Links.page

---
description: Who am I online & what have I done? - Contact information; sites I use; things I've worked on
tags: Haskell, personal, psychology
created: 05 Aug 2009
status: finished
belief: highly likely
...

This page is about me; for information about `gwern.net`, see [About]().

# Personal

> A transition from an author's book to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour, grandeur and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.^[Dr. [Samuel Johnson](!Wikipedia); _[The Rambler](!Wikipedia)_, No. 14 (5 May 1750). This is a literary way of saying I am not as interesting as my writings, and in some respect, it should not matter who I am or what I have done because [argument screens off authority](http://lesswrong.com/lw/lx/argument_screens_off_authority/).]

> Behind a remarkable scholar one often finds a mediocre man, and behind a mediocre artist, often, a very remarkable man.^[#137, "Part 2: The Free Spirit", [Friedrich Nietzsche](!Wikipedia)'s _[Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future](!Wikipedia)_]

I am a freelance writer & researcher. I have worked for or published in [MIRI](!Wikipedia "Machine Intelligence Research Institute")[^SIAI-work] (formerly SIAI), [CFAR](http://appliedrationality.org/), [_A Global Village_](http://www.aglobalvillage.org/), [_Cool Tools_](http://www.amazon.com/Cool-Tools-A-Catalog-Possibilities/dp/1940689007/ "ed. Kelly 2013"), [Quantimodo](https://quantimodo.com/), [New World Encyclopedia](http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Info:Main_Page), [Bitcoin Weekly](http://bitcoinweekly.com/), [Mobify](!Wikipedia), [Bellroy](http://bellroy.com/) and private clients; everything on `gwern.net` should be considered my own viewpoint or writing unless otherwise specified by a representative or publication. I am currently not accepting new commissions.<!-- If you are interested in hiring me, see [contacting me](#contact). --> <!-- Adam Augusta, Timothy Birch, Elijah Armstrong, Arram Sabeti -->

[^SIAI-work]: When I say "research assistant", I mean it in the older sense of someone who does detail work for another person's original research - so I spend a lot of time reading up on specific areas and making notes about stuff my boss needs, and only occasionally do independent work. Not all my work can be made public, but some of it is. A partial list in rough chronological order:

    - ["Intelligence Explosion: Evidence and Import"](http://intelligence.org/files/IE-EI.pdf), Muehlhauser & Salamon 2012?

        One of my first projects was working on this paper - digging up citations for various claims and giving general feedback; most of my changes or comments are private when we switched to working through Google Docs, but some of my [initial comments](http://lesswrong.com/lw/8ox/intelligence_explosion_analysis_draft_2_snippet_1/5spf) were public.
    - [finding predictions/estimates for whole-genome sequencing costs](http://lesswrong.com/lw/9em/open_thread_january_1531_2012/5s7c)
    - ["The Personality of (great/creative) Scientists: Open and Conscientious"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/9m6/the_personality_of_greatcreative_scientists_open/)

        Summarizing some of the existing research; besides being intrinsically interesting, this is also relevant to computer intelligence - if achievement is just a reflection of IQ, then any computer intelligence will improve on humans only to the extent it has greater raw intelligence, but if achievement is limited past 130s IQ, then the picture becomes more complex. (Computer intelligence may be far superior than predicted for a given intelligence level because there's no obvious reason you couldn't easily make its 'personality' very open-minded - it not really being clear that truly random exploration and computing power don't yield [creativity](http://lesswrong.com/lw/2l0/should_i_believe_what_the_siai_claims/2fsh) in some fields already - and a computer can be tireless and self-disciplined, which takes care of Conscientiousness. On the other hand, Openness and Conscientiousness may correspond to very subtle high-level dynamics which can't be easily designed into an AI and can't be produced by throwing computing power at the problem, in which case the AI will underperform whatever measure of intelligence we ultimately use, like [AIXI-style IQ tests](http://lesswrong.com/lw/42t/aixistyle_iq_tests/).)
    - [Remote monitoring](Notes#remote-monitoring)

        Some quick notes on remote monitoring software SIAI could use to monitor freelancers such as myself. (It's a good thing, really - trust but verify.)
    - [Some](http://lesswrong.com/lw/7wj/get_genotyped_for_free_if_your_iq_is_high_enough/5s84) [info](http://lesswrong.com/lw/7wj/get_genotyped_for_free_if_your_iq_is_high_enough/5s85) on the big Beijing genomics project, and estimates about personality and IQ, and past Chinese abuse of genetic information
    - [Are Sunk Costs Fallacies?](Sunk cost)

        A detailed examination of one cognitive bias asking whether it has been misinterpreted as a problem for individuals.
    - ["Against Utilitarianism: Sobel's attack on judging lives' goodness"](http://lesswrong.com/r/lesswrong/lw/9oa/against_utilitarianism_sobels_attack_on_judging/)

        Philosophy essay summarizing and attempting to analyze a recent class of objections to utilitarianism (that one cannot judge utilities of lives, and hence the utilitarian ethical project is impossible).
    - Neuroscience additions to Wikipedia; I had a hard time finding references for a SIAI paper, and donated my results to Wikipedia so at least no one else has to suffer so much:

