Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Questions and comments
User avatar
Alphaville
Posts: 3611
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:50 am
Location: Quarantined

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by Alphaville »

theanimal wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:18 am
I think that is upstairs. If that's the basement then there's been some tremendous renovations!
ah! ok. the light square looks like from a small, high window, as you often see in basements... but doesn't have to be one of course.

if the window is somehow big and i misread the picture, then just hang a sheet over it and it's a large softbox

i usually do zoom calls next to a giant window, but i interpose a shoji screen--without it the outside light is too bright and the camera gets some burned whites, even when there's no direct sunlight, due to high contrast with room levels. but wih the shoji, it's golden hour all day.

CS
Posts: 709
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:24 pm

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by CS »

I'm watching it and thinking that it would be good to have one slide for each row of the Wheaton levels, blown up to fill the slide.
1. It would be readable.
2. It would force you to talk about each level in a bit more detail. I think you know stuff so well its as obvious as the sun in the sky, but the average person might need some walking through...

ETA - maybe not every single one, but a few representative levels...

jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15910
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by jacob »

It's the top floor. This one was done at 4pm with the sun setting. If you pay attention you can see the white burn from the sun making it's way through the blinds over the painting in the back (DW painted that) as the sun sets and finally goes down at the 80 minute mark. Around that time, during the Q&A, I switch on the ceiling light directly (maybe a bit behind) overhead.

"Usually" I do these around 10a when the sun is on the other side. I could install a "white curtain" in the form of an old bed sheet across the window.

Building a front light box for the left (my left) corner of the desk would be less effort than "redecorating". I can do this with parts I already have except the bulb (~100CRI, ~3300K, incandescent, inverse squarelaws, got it). Moving into the living room would require too much clean up and hiding my collection of doomer books.

If I make the front/overhead light too strong, there's gonna be a blinding shiny forehead/scalp effect :-P When doing the TV program and they had "studio lights" (some LED square where the color temperature could be dialed in) they put powder(?) on me to reduce the glare. The change was quite obvious. Needless to say, I'm not looking for that level of detail.

Offset camera/framing. Part of the challenge was in looking at my notes w/o looking like I'm looking at my notes. Lacking a teleprompter :-P the camera had to be placed as close as possible in line of sight of the monitor with the notes---me in front of the laptop in front of the desktop monitor. Moving around too much could be fixed by locking the wheels of the chair. Framing is not something I want to think about when recording though. It's like doing 2-3 jobs at the same time.

Will look into painting the sides white and the ceiling ... white? ... and the rear 18% gray. Any good ideas as to how I can convey the 18% gray tone to the homedepot drone w/o buying an 18% gray card?

mathiverse
Posts: 788
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by mathiverse »

@jacob: Why have you been appearing in talks and podcasts more frequently these days? Not that I'm complaining. In fact, I've enjoyed all of them so far.

jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15910
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by jacob »

mathiverse wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 11:38 am
@jacob: Why have you been appearing in talks and podcasts more frequently these days?
I think it started with the audiobook release. After it came out, I received 3 invites in short order. Appearing on those begat more invites and so on. There might also have been some pent-up demand since I've been turning people down for years. Now I'm thinking it might become a new pursuit for me.

Loner
Posts: 221
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:26 pm

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by Loner »

The white-curtain-on-the-window idea is good. If it's not too thick, it should let enough light pass through. The DIY desk-softbox idea that you suggest would also be fine for the purposes. Probably the best, most simple and most convenient setup. And yeah, the light above should probably be avoided. Wrong colour, and it comes from the wrong place. As for the powder, I think you can safely skip that :lol:

WRT framing, I wouldn't worry too much about looking at your notes. It didn't bother me, and I hadn't really noticed. But having a good framing would make a nice improvement. Just make sure you are centered left-right, with your head close to the top. If you do the redesign (not necessarily necessary, imo, if you build your desk softbox), yes, the ceiling can be left white. Regarding the background, I think you can eyeball it, doesn't need to be exactly 18 % gray. You could just take the cheapest gray they have (here, they usually have a rack with discarded, discounted paints cans that didn't come out exactly as intended). They idea is just to have something a bit darker than you so you don't fudge with the background. Ideally wear a shirt that's lighter than the background.

On the whole, I think building that minimal softbox, on top of making good use of the window and choosing a shirt that'll make you separate from the background, would possibly be the Pareto solution. If you repaint anyways, you might as well do as discussed above, but I don't think it's necessary. It looks nicely homey with the painting and all. Depends how much effort you want to put into this, what looks you want, and how good a result you desire.

