Cienna

• CiennaAug 15, 2021, 4:01 AM

  1 point

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Cienna’s comment on: What is the clos­est thing you know to EA that isn’t EA?

  @rory_greig, do you know where systems thinkers converse?

• CiennaAug 15, 2021, 3:59 AM

  3 points

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Nathan Young’s comment on: What is the clos­est thing you know to EA that isn’t EA?

  I haven’t found a communication nexus, but I’d love to hear about it if there is one! Looks like there are some Facebook groups and a LinkedIn group, but I don’t know how active they are. Most of the activity I’ve seen is in a closed Keybase group.

  I’ve run into at least half a dozen other systems mindset folks who have heard a little about EA and want to know more. We tried to set up a learning discussion during Complexity Weekend but got stuck on scheduling conflicts. Cross-pollinating might look like someone who practices both presenting at a Heartbeat event, or for an EA group organizer to volunteer as a Complexity Weekend organizer.

• CiennaAug 14, 2021, 4:58 PM

  6 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: What is the clos­est thing you know to EA that isn’t EA?

  Systems thinking shares the question: where and how can one intervene to achieve large improvement for small investment, minimize off-target effects, and have the improvement actually stick instead of revert?

[Tran­script] Emer­gence, shared suc­cess, and you

• CiennaJun 28, 2021, 1:29 AM

  4 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: In­tac­tivism as a po­ten­tial Effec­tive Altru­ist cause area?

  Thank you very much for writing this up!
  - This 2010 paper estimates that over 100 newborn boys die in the US annually from circumcision and related complications.
  - Alexithymia, poor recognition of one’s emotions, is another condition that may result from circumcision. Paper here. I wonder if the stereotype of American men being out of touch with their emotions is related to this?
  - RE sentience: Intact America claims that as adults, some men still remember the experience of being circumcised as infants. Cross-check: some adults still remember being born.
  - Some US-based charities that work toward ending infant male circumcision are Doctors Opposing Circumcision, Intact America, and Bloodstained Men. I’ve donated to Intact America several times; I appreciate that they thought to check who is initiating, and as of recently are focusing on trying to get nurses to stop suggesting the procedure to new moms in the hospital.

• CiennaJun 23, 2021, 4:23 PM

  1 point

  0 ∶ 0

  on: What are good in­sti­tutes to con­duct a re­search-based Masters in age­ing re­search?

  https://​​www.buckinstitute.org/​​education/​​graduate/​​ The Buck Institute in Novato, CA, USA has some master’s programs, not sure about the duration.

• CiennaJun 23, 2021, 10:50 AM

  7 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Has any­one found an effec­tive way to scrub in­door CO2?

  I’ve worked in indoor air quality for three years and I’m not aware of any products that capture CO2 below the industrial scale, unfortunately. If you come across anything, I’d love to know!
  
  I’ve tried the indoor plants approach and tested CO2 levels with Kitagawa tubes, and all the data showed was when the HVAC system was running… There are already lots of plants outdoors, and they’re lower-maintenance there, so it’s worth checking whether your HVAC system could be doing its job better of bringing outdoor plant-enrichened air to you.
  - Are the filters clogged? Houses sometimes have a 5“ filter hidden in the unit in addition to the return filters.
  - Are the coils dirty?
  - Are the vents open?
  - Are the ducts insulated and in good repair?
  - Are the filters the right size and MERV rating for the unit?
  - Could the unit be upfitted with a filter that has more surface area, so that it restricts the airflow less? Going from a 1” filter to a 2“ or 4” filter can increase the airflow. If not, look for a filter with more pleats per inch.
  
  If you’ve got great ventilation - or no authority over the ventilation—and you’re still experiencing poor indoor air quality, a HEPA air cleaner with carbon can’t fix CO2 but it’ll get most other contaminants.
  

• CiennaJun 21, 2021, 12:59 PM

  1 point

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Cienna’s comment on: [By June 21] Win fund­ing for wild animals

  I asked Dr. Sebastiano and he has confirmed yes, he is a WDA member. As of a 6 AM ET on ⁶⁄₂₁, he says the project is running a close third.