        - [Exactly how big are chimpanzee & human brains, anyway?](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chimpanzee&diff=next&oldid=475451653)
        - [Primate and human brain size correlates with IQ](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neuroscience_and_intelligence&diff=next&oldid=471173931) (No, really. The correlation isn't terribly big, though.)
        - [Rat IQ](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rat&action=historysubmit&diff=475838983&oldid=472309056) (mixed evidence, thankfully)
    - [polyamory review](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/9p9/open_thread_february_114_2012/5v6g)

        Not really enough data to do anything but point out problems for reliable assessment. My subjective impression is that [polyamory](!Wikipedia) is complex enough that it may not be a good idea even for polyamorists.
    - [the-long-stagnation]()

        The main alternative scenario to a Singularity is a sort of broad technological stagnation, where occasional S-curves make a field very interesting for a while, but overall we know how to do far more cool things than we can actually profit or afford to do said cool things.
    - ["Cashing Out Cognitive Biases as Behavior"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/ahz/cashing_out_cognitive_biases_as_behavior/)

        Spin off from "Are Sunk Costs Fallacies?" - 2 studies examining consequences in personal life from vulnerability to cognitive biases in questionnaires
    - ["Experiment: a good researcher is hard to find"](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/c4c/experiment_a_good_researcher_is_hard_to_find/)

        A simple email experiment on making applicants feel that their admission test is not a waste of time: they seem to do better work.
    - [Geopolitical intelligence failures](http://lesswrong.com/lw/d3h/open_thread_june_1630_2012/6w18) - notes from some reading in the history of intelligence failures
    - ["*Against Utilitarianism: Sobel's attack on judging lives' goodness*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/9oa/against_utilitarianism_sobels_attack_on_judging/)
    - ["Notes on the Psychology of Power"](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/dtg/notes_on_the_psychology_of_power/)
    - ["Notes on Psychopathy"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/fzy/notes_on_psychopathy/)
    - ["Notes on Autonomous Cars"](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/gfv/notes_on_autonomous_cars/)
[^LW-disagreements]: Of course, I don't agree with every SIAI or LW position! The intellectual homogeneity has been much over-estimated by outsiders who have not [bothered to look at the annual surveys](Slowing Moore's Law#fn19), I think. Here are some major points for me:

    1. [MWI](!Wikipedia "Many-worlds interpretation"): I think that LWers who were persuaded by [Eliezer's MWI writings](http://lesswrong.com/lw/r5/the_quantum_physics_sequence/) are wrong to do so, as they are unfamiliar with even the rudiments of any alternatives interpretations and cannot judge in the matter; how many LWers have ever seriously looked at all the competing theories, or could even name many alternatives? ("Collapse, MWI, uh..."), much less could discuss why they dislike [pilot waves](!Wikipedia) or whatever. Lacking any real understanding, they ought to simply adopt the expert consensus, where MWI seems to have a plurality or bare majority of adherents (with the very weak confidence that implies).
    2. Heuristics and cognitive biases: I am not very convinced that knowledge of heuristics & biases help in ordinary life. Feedback & learning are powerful tools in eliminating error, calibrating predictions, and justify committing what may look like the [sunk cost fallacy](Sunk cost); and feedback is what one gets in ordinary life.

        Per [Moravec's paradox](!Wikipedia), where our knowledge of heuristics & biases will pay off most is in what Hanson would call ["Far"](!Wikipedia "Construal level theory") scenarios: evolutionary novel situations with few precedents and only costly or non-existent feedback. (For example, the question of whether artificial intelligence will be developed by 2040: it will only happen or not once, there are few comparable events, the consequences may be dramatic, and our ordinary lives offer no useful insights.) As it happens, this describes much of futurism & forecasting but we cannot justify our futurism by claiming its techniques are incredibly valuable in ordinary life!
    3. [Cryonics girl](http://lesswrong.com/lw/e5d/link_reddit_help_me_find_some_peace_im_dying_young/): The donations appall me, for reasons I lay out at length there - they are a complete abandonment of core ideas like utilitarianism & optimal philanthropy.
    4. Alicorn's ["Living Luminously"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/1xh/living_luminously/) paradigm struck me as dubious, not backed by even token research, and likely idiosyncratic to her; I thought her [_Luminosity_](http://luminous.elcenia.com/) e-novel was merely OK despite the endless discussions on LW (rivaling those for _Methods of Rationality_ itself) and that her followup, [_Radiance_](http://luminous.elcenia.com/all2.shtml), was just terrible. Nevertheless, her novel career seems to continue.

