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<html><head><title>niplav</title>
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</head><body><h2 id="home"><a href="./index.html">home</a></h2>
<p><em>author: niplav, created: 2021-10-13, modified: 2024-11-07, language: multiple, status: in progress, importance: 1, confidence: other</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>This page is a grab-bag of <a href="#Puns">puns</a>, <a href="#Good_Bandnames">good
bandnames</a>, <a href="#Types_of_Guy">types of guy</a>, idioms,
<a href="#Better_Names_for_Things">linguistic prescriptivism</a>,
<a href="#Umeshisms">umeshisms</a>, <a href="#Nominative_Determinisms">nominative
determinisms</a>, <a href="#Openers">daygame openers</a>,
<a href="#Asymmetries_in_Languages">asymmetries in language</a>…</strong></p>
</blockquote><div class="toc"><div class="toc-title">Contents</div><ul><li><a href="#Title_Idioms">Title Idioms</a><ul><li><a href="#Blog_Posts">Blog Posts</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Papers">Papers</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Books">Books</a><ul><li><a href="#Textbooks">Textbooks</a><ul></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Better_Names_for_Things">Better Names for Things</a><ul><li><a href="#Rationalism">"Rationalism"</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#AnarchoCapitalism">"Anarcho-Capitalism"</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Animal_Rights">"Animal Rights"</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Patriarchy">"Patriarchy"</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Value_Drift">"Value Drift"</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#PickUp_Artistry">"Pick-Up Artistry"</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Sentience">"Sentience"</a><ul></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Naming_ASCII_Characters">Naming ASCII Characters</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Asymmetries_in_Languages">Asymmetries in Languages</a><ul><li><a href="#German">German</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#English">English</a><ul></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Types_of_Guy">Types of Guy</a><ul><li><a href="#Of_Rationalist">Of Rationalist</a><ul></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#In_the_Water_Supply">In the Water Supply</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#X_is_not_about_Y_its_about_Z">“X is not about Y, it's about Z”</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Puns">Puns</a><ul><li><a href="#English_1">English</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#German_1">German</a><ul></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Quines_and_NotQuines">Quines and Not-Quines</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Umeshisms">Umeshisms</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Nominative_Determinisms">Nominative Determinisms</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Incorrect_Plurals_or_Singulars_People_Use">Incorrect Plurals or Singulars People Use</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Equivalences">Equivalences</a><ul><li><a href="#Missing_Words">Missing Words</a><ul><li><a href="#From_German">From German</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#From_English">From English</a><ul></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#22s_23s_and_more">2×2s, 2×3s and more</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Great_Words">Great Words</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Better_Words">Better Words</a><ul><li><a href="#Compound">Compound</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Abbreviations_Turned_Into_Words">Abbreviations Turned Into Words</a><ul><li><a href="#Proposals">Proposals</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Initialisms">Initialisms</a><ul></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Good_Bandnames">Good Bandnames</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Fake_Esperanto_Translations">Fake Esperanto Translations</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Advertising_Lines">Advertising Lines</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Unclaimed_Domain_Names">Unclaimed Domain Names</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Missing_Emoji">Missing Emoji</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#New_Eponymous_Laws">New Eponymous Laws</a><ul></ul></li><li><a href="#Daygame">Daygame</a><ul><li><a href="#Openers">Openers</a><ul></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h1 id="Playing_With_Language"><a class="hanchor" href="#Playing_With_Language">Playing With Language</a></h1>
<h2 id="Title_Idioms"><a class="hanchor" href="#Title_Idioms">Title Idioms</a></h2>
<h3 id="Blog_Posts"><a class="hanchor" href="#Blog_Posts">Blog Posts</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>X: Much More Than You Wanted To Know</li>
<li>Considerations on C<code>.*</code></li>
<li>Meditations on M<code>.*</code></li>
<li>Notes on N<code>.*</code></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Papers"><a class="hanchor" href="#Papers">Papers</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>X: A Critical/Opinionated Review</li>
<li>X Considered Harmful</li>
<li>Language Models Are X</li>
<li>X is all you need</li>
<li><a href="https://trevorjim.com/cute-title--actual-title/index.html">Cute title: Actual Title</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Books"><a class="hanchor" href="#Books">Books</a></h3>
