Croissanthology

Iwrite about rationality, mundane utility, and our gloriously appolonian expansion into the lightcone. Earth is currently under siege in many ways: chiefly this but also this and even this. I'm active here, LessWrong, and Twitter.

Read an essay draft in the feedback stack and suggest stuff for credit. ↓. To learn about things you're allowed to do but don't know it, ↓. For free advice, try croissanthology [at] gmail.com. To increase the amount of resources under my command, send money to my Patreon. To buy Paul Graham crack(ers) online, go here. About me page.

Things You're Allowed To Do

• Screen everything off, ignore your entire to-do list except for one item
  • This can be a costly tactic, but often it's crucial
  • Your todo list is Pareto distributed in Actual Importance, and treating every item the same is a damaging illusion
• Apply for an effective ventures grant
• Hire a research assistant (via internet)
  • Watch the assistant work to gain tacit knowledge so you're better at research next time
• Get hired as a research assistant (via internet)
  • Much more people are looking than you think
  • Just email people you admire
• Make a website
  • Ask Claude: "hey, can you help me make a cool-looking website with github pages?"
  • Domain names don't cost much and are easy to set up
• Dump your random thoughts on Twitter
• Raise other people's aspirations on purpose
  • Sending them this list might raise their aspirations :D
• Walk away from political debates
  • Walk away when someone is wrong on the internet
  • Ignore politics altogether; most of it is just show, and Serious Issues are not discussed
• Pick up trash on the ground when you see it
• Use an LLM for everything
  • It's genuinely better than you in many respects
  • You can get all the prompts you need with a claude.ai subscription
  • It just Wouldn't Be Serious not use an LLM in 2024
• "Buy more copies"
  • Buy from many different brands and then blind test yourself
    • Cereal
    • Soda
  • Things are cheaper in bulk
  • Why waste time on shopping trips?
• Buy more than you think you need
  • If something is good, why not increase it by an order of magnitude?
• Send a cold email
• Ask your university library to buy a book for their shelves
  • Free way of having outsized memetic power
• Memorize a poem
• When someone gives you a compliment, ask for more details / examples
  • This is the kind of data outreach that has you grinning with glee when you think about it even weeks later
  • Works in reverse, too!
• Clean your room
  • Or only just a little part of it
• When you're thinking about someone with fondness, tell them
  • I've messaged people I knew years ago after randomly thinking about them
  • This stuff is like crack cocaine for humans, but healthier
  • See also
• Keep in regular contact with people by setting up a regular email scheduler with google scripts
  • My parents receive daily emails from my program: I just have to refill it from time to time, and then every email is queued
  • Just ask Claude how to do it
• Ask someone out
  • Ask someone out that you've met for 30 seconds
  • They'll probably say no, but now it's easier next time
• Spend money on things
  • That is what money is for.
• Intentionally make close friends
• Put money on the line
  • See
• Sell something random online
• Use google calendar for everything
  • Delegate work to future selves
  • Remind future selves to email friends
  • Schedule emails to yourself about your current problems, so that your future self will see how far you've come
• Visit a city nearby for a day with a cheap bus
• So many museums are free
• Send pictures to an open-source open source archive
• Cancel a subscription immediately after getting it so it doesn't renew automatically
• Avoid touching door handles like a psycho to halve the amount of colds in your lifetime
• Work in progress