## Websites

- Social news, discussion:

     > '"I don't speak", Bijaz said. "I operate a machine called language. It creaks and groans, but is mine own."'^[[Frank Herbert](!Wikipedia), _[Dune Messiah](!Wikipedia)_]

    - [LessWrong.com](http://lesswrong.com/): my [submitted posts](http://lesswrong.com/user/gwern/submitted/)[^LW-submissions][^LW-disagreements] & [comments](http://lesswrong.com/user/gwern/comments/) ([by score](http://www.ibiblio.org/weidai/lesswrong_user.php?u=gwern))
    - [Reddit](!Wikipedia): my [submissions](http://www.reddit.com/user/gwern/submitted/) & [comments](http://www.reddit.com/user/gwern/comments/) ([by score](http://www.reddit.com/user/gwern/?sort=top))
    - [Google](https://www.google.com/profiles/gwern0): [Google+](https://plus.google.com/103530621949492999968/posts) ([OPML of RSS feeds](/docs/gwern-google-reader-subscriptions.xml))
    - [Hacker News](!Wikipedia): [submissions](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=gwern) & [comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=gwern)
- Books: [Goodreads](http://www.goodreads.com/gwern) ([ratings & reviews](Book reviews))
- [PredictionBook](http://predictionbook.com/users/gwern)
- [Evernotes](https://www.evernote.com/pub/gwern/gwern) -(clippings/references/citations)
- [MyAnimeList](http://myanimelist.net/profile/gwern) ratings: [anime](http://myanimelist.net/animelist/gwern&status=2&show=0&order=4) ([XML](/docs/gwern-mal-anime.xml)) / [manga](http://myanimelist.net/mangalist/gwern&status=2&show=0&order=4) ([XML](/docs/gwern-mal-manga.xml))
- [LastFM (music)](http://www.last.fm/user/gwern)
- [Dragon Go](http://www.dragongoserver.net/faq.php?read=t&cat=all) [profile](http://www.dragongoserver.net/userinfo.php?uid=53846) ([turn-based Go](http://senseis.xmp.net/?TurnBasedGoServer); need to be logged in)
- I have a [theme song](http://reddragdiva.dreamwidth.org/556568.html) ([MP3](http://reddragdiva.co.uk/lj/gwern.mp3)), courtesy of [David Gerard](http://davidgerard.co.uk/)^[There is a [moderately funny story](http://lesswrong.com/lw/4nt/what_are_you_working_on/3mlo) about how Gerard came to write it, based on my musical incompetence.]

[^LW-submissions]: The following is a list of my submissions to LW I regard as substantive or particularly good, excluding content which can be found on `gwern.net`, in chronological order with interesting ones highlighted:

    - ["Poker Playing"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/2v6/poker_playing/)
    - ["Lifelogging: the recording device"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/2vv/lifelogging_the_recording_device/)
    - ["*AIXI-style IQ tests*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/42t/aixistyle_iq_tests/)
    - ["*Is Kiryas Joel an Unhappy Place?*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/5dl/is_kiryas_joel_an_unhappy_place/)
    - ["SL4 META: list closure 2 month followup"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/5n2/sl4_meta_list_closure_2_month_followup/)
    - Life extension:

        - ["Living Forever is Hard, or, The Gompertz Curve"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/5qm/living_forever_is_hard_or_the_gompertz_curve/)
        - ["Living Forever is Hard, part 2: Adult Longevity"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/7jh/living_forever_is_hard_part_2_adult_longevity/)
        - ["Prediction is hard, especially of medicine"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/8yp/prediction_is_hard_especially_of_medicine/)
        - ["Living Forever is Hard, part 3: the state of life extension research"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/bl3/living_forever_is_hard_part_3_the_state_of_life/)
    - ["(Philosophical) Disagreements are not Rational"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/607/philosophical_disagreements_are_not_rational/)
    - ["A good volunteer is hard to find"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/6ne/a_good_volunteer_is_hard_to_find/)

        followup: ["*Experiment: a good researcher is hard to find*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/c4c/experiment_a_good_researcher_is_hard_to_find/)
    - ["On the unpopularity of cryonics: life sucks, but at least then you die"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/6vq/on_the_unpopularity_of_cryonics_life_sucks_but_at/)
    - ["How to be Deader than Dead"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/78y/how_to_be_deader_than_dead/)
    - ["*Case Study: Reading Edge's financial filings*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/7gy/case_study_reading_edges_financial_filings/)
    - ["Atheism & autism spectrum"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/7o4/atheism_autism_spectrum/)
    - ["Stanislav Petrov Day"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/7t7/stanislav_petrov_day/)
    - ["*Not By Empathy Alone*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/7xr/not_by_empathy_alone/)
    - ["On the Openness personality trait & 'rationality'"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/82g/on_the_openness_personality_trait_rationality/)
    - ["*Social status & testosterone*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/84i/social_status_testosterone/)
    - ["*Amanda Knox: post mortem*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/84j/amanda_knox_post_mortem/)
    - ["Cryonics costs: given estimates are low"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/8fe/cryonics_costs_given_estimates_are_low/)
    - JET paper reviews:

