Ignoring errors because one thinks they aren't important

While reading a discussion on FI discord, I thought of an example of something.

curi said:

> So I have some ideas like judging every error we can find to matter a lot more than most people think it does. I find ignoring errors is a major error.

I've noticed a type of error that people ignore.

Imagine someone who is sad about a major bad event that happened in their family. While talking about their sadness and why they're sad, they say things like "What's the point?" while not following up that question with an answer. They just kinda use the question as a statement like "There is no point". That's an error. And when I raise it as an issue -- that it's an error -- they seem to not value it. They think it doesn't matter. Then think it's not important that they said something that doesn't make sense. They want to continue talking about their sadness or whatever was the subject of the sadness.

I think part of why they remain sad is that they don't address these kinds of things.

The kind of thing that I think deserves attention in this example case is addressing the question and related questions. Like, "... the point of what?" The person might answer, "the point of living", "the point of getting up out of bed". I would ask, "Well what was the point before the major bad family event?" If you can answer that question, then you have something you can try carry over to the new question -- the new question is "What's the point [of getting out of bed given the new major bad family event]?"

More generally, after having figured out that you ask the question "What's the point?" as if it's a statement "There is no point.", and that that's a mistake, then you should lookout for the same type of mistake going forward and do problem-solving about it each time it happens. Don't just ignore it as if it doesn't deserve attention/error-correction.

Imagine someone who gets annoyed (and says something indicating that he's annoyed) because something is not working while trying to achieve some goal. Getting annoyed is a mistake. The time and energy spent on it is time and attention not being spent on problem-solving. So it's counter-productive to the goal he's trying to achieve. Getting annoyed has an opportunity cost. I think each case of getting annoyed deserves attention/error-correction. Doing so will give him an opportunity to change his mental habits such that the new habits are compatible with his goals.

Learning plan report for semiweek 13

This is my semiweek 13 report on my learning plan. [1][2][3]

Speedrunning	SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.23. I got a new PR of 2:06 but I failed at my main metrics related to consistency across 5 runs.
Speedrunning	SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.24. I did unmeasured practice of the run. I focussed some of my practice on error-correcting the error of not smoothly going over the steps to the first bridge. I also learned about a new technique where you run on water, but I decided not to try to learn that now.
Speedrunning	SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.25. I did unmeasured practice of the start of the game up to the first bridge. I figured out a different way of doing triple jumps that take advantage of the new thing I learned where I can do tiny-tap jumps.

# Plan requirements completion %

Learning Plan	Semiweek #	Count-Expected	Count-Done	Completion %
6/15/2020	13	3	3	100%

# Footnotes 

[1] I stopped recording the activity of doing these learning plan semi-week reports.

[2] I watched 3 Elliot/Max tutoring videos. There was something that I thought was great that I'm going to study in detail. I added a personal note as a reminder to work on it.

[3] I had family stay over a lot so I spent a lot of time interacting with them.

Team sports and responsibility

I had a thought a few days, kinda out of no where, about something people can learn from team sports. It was about responsibility and how people sometimes skirt responsibility and hope that other people will do their job.

In team sports, like football, a player cannot rely on other players doing his job. It's usually very clear if a player is doing that or thinks that way. 

For example, a well known thing in football is for a defensive line player to shoot a gap in a situation where he's not supposed to do that (the chosen play does not tell that player to shoot a gap). This causes a situation where other players might have to do the job of the player that didn't do his job. His job was to read the offensive play (not shoot a gap) and then react to the offense. So like if he finds out that it's a pass play, then go after the QB. Or if he finds out it's a run play up his gap, then plug up the gap.

• I'm not sure this is a good example of what I was explaining. The example I gave is about a player who is gambling. He's hoping that the play is a pass play and that shooting the gap will dramatically increase his chances of sacking the QB. So like if he shot the gap and it was a run play, and if the run play did not go right up the gap that he's shooting, then he has completely taken himself out of the play, leaving a huge open gap, allowing the running back with the ball a huge opportunity to get a lot of yards, or a first down, or a touchdown. And the only way to correct this mistake (within the same play) is for another defensive player to tackle the running back (which was the job of the defensive player that shot a gap).