(I must admit that I've been curious about those hidden books since that interview came out.)

jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15910
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by jacob »

Alphaville wrote:
Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:53 pm
lower temp (warmer, lol) means more orange, higher temp (cooler, lol, from color wheel) means more blue (noon sky circa 10,000k?). k is for kelvin, hence temperature, refers to incandescent black bodies or something, the names warm/cool come from painting/art. confusing!
BTW, this former astrophysicist knows what you're talking about :mrgreen: Astro* might be one of a few fields where red on the graph/map really is colder than blue, simply because flipping a temperature range into "inverse water faucet"-scale is non-trivial(*) from a mathematical standpoint. (Note e.g. how some weather forecast maps have included a 'white' beyond purple. I suspect this is because the easiest way to translate data to color is in using the HSB scale and once you pass through purple you're heading back to red rather than UV)

(*) Or at least I never figured it out. Always tons of trial and error. In my case I had to show "color" between 1e6 and 2e9K... (X-rays).

User avatar
Alphaville
Posts: 3611
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:50 am
Location: Quarantined

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by Alphaville »

jacob wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 11:52 am
Now I'm thinking it might become a new pursuit for me.
i was about to ask you this in a reply i was drafting to your comments earlier, because painting a wall to make videos is a big commitment, so i'm glad you've clarified this. helps to understand how much you're willing to do.

i would still not rush to paint. i would probably instead try to think of a more meaningful background. the door in the background is not optimal. if you could turn your desk 45 degrees you might get a nice corner and the window more to the front of you.

btw once you hang a sheet on your window it acquires the new fancy name of "silk" (and if it's a piece of blocking fabric it's a "flag"). there is nothing magical to these names, they're just industry tems that cause regular people to pay more for supplies :D

anyway don't worry about the rest, i think solving one problem at a time would be best here.

desk placement first! seriously don't rush to get it all done at once. big rocks first.

notice how in that video of that lady i posted for eye level you can see the windows in the back at an angle (notice also the different color temperature in the windows [cooler/bluer/higher k] does not hurt because her warm key light is close/powerful enough)

obviously your room is smaller than her house, but this is just to give you an idea how the angled background can have nicer depth than the flat one without any artifice.

i gotta post this rn but more later.

jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15910
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by jacob »

The room will be repainted anyway (nobody here likes the green tone---it's the only green room in the house) so I might as well do it in a "useful" color scheme. Homeotelic goals and all that.

User avatar
Alphaville
Posts: 3611
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:50 am
Location: Quarantined

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by Alphaville »

in principle i'd tell you to paint it any color you like.

but if you want to paint it as a part of a set ("film set") then first design the set.

since you'll mostly be shooting mornings, and your window will probably be your natural key light, then it makes sense to design the set around the window, if that works for you.

ofc the sun will travel differently throughout the year. what is the window orientation and what is the size?

User avatar
Alphaville
Posts: 3611
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:50 am
Location: Quarantined

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by Alphaville »

actually it would help more to sketch out the floorplan with the windows and orientation because im thinking the walls could serve as key and fill with the right paint and position etc.

also to design the set it helps to ask: what do you want to do there?

eg the geetar guy likes to parade in front of his geetars. it gives him music producer cred. also he's not at the computer (he's got assistants operating things i think when his snaps his fingers ).

these days of lockdown and everyone on zoom i like to entertain myself with this often funny twitter thread:

https://twitter.com/ratemyskyperoom

it's a different population, but nice for meta-ideas

jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15910
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by jacob »

Alphaville wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:06 pm
actually it would help more to sketch out the floorplan with the windows and orientation because im thinking the walls could serve as key and fill with the right paint and position etc.
That's what I'm thinking too. The floor plan is here.
viewtopic.php?p=237400#p237400
(I'm sitting on the right side of the 4.75ft long desk, approximately in the middle of the room.)

I'm unlikely to rearrange the furniture. It's already optimal for what I normally do. Looking for tweaks via wallpaint and light sources only. Not looking to build a studio unless it fits in the closet described in the link.

User avatar
Alphaville
Posts: 3611
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:50 am
Location: Quarantined

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by Alphaville »

jacob wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:28 pm
That's what I'm thinking too. The floor plan is here.
viewtopic.php?p=237400#p237400
o man, interpreting that description gives me a headache. you gotta throw a bone to the visual thinkers :D

[a lot of info missing my brain can't fill]

oldbeyond
Posts: 338
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:43 pm

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by oldbeyond »

I thought the sound was fine, apart from some occasional glitches from the transmission. No expert here, but as a viewer I wasn’t distracted by it.

I think you’ve really improved how you present your message in this video and the Mad Fientist episode compared to previous appearances. The labels (deliberate consumer etc) were excellent and explained the concept of increasing skill in a pedagogical way. And the slide at the end proposing different activities to explore to begin the journey (buy nothing year, minimalism etc) was genius, really showing how much more ERE is about than ”really high savings rates”. I think this presentation is valuable for a lot of people even on this forum, I’d say a lot of people here are still in the deliberate consumer stage (very much including me!). There’s real value in unpacking the higher levels a bit, even if us stuck WL5:ers ultimately have to do the work ourselves.

