Patrick Julius's Blog, page 5

Sometimes the right answer is boring.

JDN 2456440 EDT 11:26.

 

I found The Investment Answer by Daniel Goldie and Gordon Murray in a rack of free books, and the little softcover is only 70 pages long, so I figured I may as well read it.
I was not disappointed; the book is a concisely written and easily accessible introduction to behavioral finance for anyone who is looking to invest in stocks and bonds. Its answers are rather banal: Buy low, sell high; don't trust your gut, use careful analysis; invest in a diversified mix o...

The Introvert Within

 JDN 2456436 EDT 12:13.

 

Review of Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking by Susan Cain

I had previously been somewhat dubious of the construct "introversion", even though I know that it has been empirically validated in a number of studies (and is the only personality trait aside from IQ that has received such thorough empirical validation). The reason was simple: I have many traits that clearly indicate strong introversion, yet sometimes my behavior is...

I've been accepted to California State University at Long Beach!

 

JDN 2456426 EDT 16:50.

 

More good news on my adventures in applying to graduate school: Another acceptance! That makes two master's programs I am now accepted to, and means I actually have a decision to make.

I definitely prefer the location Long Beach to New York City; I never was a big fan of Manhattan, really; it's constant noise and motion, and too overstimulating. Long Beach is warm but not hot and sunny most of the time, and while it's certainly still urban it doesn't have...

My meeting with Jens Zorn did not go very well.

JDN 2456421 EDT 14:11.

He did not give me a counter-offer; more or less he tried to persuade me to stay the course on my current path. And there certainly would be advantages to that, but they are primarily the advantages of inertia; I wouldn't have to deal with changes like finding a new job, dealing with a long-distance relationship, finding housing and health insurance in a new city. (One advantage of London if UCL takes me: health insurance is not a problem!)

He was also fairly critical,...

I have been accepted to the Draper Interdisciplinary Master's Program at NYU.

JDN 2456420 EDT 18:04.

 

This is the first graduate program to accept me at all; after being rejected from PhD programs at Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT twice, also rejected from PhD programs at UC Santa Barbara and Carnegie Mellon, and even rejected from a different MA program at NYU, I was at last invited to apply, applied, and was rapidly accepted to the Draper program.

They originally gave me two weeks to apply (a week ago), but I have requested and received an extension so that I will...

Complex systems should not require complex writing.

JDN 2456420 EDT 16:34.

 

A review of Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems by John H. Holland.

This book styles itself "an introductory analysis", and it is not very long (about 200 pages), and yet it took me enormous effort and time to get through it all. Holland appears to have no concept of mathematical elegance, for one thing; he churns through seven steps in an equation with successive approximations, but stubbornly refuses to drop coefficients that he ends up ignoring later...

Jerry Coyne is right about the harms done by dualistic free will.

Where he's wrong, however, is the idea that fatalism is somehow better. A fatalistic society is a society of the Twinkie Defense, where "my brain made me do it" becomes a fully general excuse for any activity (until someone realizes that "any activity" includes, say, imprisoning people).

Compatibilism--or as Eliezer Yudkowsky likes to call it, requiredism--is the only valid answer. It has always been the only valid answer. It is obviously the only valid answer, and anyone who thinks deeply abo...

There is no upside to irrationality.

JDN 2456409 EDT 21:06.

 

Daniel Ariely is certainly a fine behavioral economist, though not quite the caliber of Daniel Kahneman (and apparently people named Daniel are drawn to behavioral economics?). His writing is easy to read but generally avoids dumbing anything down. His personal stories are compelling and moving, though one does tire of hearing over and over again about the accident that burned him. (I'm sure this was a pivotal moment in his life, but the reader doesn't need to ke...

New Computer!

JDN 2456402 EDT 23:53.

My new job comes with more money, and that means I can afford more things.

After about a week of waiting for the shipment to arrive, I have at last received my new computer, a 14-inch Acer Aspire TimelineX 4830TG-6808 that is pretty much everything I would want it to be. It has an i5 processor, a video card with 1 GB of VRAM, even Dolby tuned speakers. I am using it right now, not that I really needed any of those features to go on Xanga. When I get my games on it, then...

Boston Bombing: Person Finder

Google uses their search and communication technology to help people find their loved ones. Please spread widely.

http://goo.gl/tc2u9