Ben Mann Monthly Nov 2020: vaccines, uni, Giving Tuesday, Tony Hsieh, hikes, bikes, mics
Ben Mann Monthly Nov 2020
Purpose
An index for my memory
A menu of topics for my next conversation with you
A faster way to share what I’m excited about without the barrier of writing a complete blog entry on it
A skimmable way to spread content I found valuable
Experiments and experiences
Vaccine research
Diana and I signed up for the Astra Zeneca vaccine trial and went to the info session. Things are changing very quickly, so even the study coordinators were learning new things from each other. For example, they didn't have a policy for what participants should do if a different vaccine became generally available during the two year study period. I read up on all the kinds of vaccines that are in flight. Based on superforcaster consensus, there will be enough doses to innoculate the at risk populations by Feb 2021 and the general public by April. Really impressive science, engineering, and policy work to get this stuff deployed so quickly and without cutting corners. There's a saying: "You can have speed, cost, or quality; choose 2."Uni hunting
We got a fishing license, drove to Half Moon Bay, and searched for little purple spike balls nestled among the craggy rocks. I don't enjoy uni enough to order it in a restaurant, but it was like nature's easter egg hunt for adults. As the day went on, we got much better at guessing what spots were promising, and then spotting the telltale purple.Mount Diablo in 6h
People say you should wake up early to go hiking, but why not go faster instead? We left SF at 11am and finished before sunset. Pro tip: go up the back so you don't have to fight people for parking, which gives you both Eagle Peak and the main peak.Detroit pizza
There's a raging debate among pizza fans: what's the best way to combine bread, sauce, cheese, and maybe pepperoni? The moment my teeth sunk into Cellarmaker, it was love at first bite. The high fat cheese causes the crust to fry in the pan; the dough is developed enough to stand up to serious toppings; and the cheese itself is generous and doesn't try to slip off in a sheet. Who knew?Thanksgiving
Out of laziness, we made a double batch of pumpkin pie. Since we didn't have any cream cheese, we used brie. Do it.
Life updates
Published The best gift you can give
Restarted learning guitar, recorded an embarrassing video
Bought a road bike on Craigslist
Made a timelapse of our new hydroponics setup
Started reading The Alignment Problem
Content
5 point Likert ratings for “I would recommend this content to a friend”, sorted
Why you should give to a donor lottery this Giving Season 4/5
If you plan to donate money this year, definitely consider reading this explanation of donor lotteries
Could give you the ability to impact causes that only move at scale, such as paying for someone's salary doing something for a year.
Even if you don't donate through a lottery, forces you to be explicit about why you want to donate
The Defnition of Effective Altruism 4/5
One of the founders of the EA movement tries to refine a practical definition for it based on both common usage and implications
I won't put the actual definition here because it's too complicated to properly summarize
Addresses many common misconceptions, such as EA == utilitarianism
Written for people already interested in EA
I'm 100% into it
Hold Me Tight 4/5
Intersection of Attached and Nonviolent Communication, honed for romantic, adult relationships
Excellent sample dialogues drive home how these conversations really play out
Many relationships fade because partners forget how to connect with each other, despite having no problem connecting to eg their children or friends.
Key: noticing when you get to a bad spot and stopping it before escalating
Highly recommend for anyone seeing or considering seeing a couples therapist
Tony Hsieh's American Tragedy 4/5
While Tony was universally loved, inside he was a wreck, dependent on multiple substances
I can see some of this in myself: the desire to help others and make a new better world maybe free of the suffering you feel
There was a time I drank pretty heavily; that's part of why I switched from alcohol to sugar for those times when my brain craves dopamine.
What he did to revitalize Vegas was exactly the kind of thing we need all over the country.
He had some really great friends and family rooting for him. Pity it wasn't sufficient.
Stylish chess prodigy beats everyone while struggling with benzo addiction in 1960s
Almost no focus on the games themselves, all about the personalities
The series is based on a novel based on real life Bobby Fischer
Plays up the usual "madness + genius" correlation, which may be spurious, but sure makes for good art
Upload S1 3/5
An engineer building an open source competitor to a digital afterlife company gets murdered and then uploaded
Themes:
Is flesh you equal to upload you?
If you lose some memories, how does it affect identity?
Romance between flesh & simulation
Straw man "capitalism ruins everything"
Destiny 2 2/5
Felt like a World of Warcraft clone crossed with first person shooter
Google gave me free access through Stadia
Got addicted for about 10h before I realized there wouldn't be any more new game mechanics and promptly dropped. Multiplayer felt unsatisfying with strangers.
Stalker (1979) 1/5
Stanley Kubrick vibes from the first scene, molasses-paced development, and fluffy philosophical musings combined into a rather bitter tea.
I read the summary of the book it was based on, which seemed to have a coherent plot, a thoughtful message, and real elements of science fiction. Stalker had none of these.