<h4 id="Textbooks"><a class="hanchor" href="#Textbooks">Textbooks</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>All of X</li>
<li>An Introduction to X</li>
<li>Basic X</li>
<li>Naïve X</li>
<li>Principles of X</li>
<li>Understanding X</li>
<li>X: A Modern Approach</li>
<li>X: An Introduction</li>
<li>X Done Right</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Better_Names_for_Things"><a class="hanchor" href="#Better_Names_for_Things">Better Names for Things</a></h2>
<p>Although <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription">linguistic
prescriptivism</a>
is technically a cardinal sin, I sometimes make exceptions if a word
particularly annoys me. This is a list of such words and suggestions
for better naming of the concepts they describe.</p>
<h3 id="Rationalism"><a class="hanchor" href="#Rationalism">"Rationalism"</a></h3>
<p>The name is already occupied by a philosophical tradition called
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalism">"rationalism"</a> which has very
little relation to the collection of people on the internet usually called
"rationalists". Also, the name seems to be quite pretentious to outsiders.</p>
<!--TODO: there was a post on LW about this instead being
"pragmatism". Look that up!-->
<p>Alternatives:</p>
<ul>
<li> "Mapmaking": Using "The map is not the territory.", related to
practicality. Downside: also already taken.</li>
<li> <a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4E4zbHSmyuhkqgJmm/let-s-rename-ourselves-the-metacognitive-movement">Metacognitive Movement</a></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dq8rwmWXXQ4D4T6YD/should-we-stop-using-the-term-rationalist">Further discussion here</a>.</p>
<h3 id="AnarchoCapitalism"><a class="hanchor" href="#AnarchoCapitalism">"Anarcho-Capitalism"</a></h3>
<p>The word "Anarchism" is strongly connected with left libertarian
anti-capitalist thought (such as described by Bakunin, Kropotkin and
Proudhon) throughout most of history and most of the world. Radical
supporters of capitalism describing themselves as anarchists seems to
be a historical anomaly, and they might want to find a name that clashes
less with already existing trains of political thought.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there has been a lot of debate about this perceived
clash of terminology and it seems quite unlikely to change in the
near future.</p>
<p>Alternatives:</p>
<ul>
<li>"Propertarianism"</li>
<li>"Voluntaryism"</li>
<li>"Voluntarism"</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Animal_Rights"><a class="hanchor" href="#Animal_Rights">"Animal Rights"</a></h3>
<p>From a consequentialist perspective, rights are usually seen as
instrumental heuristics and not as terminal values. When people talk about
animal rights, they usually mean leaving animals alone in the context of
factory farming and opposing interventions in nature. However, <a href="https://foundational-research.org/the-importance-of-wild-animal-suffering/" title="The Importance of W
ild-Animal Suffering">Tomasik
2017</a>
makes a striking case for intervening in nature due to the prevalence of
extreme suffering, usually including highly invasive measures which would
violate a naive concept of "animals rights". However, these interventions
would be designed to increase total animal welfare.</p>
<p>Alternatives:</p>
<ul>
<li>"Animal Welfare"</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Patriarchy"><a class="hanchor" href="#Patriarchy">"Patriarchy"</a></h3>
<p>Some feminists today claim that the patriarchy hurts <a href="https://geekfeminism.fandom.com/wiki/Patriarchy">both men <em>and</em>
women</a>. However, the
word "patriarchy" strongly carries the connotation that men are solely
responsible for this, which seems not entirely clear.</p>
<p>Alternatives:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyriarchy">"Kyriarchy"</a></li>
<li>"Screwed up state of gender relations"</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Value_Drift"><a class="hanchor" href="#Value_Drift">"Value Drift"</a></h3>
<p>Most people understand an opposition "value drift" as a rejection of
moral development, and it's not clear where the difference between the
two lies. Perhaps there are different kinds of such drifts: "value
drift", "motivation drift", "discipline drift" etc.</p>
<p>Alternatives:</p>
<ul>
<li> "Motivation Drift": This makes a clearer distinction between
motivation and the values motivated about</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="PickUp_Artistry"><a class="hanchor" href="#PickUp_Artistry">"Pick-Up Artistry"</a></h3>
<p>Strictly speaking, the word "art" is generally overused and defiled by
using it to describe kitsch, skill or practice. I personally would prefer
it if people stopped using the word "art" to describe banal and common
things. "Pick-Up Artistry" falls into this category. It is a skill that
requires sometimes years of practice, but it is a fundamentally practical
and goal-oriented activity, unlike most (if not all) art.</p>
<p>Alternatives:</p>
<ul>
<li>"Pick-Up"</li>
<li>"Game", but this one <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game">suffers</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_(hunting)">from</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(rapper)">serious</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/Game_(Scientology)">overloading</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_(grape)">problems</a> (Huh! I <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(mind_game)">lost</a>/won<!--TODO: link to tweet about MDMA and winning game--> it again!)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Sentience"><a class="hanchor" href="#Sentience">"Sentience"</a></h3>