There are defensive plays where the job of a defensive player is to shoot a gap. But in those cases, the defensive play is designed so that another player is filling the usual role of the shooting-gap player.

• example: a linebacker shoots a gap and the lineman in front of him falls back and acts like a linebacker. 

So like players need to be on the same page about their roles such that their roles fit well together. Shooting a gap when the rest of the team doesn't know you're doing that is not good.

I can imagine a scenario where the defensive player that chooses to shoot a gap when it wasn't part of the play did so because he got some sort of indication that the play is a pass play. 

• One way that a defensive lineman can do this is if he recognizes that the offensive lineman in front of him is going to fall back (the determination is made before the play starts).
• Falling back means it's a pass play. 
• If it was a run play, the offensive lineman would not be falling back and instead he'd be rushing forward.
• usually. sometimes he will "pull", which means go parallel to the line of scrimmage, behind the other offensive lineman, running towards the end of the offensive line to block a defensive player there. 
• One technique I learned about that could help with this determination involves paying attention to the offensive lineman's fingers that are touching the ground. 
• If his fingers are white, then he has a lot of weight on his arm, which means he's leaning forward and intending to rush forward (run play). 
• If his fingers are not white, then he has not much weight on his arm, which means he's leaning backward and intending to fall back (pass play) (or he could be prepared to pull).
• But let's say this shooting-gap-when-not-supposed-to defensive player has not practiced this much and so he doesn't know how to judge such things very well. So his success rate is not high enough.
• One problem I have with it is this: an offensive lineman could trick the defensive lineman by leaning backward (causing his fingers to not be white) and then not fall back because it's a run play. This only works well if the offensive lineman is quicker off the ball than the defensive lineman he's up against.
• I guess other factors could matter, like whether or not the defensive team is winning or losing by a lot and how much time is left. If they are losing and there is not much time left, then riskier gambles make more sense.
• There's a way around this problem of a defensive lineman shooting a gap while other players don't know it's happening. The defensive lineman and the linebacker behind him could have a communication system that tells the linebacker that the lineman will shoot a gap. It would have to be something that the whole team knows could happen as part of the defensive play.

Malware and quarantining software

I've been explaining to friends/family (in-person) about static memes as malware.

Following are some thoughts about it. These are all things I've explained in person but haven't written down yet.

• How to get rid of malware?
• Quarantining software (anti-virus software)
• How does it work?
• Quarantine software does the following: (disclaimer: I have only layperson knowledge about computer virus/anti-virus software)
• identifies possible malware
• quarantines it
• lets you review it
• lets you decide what to do with it
• like you could unquarantine it
• or you could delete it
• or you could leave it there until you decide what to do
• while doing more discovery about the issue for the purpose of deciding whether or not you want to keep it (or parts of it).
• But even if you couldn't delete a malware, you could change your situation such that you never run that malware again.
• Malware is the tribalist mindset
• Quarantining software is the scientific/rational mindset
• Re the Socrates quote "The unexamined life is not worth living.":
• The unexamined life is the tribalist mindset/life. Examining it is the work of the quarantining software.

--- session #2 ---

• your malware can quarantine your quarantine software.

SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.25

# Summary:

SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.25. I did unmeasured practice of the start of the game up to the first bridge. I figured out a different way of doing triple jumps that take advantage of the new thing I learned where I can do tiny-tap jumps.

---------------------------------------------------

I practiced the beginning up to the point of getting to the first bridge, about 20 times. I focussed on diving over the railing instead of the easy thing of avoiding the railing by going around it. 

Here are my notes:

• I got it right a few times.
• I learned that I can change how I do triple jumps such that I do the first and/or second jump as a tiny-tap jump and then do a hard-press jump for the 3rd jump. 
• This is useful when I'm about to do the triple jump but I think I'm too close to the position where I want the 2nd jump to happen if I was to use a hard-press 1st jump.
• I'm still not sure that I should be trying to go over the railing because a fail could easily lead to falling in the water and dying. It seems too risky. So I think the only way I would use this technique is if I could do it right like 9 out of 10 times. Or, maybe a better idea is to not use this technique on my first whole-game run, then start using it when I'm trying to improve my whole-game run.

