkaztra:

Will Graham (book version), Ellen Ripley and the Dragonborn. Yeah, I’ve got things pretty well under hand.

justice-turtle:

I’ve got Commander Janet Shepard, Duncan Macleod of the Clan Macleod, and Phil Coulson. I think we’re good. :D The interpersonal snark is gonna be pretty epic, though. (Methos would get on way better with Janet, for sure, but Duncan is the better swordsman. I suspect Coulson would just sit back and enjoy the trainwreck that is Duncan having no sense of humor in Janet’s vicinity… ^_^)

(oh right meant to reblog this sooner)

The Tenth Doctor, the Twelfth Doctor, and the Red Panda.

Doctors are generally good people to have around in an apocalypse, unless of course you’re one of the minor characters who gets killed near the beginning to emphasise how Serious and Dangerous this situation is.

The Red Panda…is a good person to have somewhere else tracking down and stopping the source of the apocalypse, but I‘d rather not have him on my team: dude has way too few moral qualms about using his mind-control powers.

I may not survive with my mind untampered with, I may not survive at all, but the world will be saved.

Tags:

#meme #zombie apocalypse #Doctor Who #Red Panda Adventures #one time he brainwashed a man into being generous #it was horrifying #and he routinely wipes people’s memories with insufficient justification #(pro tip: most practical benefits gained by wiping someone’s memory) #(can be obtained just as well and less invasively by instead installing a compulsion to keep the information a secret) #(harm reduction folks) #he thought turnabout was fair play on that one villain who used *his* mind-control powers to trap people in perpetual nightmares #the most recent episode I’ve gotten to he used it to ease the pain of a dying man #which would be totally ethical if he had *taken five seconds to ask permission first* #I mean don’t get me wrong they’re entertaining stories #I am enjoying them and would recommend #but both him and his torture-happy sidekick are *way* more morally ambiguous than they think they are

woooah ohohohohohohoh ohohoh

August 29, 2015September 14, 2019 ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

stumplettes:

Reblog with the song that came to mind in the tags

Tags:

#Livin’ on a Prayer #(I scrolled through the TagViewer list until I found someone who agreed with me) #(it took longer than I expected) #(though I can certainly understand the people who said Radioactive) #music

Also…

August 3, 2015September 12, 2019 ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

sinesalvatorem:

enscenic:

How come everyone but me is getting weird anonymous nick-names? A lot of you reblogged that shit from me! (I’m whining because my hands hurt from typing. And because I’m like a child when no one pays attention to me. Ignore it, it will pass.)

I don’t know what an anonymous nickname is what is going on guys halp

It’s this meme: http://enscenic.tumblr.com/post/125708138298/i-dare-you-to-anonymously-give-me-a-nickname

Tags:

#I am beginning to get the impression that Alison (sinesalvatorem) and Noelle (enscenic) are making friends #what have I done #(…I’m sure it’ll be fine) #(probably) #reply via reblog

June 23, 2015September 8, 2019 ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

dcnnanoble:

if you’re american, you should totally do this dialect test

it’s super interesting

Two of my top three are Newark/Paterson and Boston, the closest cities to the childhood hometowns of my parents. The red blob in the Northeast roughly corresponds to the part of America I think of as “home territory”, though it extends a bit too far north and isn’t quite red enough in the western Massachusetts/Connecticut area. Nice job, quiz.

Tags:

#language #home of the brave

How Well Do Your Followers Know You?

June 18, 2015September 21, 2019 ~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

responsible-reanimation:

Fill this out in my ask box! One point for every correct answer. Ten points total. I’ll reply with your total score!

First name:
Nickname:
Age:
Gender:
Sexual Orientation:
Nationality:
Relationship status:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Random fact:

Some of these I’ve mentioned a lot, some require obsessive sleuthing, and some might be completely impossible for anyone who doesn’t know me personally.

Give it a try!

Tags:

#meme #ask me something? #(well not *ask* exactly but that’s the tag I’ve been using) #unfortunately I only read responsible-reanimation on occasion #so I can’t take my turn as answerer #oh well