Published on 12, July, 2020
I already posted an intro thing but it was more complaining and asking for advice. I am interested in meeting people with similar interests so I thought I would post another intro that includes those things.
I'm not used to talking about myself but here we go!
I just diagnosed myself with autism a few days ago at the age of 35. I also strongly believe I have social anxiety disorder.
I have a lovely neurotypical wife but no real social connections other than that. I just haven't found anyone who can relate to these issues, and now that I know I'm autistic, I wonder if I can meet other autistic people who understand me.
My biggest struggle is my energy levels. I always feel tired or burnt out. Definitely worse after social interactions but it's constant!
The most interesting thing about me is likely that I'm a retired nomad. This is apparently very related to autism. I discovered I wouldn't be able to stand the pressures of school and work forever and I needed to devise a way out. I eventually decided to put hours of my time every day into learning about investing as it pertains to retirement. I eventually became somewhat of an expert at this niche and retired at 32. After retiring, my wife and I left with just backpacks to travel permanently. We have been to many countries, we have experienced a lot.
Interests (special?)
Welcome, Mate.
I also feel like escaping, somehow.
AI fills me with dread, to be honest. It's preprogrammed to produce a specific outcome. It removes free-will from our processing.
I can do spreadsheets, though was caught out in a practical exercise, for a job interview, back in 2017; the function I required to perform the task was sumif. I didn't get that far with spreadsheets. It was for an Academy role, that the NI Department for the Economy used to promote.
Thank you for sharing!
It's interesting you mention free will alongside AI. I respectfully disagree on both points.
1. That AI is pre programmed to produce a specific outcome. I think general purpose AI is essentially a brain like yours or mine and the goal is for it to function as such without doing too much harm. This isn't so different for our brains where we have hardwired inclinations from evolution to do things like eat and not die but there is a lot of variability within that.
2. I think free will is a myth and everything is pre-determimed. I used to believe there was an exception in quantum physics but it turns out that that's probably an unfounded assumption as well.
Sorry if I'm being too autistic by focusing too much on my facts and not on your friendly post. I'm learning :).
Ah you can do spreadsheets, that's great . Do you love them?
Sounds like your wife has great interests :P.
On free will: I actually think if people truly accept determinism it does have some impact on their life. I think it actually helps with wanting to "punish people who go against you", having less anger and more understanding for others. That is certainly my experience. Also, I believe that having a world view that is as accurate as possible is just generally beneficial. Not doing so can lead to scientists following the wrong path toward scientific discovery for example. On the other hand, if it's just purely academic, that's okay with me! It's still an interest of mine to think about such things :).
Yeah there are certainly concerns and it probably will lead to job loss, just like any big technological breakthrough in the past, and that is really an unfortunate side-affect. I agree too that more people will likely be deceived by this technology. On the other hand, you can make a huge list of amazing things that this technology might provide for humanity. Regardless of the pros and cons, I think that it is still fascinating no matter how you look at it, and I can speculate that future societies will be better off, even though there will be shorter term growing pains. Of course there are some bad long term scenarios as well. I guess we can never know, but I'm optimistic!
Pivot tables are awesome!
My wife (allistic) LOVES spreadsheets. She hates her job, but still loves working on their spreadsheets. She only used to use them for simple things but in January I taught her about pivoting and her mind was blown and she loves them even more.
I sort of understand your position on free will, but don't think the idea gets us anywhere. We all act as if there is free will and you'd still want to punish someone who acted against you, so it's all academic.
I agree with Desmond a lot about this. I know us oldies are always scared about the next big thing that takes away jobs, but this feels different. Even on this site, you start to recognise brand new accounts that answer posts (they look very ChatGTP) and at best they are annoying, at worst they are trying to hook people for information. And a lot of people on here are extra vulnerable. This type of thing is so much easier when a bot can use a large language model to comb forums, make accounts and and answer people realistically. It does my nut.