# Next steps: Continue doing measured practice of Cap kingdom.

SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.24

# Summary:

SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.24. I did unmeasured practice of the run. I focussed some of my practice on error-correcting the error of not smoothly going over the steps to the first bridge. I also learned about a new technique where you run on water, but I decided not to try to learn that now.

---------------------------------------------------

I played around a bit in Cap kingdom, showing a friend my work.

I did a couple full runs. 

On my 3rd run I messed up going over the steps to the first bridge. I did badly at recovering from my mistake. 

So I decided to play around with it so I can get used to recovering. Here are my notes:

• I realized that I could use a side jump to get from the lower step to the bridge. I practiced it a bunch, trying different angles.
• I also practiced the wall grab, wall jump, dive. It was weird because in this part of the game, I don't have cappy yet.

I also practiced the whole part from start to the first bridge. I tried to do it by going over the rail, as the WR guys do. I failed like 6 or 8 times before I was able to get it right. I got it right a few times.

While I was doing this, my friend watched a WR run and saw a technique that I didn't know about. In the frog room, when crossing the river, you can skip on water. We googled about this and didn't find anything. So I asked about it on the SMO discord server. I was told that you press roll right getting to the water. I was told that the timing is hard to get right and that it barely saves any time. So I think I won't be doing it at this stage of my work. 

# Next steps: Continue doing measured practice of Cap kingdom.

SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.23

# Summary:

SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.23. I got a new PR of 2:06 but I failed at my main metrics related to consistency across 5 runs. 

---------------------------------------------------

I did measured practice of the things I've been trying to learn over the past few sessions.

These are my results:

Any% Cap kingdom		Runs
		1	2	3	4	5
1	Cut scene	1	1	1	1
2	Spark roll	1	1	1	0
3	Jump over rail to first bridge [1]	0	0	0	0
4	Don't crash into light pole	1	1	1	1
5	Steps to second bridge [2]	1	1	0	0
6	Don't fall off the bridge	1	1	1	1
7	Don't hit roll on downslope [3]	0	1	1	1
8	River	1	1	1	1
9	Tiny jump off island [4]	1	0	1	1
10	Shake to grab frog [5]	0	0	0	0
11	Don't fall over railing	1	1	1	1
12	Up to the arena [6]	0	1	1	1
13	Dive to the boss	1	1	1	1
14	Hat trick [7]	1	1	1	0
15	Composite	71%	79%	79%	64%	#DIV/0!
16	86-100%	0	0	0	0	#DIV/0!
		#DIV/0!
17	Time	2:12	2:30	2:06	2:26
18	<= 2:13	1	0	1	0	1
19	not > 2:39 (120% of above)	1	1	1	1	1
20	4 out of 5 agrees with 18	0
21	5 out of 5 agrees with 19	1

I quit after the 4th run.

Footnotes from the table above:

[1] 

• On run 3: I tried once to go just left of the line between me and the end pole. I successfully hit dive towards the top of the 3rd jump of my triple jump, but I crashed into the railing and died in the water.
• On the other runs I stayed slightly to the right of the line between me and the end pole. And each time I smoothly did the triple jump, dive and roll on the bridge.
• Going forward, I'm not going to try to jump over the railing. I'm just going to stay slightly to the right of it.

[2] On two runs I went very smooth over the steps while successfully diving at the height of the last jump, causing me to land exactly where I expected. On one run it was smooth but slow because I didn't do the dive. On one run I accidentally wall grabbed, slowing me down a bunch.

[3] I'm not sure I'm thinking about this right. On the first downslope, I often pop off the bridge because I'm doing my first roll. On the second downslope, I successfully avoid popping off the bridge (no hitting the roll button). I think I shouldn't be concerned with the first downslope. I should just be concerned with picking up speed with one roll, and then avoid hitting the roll button while on the downslope.

[4] On one of my runs, my tap of the jump button did not get me across the river. I'm guessing that I didn't jump far enough onto the island, or I didn't run enough towards the edge of the island before tapping the jump button.