• CiennaJun 18, 2021, 1:53 AM

  2 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: [By June 21] Win fund­ing for wild animals

  Fine print question: is Manrico Sebastiano, the principal investigator, a WDA member? If not, the prizes would be $1000 and $500 respectively, per the challenge grant terms here: https://​​experiment.com/​​grants/​​wda2021
  
  Fun fact for readers: if you too have a wildlife health project idea, this Wildlife Disease Association challenge grant is recurring on Experiment.com! I think this is at least the fourth time.
  
  At time of writing, this project is in second place by number of backers (47).

• CiennaJun 14, 2021, 4:34 PM

  3 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: What are some high-im­pact paths for a young per­son in the de­vel­op­ing world?

  If he’s seeking to work directly in Gambia on development, perhaps becoming an agricultural researcher or adviser—like an ag extension agent—would be a way for an individual to help many people in his community. According to Access Gambia’s agriculture page, 80% of the population work in agriculture. Considering the difficulty of the short rainy season, maybe he could identify additional crops, specific cultivars, cover crops, co-plantings, or techniques well-suited to the local particulars that would increase agricultural productivity.

  http://​​www.accessgambia.com/​​information/​​farming-agriculture.html

• CiennaJun 13, 2021, 9:44 PM

  1 point

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: jkmh’s comment on: Where I can prac­tice judg­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties to lend or donate or in­vest, for $25 per de­ci­sion?

  Thank you—exploring GlobalGiving now. I’d love to hear about your experience practicing, if you’re willing to share!

[Question] Where I can prac­tice judg­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties to lend or donate or in­vest, for $25 per de­ci­sion?

• CiennaApr 8, 2021, 1:57 AM

  5 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Open Thread: April 2021

  Good news: https://​​www.sciencemag.org/​​news/​​2021/​​04/​​food-supplements-alter-gut-bacteria-could-cure-malnutrition

• CiennaApr 8, 2021, 1:23 AM

  27 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Sta­tus up­date: Get­ting money out of poli­tics and into charity

  Another possibility for your list: getting family members who disagree politically to donate together to a common cause?

• CiennaMar 27, 2021, 9:26 PM

  2 points

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Cienna’s comment on: Pro­posed Longter­mist Flag

  A more abstract one with some similar pieces...

  

• CiennaMar 27, 2021, 9:23 PM

  3 points

  0 ∶ 0

  in reply to: Larks’s comment on: Pro­posed Longter­mist Flag

  Sure!

  

• CiennaMar 27, 2021, 3:10 PM

  7 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Pro­posed Longter­mist Flag

  Continuing to play with the space, light cone, time, warning light, and blue dot elements, here’s another. I’m not trying to symbolize longtermism specifically here, but I do think this arrangement fits something present.

  

  Colors

  I like the thinking behind the color choices in the original, so I tried to do that too.

  - Eigengrau instead of black: Eigengrau is the almost-black color humans see when we close our eyes in darkness, darkness as perceived by human vision. It’s black with visual artifacts of uncountably many points of light. It rhymes with how we see space, and represents the eyes-closed opposite of enlightenment.

  - pale yellow instead of white: stark white feels lifeless/​barren/​rhetorical, while sunlight is a human universal. Technically that color would be rather more blue, but I didn’t want 3:1 in cold’s favor, and our experience of sunlight is “warm”.

  - global blue : I like ocean blue, but global blue is traditional and recognizable.

  - almost-red shocking pink: this color was tricky and unsatisfying. True traditional red is associated with the vigorous bloodshed of war. Amber felt slower, like plasma seepage and electronic running lights. But comparing them side by side, this weird in-between color feels more right. I don’t know from whence it comes and it’s troubling me, and that feeling seemed to fit, so I went with the red-pink. And disagreeing about whether this particular shade is red or pink would be the kind of moving-concepts-around time-wasting disagreement that so often distracts resources from problem-solving.