        - ["'Ray Kurzweil and Uploading: Just Say No!', Nick Agar"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/8of/ray_kurzweil_and_uploading_just_say_no_nick_agar/)
        - ["'Vulnerable Cyborgs: Learning to Live with our Dragons', Mark Coeckelbergh"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/8p1/vulnerable_cyborgs_learning_to_live_with_our/)
        - ["'Misbehaving Machines: The Emulated Brains of Transhumanist Dreams', Corry Shores"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/930/misbehaving_machines_the_emulated_brains_of/)
        - ["'Personal Identity and Uploading', by Mark Walker"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/994/personal_identity_and_uploading_by_mark_walker/)
    - ["Does Hyperbolic Discounting Really Exist?"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/8om/does_hyperbolic_discounting_really_exist/)
    - ["Cryonics is Far, Cord-blood is Near"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/8qz/cryonics_is_far_cordblood_is_near/)
    - ["*Inverse p-zombies: the other direction in the Hard Problem of Consciousness*"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/8wi/inverse_pzombies_the_other_direction_in_the_hard/)
    - ["The Personality of (great/creative) Scientists: Open and Conscientious"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/9m6/the_personality_of_greatcreative_scientists_open/)
    - ["The Conditional Fallacy in Contemporary Philosophy"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/9om/the_conditional_fallacy_in_contemporary_philosophy/)
    - ["Cashing Out Cognitive Biases as Behavior"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/ahz/cashing_out_cognitive_biases_as_behavior/)
    - ["On the etiology of religious belief"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/aq6/on_the_etiology_of_religious_belief/)
    - ["To Learn Critical Thinking, Study Critical Thinking"](http://lesswrong.com/lw/dhe/to_learn_critical_thinking_study_critical_thinking/) -(general philosophy studies are not as efficient in improving critical thinking as critical thinking courses)
    - ["*Against NHST*"](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/g13/against_nhst/) -(the statistical controversies over the _p_-value paradigm)
    - ["Notes on Brainwashing & 'Cults'"](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/imu/notes_on_brainwashing_cults/)

I have no connection to the French singer or with `gwern.com`, any locations in Wales, the gwern on MySpace, or either account on `Pivory.com` (which are connected to an [attempted extortion of me](https://plus.google.com/u/0/103530621949492999968/posts/5p1G9CZPBxR)).

### Wikis

I have been active on the English Wikipedia and related projects since January 2004. Cumulatively[^sock], I have over 90,000 edits and have written or worked on [hundreds of articles](Wikipedia resume); during my time as an English administrator, I performed thousands of [administrative actions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Log/Marudubshinki); I am an admin on the Haskell wiki, handling [routine spam & vandalism](http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/index.php?title=Special:Log&user=Gwern):

- [English Wikipedia](!Wikipedia "User:Gwern")
- [English Wikibooks](http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/User:Gwern)
- [Haskell wiki](http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/User:Gwern)

I also run a [custom Google search tool](!Wikipedia "Google Co-op") at ["Wikipedia Reliable Sources for anime & manga"](https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=009114923999563836576:1eorkzz2gp4); this is a custom Google search with >4542 websites on its [black](!Wikipedia "Blacklist (computing)") and [whitelist](!Wikipedia)s. (The source/lists are [publicly available](/docs/gwern-google-cse.xml) & updated every 3 months.) It returns much more useful^[Compare the [CSE results](http://www.google.com/cse?cx=009114923999563836576%3A1eorkzz2gp4&q=Wings+of+Honneamise) with the [Google Results](http://www.google.com/search?q=Wings+of+Honneamise) for the anime _[Wings of Honnêamise](!Wikipedia)_. Which is more useful for an editor? For more details, see my [release announcement](http://www.mail-archive.com/wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org/msg09145.html).] results for topics in popular culture, and as the name suggests, anime & manga in particular.

### Mailing lists

- [Dual N-Back, Brain Training & Intelligence](http://groups.google.com/group/brain-training) (see [DNB FAQ]())
- Haskell:

  - Darcs: [users](http://google.com/search?q=site:lists.osuosl.org/pipermail/darcs-users/+gwern)/[devel](http://google.com/search?q=site:lists.osuosl.org/pipermail/darcs-devel/+gwern)
  - [Haskell libraries](http://www.google.com/search?q=gwern+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.haskell.org%2Fpipermail%2Flibraries%2F)
  - [Haskell-cafe](http://www.google.com/search?q=gwern+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.haskell.org%2Fpipermail%2Fhaskell-cafe%2F)
  - [XMonad](http://www.google.com/search?q=gwern+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.haskell.org%2Fpipermail%2Fxmonad%2F)
  - [Yi](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/yi-devel/gwern)
- [mnemosyne-proj-users](http://groups.google.com/group/mnemosyne-proj-users) (see [Spaced repetition]())
- [SL4](http://www.google.com/search?q=gwern+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.sl4.org%2Farchive%2F)
- [Urth](http://www.google.com/search?q=gwern+site%3Aurth.net)

### MOOCs

Finished:

- [Google "Power Searching"](http://www.powersearchingwithgoogle.com/) (2012); review: [negative](http://lesswrong.com/lw/dej/learn_power_searching_with_google/71h9) (I am probably [too good](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/h3w/open_thread_april_115_2013/8p3q) at searching to benefit much from it)
- [CMU "Probability & Statistics"](http://oli.cmu.edu/courses/free-open/statistics-course-details/) (2012); review: [positive](http://lesswrong.com/lw/ezd/open_thread_october_1631_2012/7qcv)
- [Code School "Try R"](http://tryr.codeschool.com/) (2012); review: mixed (very short, basic introduction; cool interface, but my R knowledge was already past it)
- [MRU Development Economics](http://mruniversity.com/courses) (2012-2013); review: [mixed](http://lesswrong.com/lw/gbw/open_thread_january_1631_2013/8cdb)
- [Coursera "Data Analysis"](https://www.coursera.org/course/dataanalysis) (2013); review: [positive](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/guy/open_thread_march_115_2013/8mff)