<blockquote>
<p>In the philosophy of
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness">consciousness</a>,
sentience can refer to the ability of any entity to have subjective
perceptual experiences, or as some philosophers refer to them,
"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia">qualia</a>". […]
In the philosophies of animal welfare and rights, sentience implies the
ability to experience <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasure">pleasure</a>
and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffering">pain</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>— English Wikipedia, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentience">“Sentience”</a>, 2019</em></p>
<p>Very often, the word "sentience" is used to refer to the ability to
feel pleasure or pain, or, to be more general, have experiences with a
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valence_(psychology)">valence</a>. However,
the strict philosophical definition of "sentience" does not necessarily
entail the ability to feel pleasure or pain, just that some qualia
can be experienced. Although it is very often assumed that sentience
necessarily entails pleasure and pain, it might still be worthwhile
making a distinction between the two.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Sentients" is usually defined as beings that are capable of
subjectively perceiving or feeling by means of the senses. This includes
not only beings capable of the feeling of being happy and/or unhappy,
but also includes beings just capable of perceiving things without having
any affective feeling. In principle, it is possible for some sentients
to be capable of perceiving the external world but without feeling
happy or unhappy. One could have sensations of perceiving different
colours without enjoying or disliking seeing them; one could have the
sensation of being touched or even being squeezed without feeling pain or
pleasure. Such non-affective sentients really do not have any positive
or negative welfare. Their welfare is necessarily zero, just like non-
sentients. Hence, for the purpose here, the important dividing line is
not between sentients and non-sentients, but between affective sentients
and non-affective beings (sentient or non-sentient).</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>— Yew-Kwang Ng, <a href="./doc/biology/welfare/towards_welfare_biology_evolutionary_economics_of_animal_consciousness_and_suffering_ng_1995.pdf">“Towards Welfare Biology: Evolutionary Economics of Animal Consciousness and Suffering”</a> p. 4, 1995</em></p>
<p>Thus, it seems desirable to differentiate between the ability to have
subjective experiences ("sentience") and the ability to have affective
subjective experiences.</p>
<p>Alternatives:</p>
<ul>
<li>"Affective sentience"</li>
</ul>
<p>Personal proposals:</p>
<ul>
<li>"Valience" (the ability to have experiences with a valence component)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Naming_ASCII_Characters"><a class="hanchor" href="#Naming_ASCII_Characters">Naming ASCII Characters</a></h2>
<p>Programmers often have to use the ASCII special characters
<code>!"#\|%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\]^_{|}~</code> and `. However,
pronouncing/spelling out "exclamation mark" is cumbersome, which
made programmers introduce (or use) their own names for these
characters. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbit">Urbit</a>,
as always, <a href="https://developers.urbit.org/reference/hoon/stdlib/4h">drives the idea to its logical
conclusion</a>.</p>
<p>Let me propose some names, with the goal of selecting the most common
name for the character that is only one syllable long:</p>
<ul>
<li>* star (splat)</li>
<li>? what</li>
<li>` tick</li>
<li>! bang</li>
<li>. dot</li>
<li>+ plus</li>
<li>~ not</li>
<li>< less</li>
<li>> more</li>
<li>@ at</li>
<li># hash</li>
<li>/ slash</li>
<li>\ back (whack)</li>
<li>| bar (or)</li>
<li>& and</li>
<li>" quote</li>
<li>$ cash</li>
<li>- dash</li>
</ul>
<p>No individual names yet, also two syllables:</p>
<ul>
<li>() paren</li>
<li>[] bracket</li>
<li>{} brace</li>
</ul>
<p>Not sure:</p>
<ul>
<li>% per</li>
<li>_ score</li>
<li>^ up (hat, flex)</li>
<li>; then</li>
<li>: so</li>
<li>' say</li>
<li>= is</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Asymmetries_in_Languages"><a class="hanchor" href="#Asymmetries_in_Languages">Asymmetries in Languages</a></h2>
<h3 id="German"><a class="hanchor" href="#German">German</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>German distinguishes between structural "same" ("das gleiche") and indexcial "same" (dasselbe")</li>
<li>Wenn man das weibliche Gegenstück zum "Patriarchen" benennen will, welches Wort verwendet man? Üblicherweise ist die Antwort "die Matriarchin", aber das Wort ist redundant: das Geschlecht wird sowohl durch das "-in" Postfix als auch das Präfix "Matr-" signalisiert — aber das Wort "Matriarch" klingt bestenfalls merkwürdig. Was tun?</li>
<li>Wenn man "0,5 Eier" sagt, ist "Eier" im Plural, aber bei "½ Ei" ist "Ei" im Singular. Wieso?</li>
<li>Man kann zwischen "keine Pferde" und "kein Pferd" unterscheiden (Žižek approves), aber nicht zwischen "null Pferde" und "null Pferd".</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="English"><a class="hanchor" href="#English">English</a></h3>
