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[silverspawn]

The problem is that I don't like the feeling of being outplayed, and I have that in Prismata if I don't play a lot (and I don't want to play a lot, it's not actually a good use of time). Even in Dominion, I only play people who are at least 5 points below me.

[silverspawn]

It is increasingly distressing that the election is so close. Although it is true that Trump has done less damage to the world than I would have expected, it's still pretty bad. I think I am genuinely more worried about the political ramifications than about the roughly half of my liquidity that's at stake.

[silverspawn]

My opponent just let me undo something that made me win the game in the last turn

this is the first time that happened. I usually feel too bad about them to ask, the only other time I remember asking, they didn't do it

I generally feel too bad to ask for undos at all if I'm ahead, which doesn't make any sense.

yay for empathy. very sensible emotion. Totally fits the severity of the situation.

[silverspawn]

Is Scott Adams secretly one of the most evil people alive today? I am seriously entertaining this idea.

This is with an understanding of the 'evil' category where it is something like 'knowingly doing harmful things', which excludes the majority of typically evil people, since they usually genuinely believe that they're fighting the good fight. Ultimately, the category isn't meaningful either way since there's no free will.

[silverspawn]

I beat an 1200 chessbot omfg

[silverspawn]

I tied an 1500 chessbot omfg

I don't actually think this is real 1500 though.

[silverspawn]

lol @ the amount of fun I just had playing chess for the first time ever.

[silverspawn]

not literally first time but practically

[silverspawn]

I beat an 1500 chessbot omfg

[silverspawn]

lol gtfo 1500 chess bot

[silverspawn]

I probably shouldn't be playing so much rn but it's so hard to stop when I'm improving so fast

[silverspawn]

I think an undertalked property of games is the interpretability of feedback. Chess and poker are two ends of the spectrum here. In chess, you usually notice when you did something wrong; especially now that you can just ask the computer. In poker, it can be extremely difficult to know what mistakes you're making. This means you can play and play and be bad and not ever realize why. In fact, this is probably what I did; I never succeeded at poker.

Not to say that you can't also play chess without improving if you just don't have the mental tools, but at least one  necessary criterion (noticing what you did wrong) is given.

Dominion is somewhere in the middle. Much easier to notice mistakes than in poker, probably harder than in chess. I very much notice a difference between chess, though. I just played and easily beat the 1500 chess bot, I think the most convincing win I've had so far. Probably some variance here, but it the engine told me I made no 'mistakes'. I draw a direct line between that and the fact that it's early in the day. I tend to be more mentally fit early in the day.

I don't notice the difference in dominion, but it's probably there.

[silverspawn]

Prismata is closer to poker. I remember this one case where we analyzed a game and realized that win or loss hinged on a small economic decision early where it seemed like two things were equally good. The interest rate makes it difficult.

[silverspawn]

Today I read that there are end game situations where one side has a forced win but it takes over 70 turns and thus it becomes a draw in practice due to the 50 move rule. This amuses me.

[silverspawn]

Also there is a 130 page book on just queen-king vs king-rook

[silverspawn]

The white pieces are so powerful

you wouldn't think that since they're the same pieces but you'd be wrong

[silverspawn]

I just put my queen in front of a pawn who could take it and neither of us saw it. I only noticed it after using analysis after the game.

In other news, as expected I did not climb to 1500 after playing chess for a day. The bot's rating's aren't accurate. Vs. humans I'm at 1065.

idk why they make the ratings of bots that way. Make people think they're better than they really are?

[silverspawn]

Ok, I'm now a 1100 chess playet. Mb this is a good place to leave it? I think expecting that I will is rather optimistic though.

Haven't played Dominion in a while.

[silverspawn]

or maybe I'll get to 1200 first and then stop

[silverspawn]

I played two games of dominion today and it was terrible and also my rating is now utter garbage.

Then, I played more chess.

[silverspawn]

And then I decided that, if I'm going to quit dominion, I don't want to do it on < 60, which may not make all that much sense because rating decays with time anyway.

It never ceases to amaze me how much luck in dominion comes in streaks. I don't get how that works. The plausible-sounding explanation is that perceived good or bad luck is actually just mindset (you play better/worse depending on your recent history). But I'm not buying it.

Although, when I do have several days in a row that just feel brutal, I ask myself whether the perceived 'normal' time was actually a time of unusually few games with bad luck. One tends to not question things that go well, especially when going well just means 'don't be unlucky'.

And now, I just had ~10 games in a row without significant bad luck. I think dominion owes me about ~30 more to balance out what feels like possibly the worst streak of bad luck I've ever had.

[silverspawn]

A couple of days ago, I learned that Clean Air Task Force supposedly prevents 1 ton of CO2 per 1$ donated. It's funny how insane the world is if you're in the right mood.

It really definitely is not actually worth it to be a vegetarian (or to pay a lot of attention to buying food ethically). But I still have no plans of stopping. Eating animals is inherently gross. I don't need a utilitarian motive.

[silverspawn]

(This is from William MacAskill who co-founded the entire EA movement.)

[Awaclus]

It never ceases to amaze me how much luck in dominion comes in streaks. I don't get how that works. The plausible-sounding explanation is that perceived good or bad luck is actually just mindset (you play better/worse depending on your recent history). But I'm not buying it.

That's probably most of what it is.

[silverspawn]

It never ceases to amaze me how much luck in dominion comes in streaks. I don't get how that works. The plausible-sounding explanation is that perceived good or bad luck is actually just mindset (you play better/worse depending on your recent history). But I'm not buying it.

That's probably most of what it is.

But I feel subjectively confident that I know how well I play.

Do you have streaks, too?