Incomplete:

- [_SICP_](/sicp/Introduction) (2009-)

Abandoned:

- [Coursera "Drugs and the Brain"](https://www.coursera.org/course/drugsandbrain) (2012); review: [negative](http://lesswrong.com/lw/gje/open_thread_february_114_2013/8e0y)
- [Coursera "Probabilistic Graphical Models"](https://www.coursera.org/course/pgm) (2013); as hard as its reputation (I couldn't handle the material *and* learning Octave) but I hope to try again in the future

## Profile

This section covers some of the most important things possible to know about me: my personality and mental description. No doubt some readers expected a carefully airbrushed & potted biography describing where & when I was raised, what my familial & tribal affiliations are, or what famous institutions I am affiliated with; even though this information is almost entirely useless - what can one predict about me if one knows that I was born in Illinois and raised on Long Island, but (*maybe*) my accent and a general liberalism? The irony - that people want most the information they will learn from least - will not be lost on those familiar with [signaling](!Wikipedia "Signalling (economics)"). In contrast, standardized & validated psychometric instruments like the [NEO-PI-R](!Wikipedia) or [RAPM](!Wikipedia) really do have predictive validity for many life outcomes.

(Much of this data comes from [YourMorals.org](http://yourmorals.org/). I plan to retake the surveys, if possible, every decade; it will be interesting to see what changes.)

### Personality

My scores on the "Big 5 Personality Inventory", [short](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/bigfive_process.html)/long [1](/docs/2012-gwern-personalityproject.html "Personality-project long Big Five report; early 2012")/[2](/docs/2012-gwern-personalityproject-2.html "Personality-project long Big Five report; late 2012")/[3](/docs/2013-gwern-personalityproject.html "Personality-project long Big Five report: early 2013"):

1. [Openness to Experience](!Wikipedia)^[See also ["Actively Open-Minded Thinking Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/aotdisposition_process.html), ["Clarity Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/clarity_process.html), ["Engagement with Beauty"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/diessnerebs_process.html), & ["a measure of what types of stories you enjoy"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/stories_process.html).]: high (short) or 87/87^th^ [percentile](!Wikipedia) (long)
2. [Conscientiousness](!Wikipedia "Conscientiousness#Personality models")^[See also ["Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/ztpi_process.html). [Brent W. Roberts](http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~bwrobrts/Brent%20W%20Roberts%20Research%20Interests%20Conscientiousness.htm) criticizes these two inventories when used to measure Conscientiousness.]: medium or 64/69^th^
3. [Extraversion](!Wikipedia)^[See also ["Relational Mobility scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/relmob_process.html), ["Empathizing and Systemizing scales"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/systems_feelings_process.html) & ["Rational vs Experiential Inventory"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/cogref_process.html).]: low or 6/7^th^ percentile
4. [Agreeableness](!Wikipedia)^[See also ["Self-Report Psychopathy Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/srpsf_process.html).]: medium-low or 3/3^rd^ percentile
5. [Neuroticism](!Wikipedia)^[See also ["Experience in Purchasing Behavior Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/epbs2_process.html) & ["Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills "](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/mindfulness_process.html).]: medium-low or 16/13^th^ percentile

For those who enjoy playing the game of 'ad hominem via lay psychiatric diagnosis', may I suggest not accusing me of [Asperger syndrome](!Wikipedia) - which is *so* overdone - but something more novel & scary-sounding like [schizoid personality disorder](!Wikipedia)?

### Philosophy/morals

The relevant results

- ["Moral Foundations Questionnaire"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/5f_new2_process.html)
- ["Moral Foundations Sacredness Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/sacredness_cartoon_process.html)
- ["Ethics Positions Questionnaire"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/epq_process.html)
- ["Moral Identity Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/mis_process.html)
- ["Schwartz Value Survey"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/schwartz_process.html)
- ["The Disgust Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/disgust_process.html)
- ["Morality and Relationships Questionnaire"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/rel_norms_process.html)
- [Business ethics](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/busethics_process.html)

#### Politics

- [questions from Polling Report](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/current_events_process.html)
- ["a General Political Knowledge scale for American politics"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/general_political_knowledge_process.html)
- ["a measure of attitudes about whether government should manage its budget based on macroeconomic or basic budget principles"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/gov_econ_process.html)
- ["Comprehensive Justice Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/justice_process.html)
- ["Activism Orientation Scale"](/docs/2011-gwern-yourmorals.org/aos_process.html)

### IQ

At the risk of alienating readers even further, I will reveal that I have taken IQ tests 3 times that I know of:

1. At some point in 3rd-5th grade, I took the Abbreviated Stanford-Binet and scored ~135. (I came across the report cleaning up a room as a child and could not keep it.)
2. In February 2009, for the purpose of a before-after [dual n-back](DNB FAQ) comparison, I took the Raven's test at <http://www.iqtest.dk/> and scored 115. (Others report they too received low scores; it seems that the maintainer renormed it on the population of online test-takers, which means it will be low by around a standard deviation.)
3. On 5 August 2011, I signed up for and took the entrance survey to the prediction-contest [Good Judgment Project](Prediction markets#iarpa-the-good-judgment-project); the survey included among other things a short Raven's test. [My survey results](/docs/2011-gwern-gjp-psychsurveys.html) include the raw data but not any norm: of the 12 questions, I got 8, while the mean among participants was 8.81 and the SD 2.39.