<p>superstition, no substition or stition?</p>
<p>Only fishmongers, scaremongers, warmongers, cheesemongers, ironmongers,
costermongers and fearmongers?</p>
<p>myopia, no youropia, heropia etc.</p>
<p>paradox, but not paragnosis, paratechnē and paraëpistēmē</p>
<p>some Xs, every X?</p>
<h2 id="Types_of_Guy"><a class="hanchor" href="#Types_of_Guy">Types of Guy</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>guy who has had unkind thoughts about Eliezer Yudkowsky</li>
<li>guy who can't use a twitter account responsibly</li>
<li>guy who has always wanted to get into lucid dreaming</li>
<li>guy who is building AGI on a discord server with his buddies instead of getting himself a girlfriend</li>
<li>guy who insists on the distinction between corporatism and corporatocracy</li>
<li>guy who says “beginning of this century” when referring to the aughts, and “last century” for events in the nineties</li>
<li>guy who takes MDMA at a techno rave and says “so this is what it's all about”, but not just about raving culture, but, like, life in general</li>
<li>guy who meets his spouse in the metaculus comments</li>
<li>guy who, when he hears someone mention SARS, thinks of deep Q-learning</li>
<li>guy who takes up daygame again because of the transferrable skills</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Of_Rationalist"><a class="hanchor" href="#Of_Rationalist">Of Rationalist</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>rationalist who is okay-ish at forecasting</li>
<li>rationalist who hasn't touched his 100-card anki deck in half a year</li>
<li>rationalist who is cryocrastinating</li>
<li>rationalist who is comfort-seeking ⋄ rationalist who is challenge-seeking</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="In_the_Water_Supply"><a class="hanchor" href="#In_the_Water_Supply">In the Water Supply</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>supermaximal repeats in the water supply</li>
<li>consciousness complexity theory in the water supply</li>
<li>connectome specific harmonic waves in the water supply</li>
<li>inverse capgras syndrome in the water supply</li>
<li>moments of eternity in the water supply</li>
<li>Arising and Passing Away in the water supply</li>
<li>r-selection in the water supply</li>
<li>n-dimensional Fourier transform in the water supply</li>
<li>partial differential equations in the water supply</li>
<li>mathematical universe hypotheses in the water supply</li>
<li>terror management theory in the water supply</li>
<li>dissolving the question in the water supply</li>
<li>negative utilitarianism in the water supply</li>
<li>reference magnetism in the water supply</li>
<li>omohundro monsters in the water supply</li>
<li>value of perfect information in the water supply</li>
<li>approval directed behavior in the water supply</li>
<li>subsumption lattices in the water supply</li>
<li>cannibalistic respectability cascades in the water supply</li>
<li>sequential decision problems in the water supply</li>
<li>pattern screamers in the water supply</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="X_is_not_about_Y_its_about_Z"><a class="hanchor" href="#X_is_not_about_Y_its_about_Z">“X is not about Y, it's about Z”</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>Working hours are not about work, they're about class warfare.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Puns"><a class="hanchor" href="#Puns">Puns</a></h2>
<h3 id="English_1"><a class="hanchor" href="#English_1">English</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>I uppekhan't get annoyed about this.</li>
<li> What does an enthusiast for upper body clothing say when they see a new piece?<br/>
“Intevesting”</li>
<li>I had to reject the p-zombie for the position, they just weren't qualiafied.</li>
<li>Why don't Haskellers practice jhānic meditation? Because it's all about cultivating states.</li>
<li>1. If it is spring, then I must sneeze, 2. It is spring ∴ I must sneeze: Modus Pollens</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>"Knock knock."<br/>
"Who's there?"<br/>
"Just Rwanda."<br/>
"Just Rwanda who??"<br/>
"Just rwandering around!"</p>
</blockquote>
<h3 id="German_1"><a class="hanchor" href="#German_1">German</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>Dafür, daß sie Jainisten heißen, sind sie aber ganz schön resolut.</li>
<li>Traurig ist einfach ein Trauring ohne neutrales Element.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Quines_and_NotQuines"><a class="hanchor" href="#Quines_and_NotQuines">Quines and Not-Quines</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>“is socially constructed” is socially constructed</li>
<li>“will do as it pleases” will do as it pleases</li>
</ul>
<hr/>
<pre><code> Noting "noting itself" itself
Noting "noting “noting itself” itself" itself
Noting "noting “noting ‘noting itself’ itself” itself" itself
Noting "noting “noting ‘noting »noting itself« itself’ itself” itself" itself
Noting "noting “noting ‘noting »noting ›noting itself‹ itself« itself’ itself” itself" itself
Noting "noting “noting ‘noting »noting ›noting 'noting itself' itself‹ itself« itself’ itself” itself" itself
</code></pre>
<hr/>
<pre><code>Placebo works
Placebo works even if you know it's placebo
Placebo works even if you know that placebo works even if you know it's placebo
Placebo works even if you know that placebo works even if you know that placebo work even if you know it's placebo
[…]
</code></pre>
