While first place on the list of your most important accomplishments may go to *inducing many people to have more children*, there must also be a place on it for *helping Dwarkesh get started as a blogcaster*. He is great at it!
I hate podcasts; visual aids add too much that is missing, and it's as if the podcast has to expand to describe what is missing, that "a picture is worth a 1000 words" thing. I'd rather read a transcript so I can skim, back up, and refer to other parts, which is really hard with long podcasts, but if the transcripts retain too many uhhs and errs and ahhs, they are worse than useless.
But I do like his long Youtube interviews when they do get a chance to throw in maps and other visual aids.
There's also body English or something. Just hearing voices doesn't have the same impact as seeing their facial expressions and hand gestures, especially during pauses and "uhh, err" moments.
I have a real hard time reading Shakespeare. I like his language and word choices in many ways, but I remember what a revelation it was when a high school teacher arranged a "field trip" to a local theater where the actors went through some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes. The vocal cadence and pauses and emphasis, and the body English and hand gestures, made all the difference in the world, and I discovered the actual words themselves almost didn't matter with a good actor.
I learned the same trick traveling in Japan while in the Navy. I learned just enough Japanese to ask directions or how much things cost, but I also learned to never ask where something was. Instead, point in the likely direction and ask the yes/no question, "Is the Ichidomo temple in that direction?". If they smiled, it barely mattered what else they said; thank them, go that way, and ask again. If they frowned or looked thoughtful and pointed somewhere else, thank them, go that new way, and ask again.
I could almost always tell just from the way they answered how far away I was. I could never understand answers like "Go down past the school and turn left at the second bridge." It is amazing how much language you can understand by paying attention to their gestures and expressions and pauses and emphasis. And if you are polite and know how to say "Thank you" and "hello" and "excuse me", you will find they are happy and even proud to help you, no matter how little language you have in common.
While first place on the list of your most important accomplishments may go to *inducing many people to have more children*, there must also be a place on it for *helping Dwarkesh get started as a blogcaster*. He is great at it!
Are regular board game sessions still ongoing? Sounds fun!
I hate podcasts; visual aids add too much that is missing, and it's as if the podcast has to expand to describe what is missing, that "a picture is worth a 1000 words" thing. I'd rather read a transcript so I can skim, back up, and refer to other parts, which is really hard with long podcasts, but if the transcripts retain too many uhhs and errs and ahhs, they are worse than useless.
But I do like his long Youtube interviews when they do get a chance to throw in maps and other visual aids.
Yeah. Maps are good. So are graphs and even the odd photograph here and there.
There's also body English or something. Just hearing voices doesn't have the same impact as seeing their facial expressions and hand gestures, especially during pauses and "uhh, err" moments.
I have a real hard time reading Shakespeare. I like his language and word choices in many ways, but I remember what a revelation it was when a high school teacher arranged a "field trip" to a local theater where the actors went through some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes. The vocal cadence and pauses and emphasis, and the body English and hand gestures, made all the difference in the world, and I discovered the actual words themselves almost didn't matter with a good actor.
I learned the same trick traveling in Japan while in the Navy. I learned just enough Japanese to ask directions or how much things cost, but I also learned to never ask where something was. Instead, point in the likely direction and ask the yes/no question, "Is the Ichidomo temple in that direction?". If they smiled, it barely mattered what else they said; thank them, go that way, and ask again. If they frowned or looked thoughtful and pointed somewhere else, thank them, go that new way, and ask again.
I could almost always tell just from the way they answered how far away I was. I could never understand answers like "Go down past the school and turn left at the second bridge." It is amazing how much language you can understand by paying attention to their gestures and expressions and pauses and emphasis. And if you are polite and know how to say "Thank you" and "hello" and "excuse me", you will find they are happy and even proud to help you, no matter how little language you have in common.