  
  Shapes

  Four-pointed star: a focus, or flaw that draws focus
  - orienting star
  (compass star, North star, Star of Bethlehem, LessWrong, Alcor, Quaker star)
  - how stars or points of light appear to us, for reasons I’m not competent to explain—
  Once I saw the bright “shadows” created by bubbles on the surface of water concentrating sunlight on the stone below, and at a certain depth the anti-shadows looked like curved four-pointed stars.
  - the shape of a wound created by an X-shaped cut

  Semicircle: the known world
  - as a sphere: planet, sphere of influence
  - as a hemispherical bubble: habitat, growth, celestial heavens of antiquity
  - as an arc: arc of history/​narrative, rise and fall

  
  Arrangement/​assembly/​explication

  The darkness is unknown. Can contain risk, ignorance, space, void, death, etc. as you like.

  Enlightenment is a growing buffer between the world and the unknown. Can contain hope, mercy, knowledge, skill, empathy, consciousness, energy etc. as you like.

  Darkness holds three corners, and light one. However, darkness holds less than half the area.

  The expansion of hope/​mercy/​enlightenment has both a linear and a non-linear growth aspect.

  This star/​wound/​pain/​warning/​flaw connects the three, or is in all three. It sometimes obscures what’s going on between the other three. It’s the central focus. It’s in the middle of everything.

  From left to right, there’s a progression in time from the beginning in void to the post-world end where enlightenment dominates, yet cannot eliminate the unknown.

  Does the story arc get interrupted, or obscured?
  And is this burst of pain an event in time, or a constant element?
  Is the wound in the middle opening or closing?
  Does pain orient or distract?

  
  Reflection
  
  In retrospect, I may be guilty of being quite influenced by other brands I like. I was not consciously thinking of these when I was working on this design, so I’m not sure how much is my fault and how much is convergence/​overlap.
  - Black triangle on top-left, yellow on the right: I have previously considered myself anarcho-capitalist.
  - red and black Quaker star: I don’t know what the Quaker star symbolizes, but I like the connotations of humility, principles, service, and insistence on a kinder future. I don’t “identify” as anything religious, but I occasionally attend the local Friends’ Meeting.

  The result also reminds me of Jordan Peterson’s work: in a world made of chaos, order, suffering, and matter, one needs a negative motivation, a positive motivation, a foundation to stand on, and a direction in which to go. “Life is suffering,” but what you do about that is up to you.

  Made using Amadine. An editable SVG version is here in case you want to build on it further.

• CiennaMar 24, 2021, 11:23 AM

  7 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: Pro­posed Longter­mist Flag

  Here’s the link to the SVG. I don’t think you should have to pay for an SVG. I downloaded the JPG and put it through vectorizer.io.

  https://​​www.dropbox.com/​​s/​​4fvviw1s3yveeri/​​Longtermist-Flag.svg?dl=0

  And here’s a TED talk I really enjoyed about flag design: https://​​www.ted.com/​​talks/​​roman_mars_why_city_flags_may_be_the_worst_designed_thing_you_ve_never_noticed

  What links here?

  • What Would A Longter­mist Flag Look Like? by Cullen 🔸 (Mar 24, 2021, 5:40 AM; 33 points)
  • Bob Jacobs's comment on Sugges­tions for On­line EA Dis­cus­sion Norms by Vaidehi Agarwalla 🔸 (Apr 19, 2024, 7:26 AM; 4 points)

• CiennaMar 23, 2021, 2:17 PM

  10 points

  0 ∶ 0

  on: EA Funds has ap­pointed new fund managers

  Congratulations to y’all on your new roles and responsibilities!!!

• CiennaMar 15, 2021, 3:32 AM

  9 points

  1 ∶ 0

  on: Why do so few EAs and Ra­tion­al­ists have chil­dren?

  Higher sensitivity and standards. People in these communities take life, responsibility, long-term planning, and suffering more seriously than usual. Some are waiting longer for the sake of being a better parent when they do have kids. It’s emotionally intense, living in constant empathic contact with another person who has full depth of feeling and perception, but who starts out with little skill at reasoning, shielding, or emotional self-regulation. I’m told one doesn’t fully grasp the seriousness and scope of the project until after the kids have arrived, and I suspect the non-parents in this community have a better guess than the average non-parent about how consequential, meaningful, and intensive the raising of another person will feel. That’s quite a commitment!