<h2 id="Umeshisms"><a class="hanchor" href="#Umeshisms">Umeshisms</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>If you can follow your own ethical rules, your own ethical rules are not demanding enough.</li>
<li>If you're not committing any genocides, you're not proud enough of your country.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Nominative_Determinisms"><a class="hanchor" href="#Nominative_Determinisms">Nominative Determinisms</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>The “Sandwalk Choreographer” <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Millepied">Benjamin Millepied</a> from the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1160419/">2021 Dune movie</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Wertheim">Dick Wertheim</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths">"died after a ball struck him in the groin and he fell out of his chair"</a></li>
<li>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcor_Life_Extension_Foundation">Alcor Life Extension Foundation</a> is located in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is in turn a part of <strong>Phoenix</strong>, Arizona.</li>
<li>To quote Wikipedia on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candida_hypersensitivity">Candida hypersensitivity</a>: "Candida hypersensitivity is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience">pseudoscientific</a> disease promoted by William G. Crook, M.D."</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_Dick">Kirby Dick</a> directed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated">a documentary</a> about the age rating system for movies, "The MPAA gave the original cut an NC-17 rating for “some graphic sexual conten” – scenes that illustrated the content a film could include to garner such a rating. Dick appealed, and descriptions of the ratings deliberations and appeal were included in the documentary."</li>
<li>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzschild_radius">Schwarzschild radius</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Broadbent">Donald Broadbent's</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadbent's_filter_model_of_attention">filter model of attention</a></li>
<li>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaviside_step_function">Heaviside step function</a></li>
<li>"The Empire Strikes Back (1980) was voted the best film of all time by over 250,000 readers of the Empire film magazine in 2015." (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_considered_the_best">List of films considered the best</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fludd">Robert Fludd</a>: "Fludd's own theory on the origin of all things posited that, instead of the Tria Prima, all species and things stemmed from first, dark Chaos, then divine Light which acted upon the Chaos, which finally brought forth the waters. This last element was also called the Spirit of the Lord"</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Paynter">Hilary Paynter</a>: "<strong>Hilary Paynter</strong>, Hon. RBSA, RE, FRSA, SWE (born 1943) is a British wood engraver and printmaker."</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Incorrect_Plurals_or_Singulars_People_Use"><a class="hanchor" href="#Incorrect_Plurals_or_Singulars_People_Use">Incorrect Plurals or Singulars People Use</a></h2>
<p>The first word is the correct one, the second word is the one people
often use instead.</p>
<ul>
<li>"Equilibria" instead of "equilibrium"</li>
<li>"Maxima" instead of "maximum"</li>
<li>"Criteria" instead of "criterion"</li>
<li>"Stimulus" instead of "stimuli" (which annoyed me incredibly on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e016-the-banality-of-catgirls/id1483001784?i=1000494296958">this podcast episode</a>)</li>
<li>"Desideratum" instead of "desiderata" (e.g. <a href="https://joecarlsmith.com/2021/11/28/anthropics-and-the-universal-distribution#iii-are-the-world-and-claw-assumptions-true">here</a>)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Equivalences"><a class="hanchor" href="#Equivalences">Equivalences</a></h2>
<!--The whole equivalence tree for programming languages and religions-->
<ul>
<li>decision theory : microeconomics :: game theory : macroeconomics</li>
<li>biology : philosophy of mind :: ethology : meditation</li>
<li>attention : distraction :: awareness : spacedoutness</li>
<li>moloch : slack :: goodhart : swamp</li>
<li><a href="http://nitter.poast.org/exdiegesis/status/1719884031871905953">anarchy : singleton :: ANN computing : ALU computing</a></li>
<li>Need for cognition : charisma :: need for social interaction : intelligence</li>
<li><a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xF7gBJYsy6qenmmCS/don-t-die-with-dignity-instead-play-to-your-outs?commentId=P9EiLDCgxRwJNi6bs">log odds : probability :: epistemic status : confidence level</a></li>
<li>Action : Inaction : Energy : Sluggishness : <a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/inedT6KkbLSDwZvfd/steam">Steam</a> :: Noninteraction : Damage : Robustness : Fragility : <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormesis">Hormesis</a>
<ul>