Other ways to approximate IQ are standardized tests which are heavily g-loaded; they are broadly consistent with the 130s decile:

1. 2004 SAT: 800V/700M ([conversion](http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/SATIQ.aspx))
2. 2004 ACT: 32
3. 2009 GRE: 730V/680M/5.5W ([conversion](http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/GREIQ.aspx))

# Contact

- Email: [gwern@gwern.net](mailto:gwern@gwern.net); I do not use Skype.
- Bitcoin: `1As7k9MSuu5JwHr5qZrNibCmGVMHUrRpcN` (canonical address; used for [`#bitcoin-otc`](http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewgpg.php?nick=gwern) trading)
- [PGP key](http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xF7E5D682) ([mirror](!Wikipedia "User:Gwern/Key"); fingerprint: F7E5D682)

<pre>
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.15 (GNU/Linux)

mQGiBEZD2YgRBACVo4lU1+GovYXrguTABEHAZZNTZxH3/zJ7qCnA36YXFjR2jVQ9
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</pre>

# Collaboration style

Once on `#haskell`, I was asked why I have no large programs to my credit; I replied, "My problem is that most programs I use already exist."

I am not a bad Haskell programmer (although I am no guru like Simon Peyton-Jones, Apfelmus, or Don Stewart), but given how long I've been using Haskell, my contributions probably look pretty slim. This isn't because I don't like Haskell - I do,  I find functional programming natural: defining transformation after transformation until the result is what I need. And of the functional languages, Haskell seems the best combination of power beyond basic arithmetic or list processing, one of the best ecosystems, and good basic language. (Which is not to say it's perfect: there are some sharp edges in the basic math which irritate me when I'm messing around in the REPL.)

This is partly because of my style of contribution. I've always preferred to work on existing applications and libraries than to go write my own. I've always preferred to take someone else's work and bring it up to snuff than write a clean implementation of my own. I've always preferred prodding the author or maintainer to do the right thing than to drop a large batch of patches onto them. Likewise, I view it as superior to use Haskell standards like Cabal or Darcs than to use something like Autotools even if the latter lets us manage just a little more automation. I view it as superior to upload to [Hackage](http://hackage.haskell.org/) than to use any fancy site like [Github](!Wikipedia) or [Sourceforge](!Wikipedia).

It's better to do yeoman's work taking two similar modules in two applications and split them out to a library than to write even the fanciest [purely functional](!Wikipedia) [finger tree](!Wikipedia) using [monoids](!Wikipedia). Better to commit changes that reduce user configs by a line than to demonstrate once again the elegance of monads. Better by far to file a bug than wank around in [#haskell](irc://irc.freenode.net#haskell) [golfing](!Wikipedia "code golf") expressions.

It is much better to find some people who have tried in the past to solve a problem and bring them together to solve it, than to solve it yourself - even if it means being a footnote (or less) in the announcement. What's important is that it got done, and people will be using it. Not the credit. It is a high accomplishment indeed to factor out a bit of functionality into a library and make every possible user actually use it. Would that more Haskellers had this mindset! Indeed, would that more people in general had this mindset; as it is, people have bad habits of [repeatedly failing](http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/12/the-wisdom-of-others.html) when they think they have special information, are highly [overconfident](!Wikipedia "Overconfidence effect") even in [objective areas with quick feedback](http://papers.nber.org/papers/w13711), and badly overestimate how many good ideas they can come up with[^fire] - indeed, most good ideas are [Not Invented Here](!Wikipedia). One should be able to draw upon [the wisdom of others](http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/12/the-wisdom-of-others.html).

This is an ethos I learned working with the [inclusionists](http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Inclusionism) of Wikipedia. No code is so bad that it contains no good; the most valuable code is that used by other code; credit is less important than work; a steady stream of small trivial improvements is superior to occasional massive edits.

> A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. Fail to honor people, They fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say, 'We did this ourselves.'[^tao]

This is not an ethos calculated to impress. Filing bug reports, helping newbies, commenting on articles and code, cabalizing & uploading code - these are things hard to evaluate or take credit for. They are useful, useful indeed (shepheb or, eg. myself, never boast in [#xmonad](irc://irc.freenode.net/xmonad) of having helped 5 newbies today, but over the months and years, this friendliness and ready aid is of greater value than any module in all of XMonadContrib.) but they will never impress an interviewer or earn a fellowship. Is that too bad? Did I waste all my time?

I don't think so. I value my contributions, and the Haskell community is better for it. It may have made my life a little more difficult - all that time spent on Haskell matters is time I did not devote to classes or jobs or what-have-you - but ultimately they did help somebody. One could do worse things with one's time than that.

