Daily Curmudgeonry

There’s a simple philosophy of mind problem that says you can’t really know that other people are sentient beings. They could be Cylons or simulations in the Matrix. One answer is to assume they are like me by analogy: I have a mind, I think and react; they are similar to me, so they must have a mind, too.  I also assumed other people are as mentally capable and rational as me. So when other people arrive at utterly preposterous conclusions (e.g. intelligent design), I find it confusing. For a long time I racked my brain trying to find the flaw in my thinking. It took me a while to realize that most other people are stupid. Consider this: the average IQ is 100. An IQ of 60 – only 40 points lower – is considered mild retardation. My IQ is around 140, so 50% of the population appears to me to be mildly retarded or worse. It’s easier to accept other people’s stupidity if I recast the issue like this. It’s not their fault they were born with a handicap.

In a recent interview, Barack Obama deflected weak criticisms of his lack of experience by suggesting that he has demonstrated good judgement. If I may toot my own horn, I believe I have pretty good judgement, too. Though there are many, many people who are smarter or more knowledgeable about particular subjects, I still seem to make better decisions. The reason is that I am so obsessively aware of cognitive biases, such that it’s an effort to make a decision. Even though I still make some cognitive mistakes, I make fewer mistakes than most other people and arrive at good decisions more often. I believe Obama is right. The challenges facing the next President will no doubt be new, unexpected events where experience won’t really help. He’s obviously smart enough to absorb the background information provided by experts in the field. The important trait, however, is whether a President can exercise good judgement in unforeseen situations. Bush failed miserably. Maybe Obama will do alright.

The Charlie Rose Show interviewed a bunch of scientists on the global AIDS epidemic. The general consensus is that there will not be a cure or vaccine in the near future, so stop hoping for a quick medical fix. Currently, the rate at which AIDS is spreading is greater than the rate at which people are dying. There exists drugs that can reduce the rate of transmission – the drug company is giving it away for free – but they all said the medical infrastructure in most of these countries is so poor that they can’t deliver the drugs. Since there’s no medical solution, the only thing left is to reduce the transmission rate below the death rate without relying much on long-term medical services. One easy solution is to circumcise the men-folk, because it’s been found to reduce the rate of transmission by 50%. Another quick fix is to regulate brothels (frequently test ‘hos for AIDS) and strongly encourage condoms (free, scary propaganda, spot checks?). Finally, follow the example of Uganda and Thailand and institute a broad social campaign to change people’s behavior. These solutions can be implemented by poor governments at very little cost, but they won’t do it because they are useless morons. AIDS can be stopped, but it will not be stopped.

In many ways AIDS reminds me of obesity. In both cases, reckless and irresponsible behavior leads to a life threatening disease. I know a few people have valid excuses, e.g. improper blood transfusions for AIDS, genetic predisposition for obesity. But the overwhelming majority will die because they won’t take personal responsibility for their own lives. I say let them die. Consider it an easy way to weed out stupid people from our population.

I received my Dell 2007WFP 20″ widescreen monitor today. Paid $270 on Dell Outlet, regular price is $400. No dead pixels, no cosmetic damage, no issues at all so far. Made in Mexico, revision A04, panel code is V1B22 RT803 (press the “-” button on the monitor). Apparently, this code means the LCD panel is the superior S-IPS, rather than S-PVA. Both are far better than TN panels found on most lower end LCDs. Some people were upset that Dell changes the panel without informing customers. IMO, Dell only needs to provide a monitor that meets the specs they post online. If the slightly inferior S-PVA still meets those specs, than Dell hasn’t defrauded anyone. I’m surprised they don’t always use S-PVA if they are indeed cheaper. Guess I’m lucky, though I couldn’t tell the difference anyway.

I love, love, LOVE the automatic Japanese bidets that shoot a warm stream of water at your butt. There is no doubt that washing your dirty ass is more hygenic than smearing shit around with a tiny tissue. You wouldn’t clean an oil spill with just a paper towel, right? And the heated seats are divine. I never crapped so well as I did in Japan.

The purpose of men’s underwear is simple: (1) protect pants from excretions and (2) prevent uncomfortable flopping. Since most teens switch to boxers they are implicitly saying they don’t need (2). I tried switching and found it uncomfortable. Also, my wang would drop down a pant leg and was clearly visible. I opted to stick with briefs. Recently men are switching to boxer briefs, which implies they suddenly want (2). Boxer briefs are just giant briefs, like bicycle shorts, and are to warm in the summer. Obviously, men wear boxers and, now, boxer briefs because they are bowing to fashion. Since I’m immune from such pressures, I considering moving to bikinis because it satisfies (1) and (2) with the least amount of clothing (thongs are ridiculous… a string up your ass doesn’t quite fulfill (1)). Sure I’ll look like a gay porn actor, but I’ll be comfortable. Bikinis are the rational choice for men’s underwear.

Everywhere in Asia, every white man had a hot Asian babe on his arm. These women were not hookers, though a big expat salary certainly helps. As I explained earlier, a white guy does better than an Asian guy with Asian women in the US. In Asia, a fat, balding, dumpy old white guy can score with 20-something Asian babes. Go East, my honky loser friends, and get laid.

Though I don’t eat much, I go to great lengths to ensure what little I do eat is excellent. While in Asia I had a terrible time trying to find authentic regional dishes. My hotel always sent me to tourist traps that produced bland food suitable for Westerners. My Lonely Planet travel book recommendations were equally bad. Some on Chowhound suggest that you should follow the crowd of locals because they know what is best. This is wrong. Just as Americans flock to McDonald’s and Applebee’s, people in other countries eat at similarly awful local places. I know a great deal about authentic northern Indian food. First, it is nearly impossible to find these dishes in the US because most restaurants have essentially the same menu. The situation is nearly the same in India, too. Most restaurants over there offer the same boring set of not-quite northern Indian dishes. Second, the spices in the US are watered down for American palates. Third, most of the restaurants in the Indian district (Devon St. in Chicago, Queens in NYC, etc) are terrible. Fourth, most Indians, just like most Americans, are not foodies who care about the quality or variety of their food. Bad restaurant food is still better than their mother’s or wife’s terrible cooking. An old Thai woman at a restaurant I frequented told me the situation is the same in Thai restaurants: nearly all use premade pastes to make their curries, spice according to American tastes, and cut corners in many other ways. The situation for foodies is grim. Following the crowds is not a good strategy; follow the foodies instead.

I’ve been using various flavors of GNU/Linux for ~15 years and I’ve always found them extremely frustrating. I’m not at all interested in cluttering my mind with useless administrivia. There are too many esoteric commands, bizarre config files, and complex installation procedures. The suite of “easy to use” GUIs to get things done are beyond useless. Developers should never, ever design user interfaces. Despite their many flaws, Microsoft’s UI is 100X better than the psychological torture that is GNOME/KDE. If the GNU/Linux community ever wants to grow beyond the nerd subculture they must enlist design students to rethink the UI, particularly for the admin tools And they need to convince real writers with a firm grasp of non-technical English to write the documentation. The technical foundation of Linux is great, of course, because it rips-off 20 year old Unix techniques (is that innovation?). But the user experience is atrocious. I used Solaris w/ a full screen Emacs. I used Red Hat w/ Gnome for a long time after a brief fling with Slackware. Now I’m using Ubuntu. All dreadfully bad. Windows is still worth $200, especially for non-tech users.