<li>Or even: ((Action : Inaction) :: (Energy : Sluggishness) ::: <a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/inedT6KkbLSDwZvfd/steam">Steam</a>) :::: ((Noninteraction : Damage) :: (Robustness : Fragility) ::: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormesis">Hormesis</a>)</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Evolution : lifetime learning : humans : human values :: neural architecture search : SGD : ML systems : ML system goals</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullwhip_Effect">Bullwhip effect</a> : markets :: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_gradient_problem">exploding gradients</a> : neural network training :: epilepsy : brains :: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_Storm">cytokine storm</a> : immune systems :: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_State_Index#Hypereutrophic">hypereutrophy</a> : ecosystems :: jhanas : meditation <!--TODO: add link to own & Gavin's tweet-->
<ul>
<li>Bullwhip effect : bubbles : markets :: exploding gradients : momentum : neural network training :: epilepsy : confirmation bias : brains</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Editors : Wikipedia :: hot women : dating apps</li>
<li>LLMs : Pre-training : Fine-Tuning : RLHF : Constitutional AI :: Humans : Predictive Processing : Selective Attention : Reinforcement Learning : Cultural Learning</li>
<li>David Gerard : Eliezer Yudkowsky :: Lucifer : God :: Émile Torres : William MacAskill :: Melkor : Eru Illúvatar</li>
<li>Christianity : Teilhard de Chardin :: Buddhism : Romeo Stevens</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="Missing_Words"><a class="hanchor" href="#Missing_Words">Missing Words</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>eating : drinking :: feeding : ?</li>
<li>hungry: satiated :: thirsty : quenched :: horny : ? ("That's my secret—I'm <em>always</em> horny." *hulk transform*)</li>
</ul>
<p>We can test whether such words exist via gensim word2vec embeddings:</p>
<pre><code>>>> import gensim.downloader
>>> model=gensim.downloader.load("glove-wiki-gigaword-50")
>>> model.most_similar(positive=["drinking" ,"feeding"], negative=["eating"])
[('water', 0.7137373089790344), ('alcohol', 0.680603563785553), ('sewage', 0.6791356205940247), ('streams', 0.6613353490829468), ('preventing', 0.658783495426178), ('stream', 0.6549322605133057), ('flow', 0.6541517376899719), ('feed', 0.6427099108695984), ('prevent', 0.6414331793785095), ('oxygen', 0.6339807510375977)]
>>> model.most_similar(model["horny"]+model["satiated"]-model["hungry"])
[('augmentor', 0.7722139954566956), ('flesh-colored', 0.7714864015579224), ('dalmatic', 0.7516317367553711), ('falchion', 0.749862551689148), ('irremovable', 0.7393192052841187), ('16-cell', 0.7370430827140808), ('pinchos', 0.7362353801727295), ('cryptochrome', 0.7349831461906433), ('tatoos', 0.7349593639373779), ('red/black', 0.7319703102111816)]
</code></pre>
<h5 id="From_German"><a class="hanchor" href="#From_German">From German</a></h5>
<ul>
<li>"scoff"</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="From_English"><a class="hanchor" href="#From_English">From English</a></h5>
<ul>
<li>"doch"</li>
<li>"Feierabend"</li>
<li>"Pech" ("misfortune" doesn't cut it, sorry)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="22s_23s_and_more"><a class="hanchor" href="#22s_23s_and_more">2×2s, 2×3s and more</a></h2>
<!--TODO: table, fill out?-->
<ul>
<li>{What we're (not) able to do now}×{What we (don't) have to do now}</li>
<li>{Lives in social/physical reality}×{views things generally as positive/zero/negative sum}</li>
<li>Dating advice falls into {easy, hard}×{concrete, diffuse}×{effective, ineffective} (easy & concrete & effective doesn't exist, of course)</li>
<li>{being competent, being incompetent}×{winning, losing}×{knowing why it happened, not knowing why it happened}</li>
<li>{"under-", "open-"}×{"handed", "ended"}</li>
<li>Coordination is {easy, difficult}×{attack, defense} is favored</li>
<li>{adequate, inadequate}×{exploitable, unexploitable}×{efficient, inefficient}</li>
<li>{be, take, give}×{a, the, ""} shit</li>
<li>Thinking the {right, wrong} things × thinking in the {right, wrong} way × saying the {right, wrong} things × performing the {right, wrong} actions</li>
<li>{continuous, discountinuous} × {inductive, deductive} assumptions</li>
<li>{<a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ZDZmopKquzHYPRNxq">Selection, Control</a>} × {<a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/r3NHPD3dLFNk9QE2Y/search-versus-design-1">search, design</a>}</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Great_Words"><a class="hanchor" href="#Great_Words">Great Words</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>"<strong>tjimaruwentakaruwala</strong>": A song "sung specifically to threaten a man who did not fulfill the terms of a marriage exchange", in which two men promised to marry each other's sisters or daughters, from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiwi_people">Tiwi people</a>.</li>
<li>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidance_speech"><strong>ukuhlonipha</strong></a>": "A system of ritual avoidance observed as a mark of respect especially by Xhosa and Zulu wives towards their male relatives by marriage". (<a href="https://dsae.co.za/entry/hlonipha/e03037">Source</a>)</li>
<li>English
<ul>
<li>"corrigibility"</li>
<li>"antisemanticity"</li>
<li>"crestfallen"</li>
</ul></li>
<li>German
<ul>
<li>"bewahren"</li>
<li>"Kabeljau"</li>
<li>"Sollbruchstelle"</li>
<li>"Ablaufdatum"</li>
<li>"Geizkragen"</li>
<li>"pervers"</li>
<li>"etwas auf Vordermann bringen"</li>
<li>"mit Hängen und Würgen"</li>
<li>"hanebüchen"</li>
<li>"Verdauungsspaziergang"</li>
<li>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erbfeindschaft">Erbfeindschaft</a>"</li>
<li>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockwart">Blockwart</a>"</li>