# Coding contributions

I mostly contribute to projects in Haskell, my favorite language; I have contributed to non-Haskell projects such as [StumpWM](!Wikipedia), [Mnemosyne](!Wikipedia "Mnemosyne (software)"), [GNU Emacs](!Wikipedia)[^emacs] etc. but not in major ways, so I do not list them here:

## Darcs

#. Switched from FastPackedStrings to ByteStrings
#. Low-level C optimization
#. Initiated Cabalization (my work initially appeared as [darcs-cabalized](!Hackage) and then was merged into HEAD and `darcs-cabalized` deprecated)
#. Refactoring of shell tests
#. Initiated switch from [MoinMoin](!Wikipedia) wiki to Gitit
#. Identified performance issue & instigated addition of `--max-count` option for Filestore

## XMonad

#. regular XMonadContrib patch reviews
#. [Config archive downloader](http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Xmonad/Config_archive#Downloading_all_configs)
#. Contributed modules:
    i. XMonad.Util.Paste
    ii. XMonad.Actions.Search
    iii. XMonad.Actions.WindowGo
    iv. XMonad.Util.XSelection
#. Maintain previous[^commit]

## Yi

#. Contributed modules:
    i. Yi.IReader
    ii. Yi.Mode.IReader
    iii. Yi.Hoogle
#. Improved Emacs keybindings
#. Initiated 'Unicodify' or 'Pretty Lambdas' feature for Haskell syntax highlighting
#. Added movement-related functions for improved incremental search
#. Cleanup[^clean]
#. Comment support to cabal-mode

## Lambdabot

#. (Re)Cabalized[^cabalized]
#. Adapted to use Mueval
#. Refactored out code in multiple packages:
    i. [show](!Hackage)
    ii. [lambdabot-utils](!Hackage)
    iii. [brainfuck](!Hackage)
    iv. [unlambda](!Hackage)
#. Implemented run-in-any-directory functionality (previously Lambdabot could only run in the repository directory)
#. Cleanup
#. Maintain it (with Cale Gibbard)

## Gitit

- Wrote Darcs backend (which was moved to the filestore package and became Data.FileStore.Darcs)
- Did some optimization work (images, JavaScript & CSS minification, wrote gzip encoding & initiated expire headers, JS relocation, fewer calls to expensive filestore functions)
- Wrote RSS support
- Wrote Interwiki plugin
- Wrote Date plugin
- Wrote WebArchiver & WebArchiverBot plugins (see later [archiver](#archiver) standalone tool/library)
- Wrote Unicode plugin
- Wrote HCAR entry
- Misc. bug reports & suggestions
- Added PDF export functionality
- Integrated JQuery-based floating footnotes

### Filestore

- Instigated its development/use in Gitit & [Orchid](http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/orchid)
- Maintain the Darcs backend (debug & optimize)

## Mueval

- Wrote and maintain it

## wp-archivebot

- Wrote and maintain it (see [release ANN](http://web.archive.org/web/20130128105201/http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell/2009-June/021388.html))

## archiver

- Wrote and maintain it (see [release ANN](http://web.archive.org/web/20130128105157/http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2010-December/087158.html))

## Change-monger

- Wrote and maintain it

## Base libraries
#### Base

- Added [`Control.Monad.void`](!Hoogle "Control.Monad.void")
- Helped replace [`Data.List.sort`](!Hoogle "Data.List.sort") with YHC's more efficient implementation (see [Ticket #2143](http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/2143 "Yhc's sort is faster than GHC's"))
- Improved [`System.Environment` doc](http://web.archive.org/web/20130128105154/http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/libraries/2012-February/017520.html "Improve System.Environment haddocks")

### Unix

- fixed a possible runtime crash in `mkstemp`
- added `mkstemp` docs

## Autoproc

- Cleanup
- Improved basic functionality
- Implemented an XMonad-style reload system to allow actual customization
- Maintain it

## Frag

- Updated for GHC 6.8 & 6.10[^ghc]
- Cleanup
- Replaced the non-Free level data and graphics with Free ones

## HalFS

- Updated
- Improved cabalization

## Shu-thing, Monadius

- Linux portability fixes
- Cabalized
- Cleanup

## Hint

- Improved examples, docs
- Added UTF8 support
- Made use ghc-paths library
- Enabled QuickCheck support
- Added GHC-options support

## Hlint

- added GHCi integration

## Pugs

- Cleaned up their third-party modules
- Fixed up various Cabal issues
- Helped maintain it

## ZFS

- Cabalized
- Cleanup

## Greencard

- Updated
- Cabalized & did the package split

## ArrayRef

- Cabalized
- Cleanup
- Updated

## Hashell

- Updated for 6.8's GHC API
- Cleanup
- Cabalized

## QuickCheck

- Prototyped the Data.Complex instance

## GenI

- Improved Cabalization

## HArchive

- Cabalized

## HaLeX

- Cabalized

## HTF

- Cabalized

## PArrows

- Cabalized

## Baskell

- Cabalized

## Mage

- Cabalized
- Cleanup

## Haskell In Space

- Cabalized
- Cleanup
- Updated

## Smallcheck

- Cabalized

## Topkata

- Improved Cabalization

## HsSyck

- ByteString updates
- Improved cabalization

## HList

- Updated
- Cabalized

## flow2dot

- Updated

## hinvaders

- Cabalized
- Updated

## Whim

- Cabalized whim

## Tagsoup

- replaced old custom HTTP download code with standard library functions

## The others & the rest

I cabalized and/or uploaded (according to the 10 May 2013 [Hackage upload log](http://web.archive.org/web/20130510012249/http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/log)):