Criticisms from me would be that your hand movements are sometimes quite intense, which did distract me a bit. Also, you referred to the contents of the wheaton table, which I couldn’t really make out (watched on phone, but likely so do a lot of viewers). I liked how you described the concept of someone two levels up being crazy etc. But perhaps this could be integrated with your new levels (consumer, advanced, deliberate, post), having two concepts with a lot of overlap might simply serve to confuse. And to be honest, I think only you really get the wheaton table (see endless discussions on the forums). I think there will be much less ”I’m level 6 in spending but level 3 in travel” with the new model.

J_
Posts: 883
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 4:12 pm
Location: Netherlands/Austria

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by J_ »

oldbeyond +
And I think in this presentation it was Jacob who thought out before what and how he wanted to say. Not triggered by (random) questions by an interviewer, except for the 3 questions by the listeners at the end.

peterlimberg
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:39 am

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by peterlimberg »

Hey all,

I am the interviewer for Jacob's session (and the steward of The Stoa). This is my first post on these forums, but I have been following Jacob's work for a while.

I thought Jacob did a wonderful job, and I'd love to have him back. The thing that was salient for me at the end of the session was addressing the challenge Jacob mentioned near the end, e.g. the community building thing with socially-oriented temperaments and individually-oriented temperaments (around 1:25:00 mins in). I am curious if the community here has experimented with mastermind type groups that would help keep one accountable to ERE principles and methodologies? If not, I'd be happy to help facilitate/experiment with a bespoke design ERE mastermind group at The Stoa, as you can see from the website (especially the "wisdom gym" section) we have lots of eclectic events. The MO here is experimentation.

I sent this thing called "Squad Wealth" to Jacob via email, and I sense this thing might gesture in the right direction. Here is the article: https://otherinter.net/squad-wealth/, they are coming to The Stoa next week in case you want to check them out. You can RSVP here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpf- ... 1QcVZcm61p

I am curious if anybody here might have any ideas.

Btw, I love the helpful and good faith discussions happening on this forum. Well done Jacob for cultivating such an amazing group of people. :)

Warmly,

Peter

ps. A few people asked why the YouTube comments are disabled. I really like daylen's assessment above. I mapped out some more reasons here. In essence, we have many people from across the political spectrum at The Stoa (we had ContraPoints and Aleksandr Dugin on to give an example of a stark contrast). The epistemic diversity at The Stoa is pretty wild actually, and given my analysis of the "culture war 2.0", YouTube comments quickly turn into a shitshow.

Loner
Posts: 221
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:26 pm

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by Loner »

@Peter - Great interview. I like how you leave your interviewee speak without interrupting all the time, this is offense #1 in most youtubers/podcasters. I think it was a nice format, too, having questions at the end.

And thanks for the explanation about the comments. I don't necessarily agree (see this older appearance of Jacob on another podcast, with many respectful comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iws9fnx9ByM), but I get your concern. Comment sections are often the sceptic tank of the internet, but I've found that you can sometimes find a jewel in the rough if you scan the whole thing (a book suggestion, a link/reference to another episode, etc.).

On the whole, very well done, thanks for making it happen.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by ertyu »

@Peter: I respect the decision to disallow comments. The disadvantage would be that you will be promoted by the algo less, but if you are interested in creating a community of quality over quantity this is not necessarily a drawback. I get what Loner is saying, sometimes there is good info in the comments, but on youtube in particular the likelihood of getting said good info wouldn't be worth the moderation effort. A subreddit devoted to the discussion of each podcast episode might be a good solution.

peterlimberg
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:39 am

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by peterlimberg »

@Loner: thank you!
@Loner & ertyu: I agree that there can be a lot of gems in the YouTube comment sections, but when things get political (especially with culture war politics), things get messy and uncharitable fast. I am also surprised at how much criticism and blowback I get from this move. It is my #1 criticism actually. I do not have a good sense of YouTube culture I guess to fully understand why. I also do not view The Stoa as a YouTube channel, but as a space for people to meet and dialogue (which currently happens via Zoom events). I am just using YouTube as one of the beacons to "find the others," and yeah the anti-marketing strategy of not helping out the algos is actually in service to that.

While this is provocative framing, I want "live players" to find The Stoa, not "dead players."

Whether you are examining past societies or living and acting within one today, it’s important to distinguish between live and dead players. A live player is a person or well-coordinated group of people that is able to do things they have not done before. A dead player is a person or group of people that is working off a script, incapable of doing new things.

Source: https://samoburja.com/live-versus-dead-players

Jacob and the ERE community strike me as a group of live players.

daylen
Posts: 2528
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2015 4:17 am
Location: Lawrence, KS

Re: Stoa Presentation: A Systems Approach To Resilient Lifestyle Design

Post by daylen »

Dead players were once part of a live group that had its head chopped off at the ideological guillotine.

Post Reply