<li>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot">Reinheitsgebot</a>"</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<!--TODO: Aboriginals used the word "ooga" (staring eyes) for [australite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australite) in ceremonies-->
<h2 id="Better_Words"><a class="hanchor" href="#Better_Words">Better Words</a></h2>
<h3 id="Compound"><a class="hanchor" href="#Compound">Compound</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodymind">bodymind</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime">spacetime</a></li>
<li>matterenergy</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Abbreviations_Turned_Into_Words"><a class="hanchor" href="#Abbreviations_Turned_Into_Words">Abbreviations Turned Into Words</a></h3>
<!--TODO: links and a planecrash quote-->
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probability_Distribution">dist(s)</a>: 8 syllables saved compared to "probability distribution(s)"</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probability">prob(s)</a>: 4 syllables saved over "probabilit{y,ies}", closest colliding word is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/prop_(disambiguation)">prop</a>, which is not particularly common</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expected_value_of_perfect_information">vopi</a>: 10 syllables saved over "expected value of perfect information", alternative spellings could be "evopi" or "evoi" or "voi" (removing perfection or expectation)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiated_agreement">batna</a>: 13 syllables saved over "Best alternative to a negotiated agreement", perhaps acustically too close to "batman"</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-of-the-envelope_calculation">botec</a>: 8 syllables saved over "back-of-the-envelope calculation"</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expected_value">exval</a>: 3 syllables saved compared to "expected value"</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_and_only_if">ifef</a>: 3 syllables saved over "if and only if", and <a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JuLJbayPQDhZuPXHa/if-and-only-if-should-be-spelled-ifeff">others agree</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MECE_principle">mece</a><!--TODO: IPA-->: 12 syllables saved over "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_exclusivity">mutually exclusive</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectively_exhaustive_events">collectively exhaustive</a>"</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="Proposals"><a class="hanchor" href="#Proposals">Proposals</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>"cif" or "if<sub>c</sub>" ("causal if"): <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_model#Counterfactuals">causally counterfactual</a> if: 8 syllables saved</li>
<li>"eif" or "if<sub>e</sub>" ("evidential if"): evidentially counterfactual if: 10 syllables saved</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="Initialisms"><a class="hanchor" href="#Initialisms">Initialisms</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>DSOTM: Doesn't seem obvious to me</li>
<li>MFTOE: My favourite theory of ethics</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Good_Bandnames"><a class="hanchor" href="#Good_Bandnames">Good Bandnames</a></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/s/EmDuGeRw749sD3GKd/p/qALeGJ9nPcs9eC9Af">Catastrophic Transcripts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/aHaqgTNnFzD7NGLMx/reason-as-memetic-immune-disorder">Memetic Immune Disorder</a></li>
<li>Contextual Bandits (seen in <a href="./doc/cs/ai/alignment/overview/concrete_problems_in_ai_safety_amodei_et_al_2016.pdf" title="Concrete Problems in AI Safety">Amodei et al. 2016</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation#Hypercarcinisation">Hypercarcinisation</a></li>
<li>Genderless Gaits (from <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/do-human-pheromones-actually-exist">Wessel 2017</a>)</li>
</ul>
<p>See also <a href="https://isomorphismes.tumblr.com/post/47509929969/mathematical-band-names?">isomorphismes
2013</a>.</p>
<h2 id="Fake_Esperanto_Translations"><a class="hanchor" href="#Fake_Esperanto_Translations">Fake Esperanto Translations</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>"harari": Hairing a lot</li>
<li>"akira": Having the property of acquiring</li>
<li>"flamingo": Flammability</li>
<li>"estrogeno": Master gene</li>
<li>"neniel": A biblical angel</li>
<li>"library" in English is "biblioteko" in Esperanto, which is infuriating: "<a href="https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Esperanto/Grammar#Suffixes">-aro</a>" is the suffix for group, and "libr-" is the root for book, so "libraro" would be "group of/collection of books"; <em>what else is a library</em>‽</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Advertising_Lines"><a class="hanchor" href="#Advertising_Lines">Advertising Lines</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™, PhD in Memetodynamics</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™, Treasurer of the “Clone John von Neumann a Million Times” Party</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: A Large Variety of Extremely Good Posts</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: Paratechnē Straight from the Source</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: Pathological Selfer</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: <a href="https://schelling.pt/web/statuses/107888052139408526">Now an effective cause area!</a></li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: Calibration of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: Mostly a Reputation Hazard</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: Midwit With High Need for Cognition</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: Can It Export the Data to CSV?</li>