[5] I still haven't even remembered to shake to get the frog. But there was one case where I messed up crossing the river, and I guess because of the weird situation, I remembered to shake to throw cappy. But instead of cappy going forward to the frog, it went directly up. I think I'm going to stop doing this shake to grab the frog thing.

[6] I made the mistake again where I did the long jump too early, causing a backflip instead.

[7] I don't recall what went wrong.

# Next steps: Continue doing measured practice of Cap kingdom.

Learning plan report for semiweek 12

This is my semiweek 12 report on my learning plan.

These blog posts are listed from least interesting to most interesting.

Speedrunning	SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.19. I figured out a lead for each of the 2 issues I documented in last session. I investigated those leads and they worked. I also thought and documented about new metrics regarding the tips from last session.
Speedrunning	SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.20. I did unmeasured practice of the stuff I've been trying to learn in the last few sessions. It went well. There was one thing that was very difficult and the rest was very easy.
Speedrunning	SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.21. I did measured practice of the stuff I've been trying to learn in the last few sessions. I learned some things and decided to quit. I decided to remove a metric and add another one.
Speedrunning	SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.22. I did measured practice using my new metrics. I wasn't even close to meeting my metrics. I did get visibly better at some parts of the route. And I learned a couple things about my gameplay.
Philosophy	I wrote some ideas that I had during an in-person discussion about how people irrationally treat disagreements and get very emotional about it.
Philosophy	Continuing my thinking on the above subject, I thought about why people create the mindset that causes pain in response to disagreements.
Philosophy	Continuing my thinking on the subject above, I tried to connect the issue to wanting social approval and other-people-orientedness.
Philosophy	I wrote some ideas that I had during an in-person discussion about how people use emotions to trump reason.
Philosophy	I documented some thoughts I had about an in-person discussion with my kid. And I did some additional brainstorming about the problem and documented that.

# Plan requirements completion %:

Learning Plan	Semiweek #	Count-Expected	Count-Done	Completion %
6/15/2020	12	8	9	113%

SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.22

# Summary:

SMO: Studying beginner any% Cap route - session #1.22. I did measured practice using my new metrics. I wasn't even close to meeting my metrics. I did get visibly better at some parts of the route. And I learned a couple things about my gameplay.

---------------------------------------------------

I did measured practice of the things I've been trying to learn over the past few sessions.

These are my results:

Any% Cap kingdom		Runs
		1	2	3	4	5
1	Cut scene	1	1	1	1
2	Spark roll	1	1	1	0
3	Jump over rail to first bridge [1]	0	0	0	0
4	Don't crash into light pole	1	1	1	1
5	Steps to second bridge [2]	0	1	0	0
6	Don't fall off the bridge	1	1	1	1
7	Don't hit roll on downslope	1	1	1	1
8	River [3]	1	0	1	1
9	Tiny jump off island	1	1	1	1
10	Shake to grab frog [4]	0	0	0	0
11	Don't fall over railing	1	1	1	1
12	Up to the arena	1	0	0	1
13	Dive to the boss	1	1	1	0
14	Hat trick	1	0	1	0
15	Composite	79%	64%	71%	57%	#DIV/0!
16	86-100%	0	0	0	0	#DIV/0!
		#DIV/0!
17	Time	2:45	2:20	2:12	2:17
18	<= 2:13	0	0	1	0	1
19	not > 2:39 (120% of above)	0	1	1	1	1
20	4 out of 5 agrees with 18	1
21	5 out of 5 agrees with 19	1

I quit after the 4th run.

Footnotes from the table above:

[1] 

• On run 1: I died twice trying to get over the rail.
• On the other runs: I was riding just right of the imaginary line between me and the end pole of the railing. So I just stayed clear of it. In previous sessions I wasn't even trying to be close to the end pole. I was just trying to go smoothly over the steps.

[2] I'm going smoothly over the steps for the most part, but I'm not doing the shortest path like smallant shows in his video guide. When I try to use his method, I often crash into the ramp leading up to the steps.

[3] I messed up once by doing a tap press to jump out of the river. That doesn't produce enough height to reach the top of the island. 

[4] I still haven't even remembered to shake to get the frog.

# Next steps: Continue doing measured practice of Cap kingdom.