- [Barracuda](!Hackage)
- [DBus](!Hackage)
- [DisTract](!Hackage)
- [DrIFT-cabalized](!Hackage)
- [FermatsLastMargin](!Hackage)
- [Flippi](!Hackage)
- [HFuse](!Hackage)
- [HRay](!Hackage)
- [Hashell](!Hackage)
- [HsJudy](!Hackage)
- [TypeIlluminator](!Hackage)
- [ZMachine](!Hackage)
- [adhoc-network](!Hackage)
- [bio](!Hackage)
- `blockio`
- [botpp](!Hackage)
- `child`
- [clustertools](!Hackage)
- [condorcet](!Hackage)
- [conjure](!Hackage)
- [dephd](!Hackage)
- [estreps](!Hackage)
- [fst](!Hackage)
- [genericserialize](!Hackage)
- [goa](!Hackage)
- [greencard](!Hackage) & [greencard-lib](!Hackage)
- [harp](!Hackage)
- [haskell-src-exts](!Hackage)
- [helisp](!Hackage)
- [hetris](!Hackage)
- [hgeometric](!Hackage)
- [highWaterMark](!Hackage)
- [hinstaller](!Hackage)
- [hjs](!Hackage)
- [hopenssl](!Hackage)
- [hs-fltk](!Hackage)
- [hscurses](!Hackage)
- [hsdip](!Hackage)
- [hsdns](!Hackage)
- [hsdns](!Hackage)
- [hsemail](!Hackage)
- [hsgnutls](!Hackage)
- [hsgnutls](!Hackage)
- [hsntp](!Hackage)
- [hsp](!Hackage)
- [hspr-sh](!Hackage)
- [hybrid](!Hackage)
- [infix](!Hackage)
- [interlude](!Hackage)
- [ivor](!Hackage)
- [lazysmallcheck](!Hackage)
- [linkchk](!Hackage)
- [mohws](!Hackage)
- `monadenv`
- [mpdmate](!Hackage)
- [nanocurses](!Hackage)
- [nymphaea](!Hackage)
- [pesca](!Hackage)
- [pkcs1](!Hackage)
- [plugins](!Hackage)
- [popenhs](!Hackage)
- [powermate](!Hackage)
- [pugs-HsSyck](!Hackage)
- [pugs-hsregex](!Hackage)
- [rbr](!Hackage)
- [reify](!Hackage)
- [roguestar-engine](!Hackage)
- [roguestar-gl](!Hackage)
- [rsagl](!Hackage)
- [simseq](!Hackage)
- [smallcheck](!Hackage)
- [tetris](!Hackage)
- [thih](!Hackage)
- [trhsx](!Hackage)
- [type-equality-check](!Hackage)
- [vty](!Hackage)
- [xml-parsec](!Hackage)
- [xml2x](!Hackage)
- [xmonad-utils](!Hackage)
- [xsact](!Hackage)
- [yi-gtk](!Hackage)
- [yi-vty](!Hackage)

[^emacs]: For example, my clean-up and extension of the [`browse-url`](http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/BrowseUrl) module was completely rewritten by [RMS](!Wikipedia "Richard Stallman"); so I can hardly take credit there.
[^clean]: Henceforth, 'cleanup' should be taken as referring to extensive miscellaneous changes which include (in no particular order):

    - fixing GHC's `-Wall or hlint warnings
    - replacing OPTION pragmas with LANGUAGE pragmas
    - tracking down licensing information
    - switching from Haskell98 imports to the standard hierarchical module imports
        i. eg. `import Char -> `import Data.Char; nontrivial in some cases where Haskell98 modules were dispersed
    - reorganizing the file tree
    - improving the Cabalization
    - whitespace formatting, and so on.

[^cabalized]: Henceforth, this typically implies that I uploaded it to Hackage as well
[^ghc]: Henceforth, this implies that I made whatever changes necessary to get it compiling on GHC 6.8.x and 6.10.x
[^commit]: Henceforth, this implies I have a commit-bit (or equivalent) for that project.
[^sock]: That is, summing up the (surviving) edits of my various accounts over the years: [User:Gwern](!Wikipedia), [User:Marudubshinki](!Wikipedia), & [User:Rhwawn](!Wikipedia)
[^tao]: [Chapter 17, _Tao Teh Ching_](!Wikiquote "Tao_Te_Ching")
[^fire]: For further reading on overconfidence, see [all LW articles so tagged](http://lesswrong.com/tag/overconfidence/). I once read in a book of a study in which subjects were asked to generate ideas for, IIRC, putting out a fire, and to stop only when they were convinced they had thought up all good ones, and usually stopping when they had thought up only a third; but I have been unable to refind it and would appreciate knowing details if this description rings any bells for a reader.