<li>Niplav Yushtun™: High Quality Human Thoughts</li>
<li>O man, whoever you are and wherever you come from, for I know you will come, I am Niplav who wrote this site. Do not therefore begrudge me this bit of earth that covers my bones.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Unclaimed_Domain_Names"><a class="hanchor" href="#Unclaimed_Domain_Names">Unclaimed Domain Names</a></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://paratechne.me">https://paratechne.me</a></li>
<li>https://{uni,multi}fungal.space</li>
<li><a href="https://rhizomiasmatic.tech">https://rhizomiasmatic.tech</a></li>
<li><a href="https://nibannergic.systems">https://nibannergic.systems</a></li>
<li><a href="https://calabiyau.systems">https://calabiyau.systems</a></li>
<li><a href="https://panchromatic.industries">https://panchromatic.industries</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ultracompactoid.industries">https://ultracompactoid.industries</a></li>
<li><a href="https://synprismatic.industries">https://synprismatic.industries</a></li>
<li><a href="https://autopoietic.systems">https://autopoietic.systems</a></li>
<li><a href="https://hyperoscillatory.space">https://hyperoscillatory.space</a></li>
<li><a href="https://polyhazardous.space">https://polyhazardous.space</a></li>
<li><a href="https://bigtiddygoth.gf">https://bigtiddygoth.gf</a></li>
<li><a href="https://egregome.industries">https://egregome.industries</a></li>
<li><a href="https://hell.network">https://hell.network</a></li>
<li><a href="https://pestile.nz">https://pestile.nz</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Missing_Emoji"><a class="hanchor" href="#Missing_Emoji">Missing Emoji</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>Whistling face</li>
<li>Face with red eyes</li>
<li>Grim determination</li>
<li>Sad smile</li>
<li>Suspicious squint</li>
<li>Erlenmeyer flask</li>
<li>Red star</li>
<li>Grass</li>
<li>Kimchi</li>
<li>Shovel</li>
<li>Flag of the Roman Empire</li>
<li>Blanket</li>
<li>Pillow</li>
<li>Carriage</li>
<li>Galaxy</li>
<li><a href="https://x.com/mulltuhh/status/1799816080875233538">Lime</a></li>
<li><a href="http://nitter.poast.org/hum_dunkin/status/1776579149739528668">Various egypt-themed emoji</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="New_Eponymous_Laws"><a class="hanchor" href="#New_Eponymous_Laws">New Eponymous Laws</a></h2>
<ul>
<li><em><a href="./notes.html#Examples_and_Counterexamples_for_Zeyneps_Razor">Zeynep's razor</a></em>: "first-order effects are rarely outweighed by rebound effects"</li>
<li><em>Guzey's law</em> (or, less politely, <em>Guzey's disease</em>): Good hobbyist internet science writers & scientists are afflicted by a peculiar disease: they produce some (or a lot of) good output, and then someone gives them enough money to start an organization, and they never write anything interesting again.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="Daygame"><a class="hanchor" href="#Daygame">Daygame</a></h2>
<h3 id="Openers"><a class="hanchor" href="#Openers">Openers</a></h3>
<p>In general, for openers I am not above spouting whatever bullshit comes
to my mind at that moment.</p>
<p>I have, at various times,</p>
<ul>
<li>Compared girls with
<ul>
<li>Paintings of aristocracy</li>
<li>Characters in fiction
<ul>
<li>Books I was reading at that time
<ul>
<li>Evelyn Nisbett from “Ragtime” by Doctorow</li>
<li>Baroness vom Zumpe from “2666” by Bolaño</li>
<li>An unnamed girl from the collections of vignettes “Betrachtung” by Kafka</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Movies
<ul>
<li>Trinity from the Matrix (good for girls all dressed in black)</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Their hair
<ul>
<li>to a tree trunk</li>
<li>to a candleflame</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Their outfit
<ul>
<li>to abstract modern art</li>
<li>to medieval wallpaper</li>
<li>to something people would wear in 19th century Russia</li>
<li>to the Mediterranian sea</li>
<li>to camel fur that they had gathered at the zoo</li>
<li>to obsidian and volcanic ash</li>
<li>a chimney</li>
<li>a mushroom</li>
<li>a colorful bird</li>
<li>a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa">mesa</a></li>
<li>a native American hunting</li>
<li>a black candle</li>
<li>a bear cub/a teddybear</li>
<li>a piano
<ul>
<li>Comparing girls with musical instruments sounds like a pretty good opener in general (viola, violin, saxophone, definitely stirs the imagination)</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Pointed out contradictions in their style
<ul>
<li>Telling one girl that she looked like she was going to a cocktail party on a mountain</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Openly insulted their clothes
<ul>
<li>Told a girl her shoes looked old, asking her whether she was on the way to buy new ones on a nearby market
<ul>
<li>I am not sure, but I think this one was actually harmful</li>
</ul></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>I have been told that I'm creative, but I have never observed any
correlation with how well the approach goes and the opener, except for
very boring openers and insults.</p>
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