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How to Be More Agentic

usefulfictions.substack.com

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Re: How to Be More Agentic

#131

Post by danenania »

spease wrote: post #129
danenania wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s widely known but many pros consider it to be of low importance compared with “hand reading”, which is more about putting someone in a play-style bucket based on the hands you observe and then deducing what hand range they are likely to hold from their actions in the hand up to that point. Physical tells are typically considered as unreliable compared to this unless they are really obvious. Amateurs tend to overe…

So it’s perhaps more like there’s a local minimum before you reach the global maximum.

Right. If you're already really good at hand reading, you might get some extra edge in working to improve your physical reads, but otherwise looking for subtle tells will probably just make you play even worse.

In elite games, you would assume everyone is an expert at hand reading, so it makes sense that physical reads would become more important.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#132

Post by takinola »

munchler wrote: post #102
danenania wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Is that like a person having a tell?" Yes, same thing.

Why would other pros say “nuh-uh, that’s not a thing”? I thought the concept of a tell was widely known.

Tells are something you see more of in “movie” poker rather than real poker. Most poker guides (as the OP alludes) discourage tell based play unless you are playing with people you are very familiar with and have studied over time. Even then, it’s a bit of a crapshoot as opponents can use this against you (“did he scratch his temple because he has a poor hand or because he wants me to think he has a poor hand?”)

The one suggestion that I do find helpful is not to look at your cards as they are dealt but instead look at your opponents’ faces as they look at theirs. Sometimes their micro-expressions betray them before they regain composure.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#133

Post by jamilton »

SeanAnderson wrote: post #110

This article really spoke to me, but, ironically, I am concerned about my ability to put it into practice. I feel like there are areas of my life I have extreme agency over and others I have no agency over. I hate it because the areas I feel I lack agency in run counter to my sense of self. Things I struggle to do don't feel like things I should struggle to do. I wonder if this is something I learned when I was young…

IMO, everything in your "and yets" except relationships and overthinking sound like ordinary preferences, rather than lack of agency. Like, if you actively want to change those preferences and haven't, maybe that's less agentic, but they seem reasonable to me. Although I'm biased because I share some of those traits.

And the other two I would personally consider in meaningfully different categories than your successes, so maybe they're just not in line with your strengths (yet).

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#134

Post by drakonka »

Scubabear68 wrote: post #56
nick__m wrote: post #20

Assume everything is learnable This made me think of late grandmother who used to say : "c'est faite par du mondes" which roughly expand to "a person did/learned/discovered that so there is no a prioi reason that I cannot do so myself". That's the greatest value she passed unto me. When I feel that I cannot do something, I think about that phrase and persevere.

I found this out late in life working on an environmental cause. We were all volunteers and had limited money, so I started learning about pipelines and regulations and legal concepts, etc etc. If you have the right kind of mind, it very empowering to be able to step into a new field and really learn it and work it. The flip side of this is that not everyone’s brain works this way. In fact, I’d say the vast majority…

I don't think I can believe that the majority can't do this without some evidence. But regardless, I'm really curious what makes you think that? What in your opinion would be stopping them, other than maybe just not believing they can or bothering to try (which imo has nothing to do with whether they _can_)?

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#135

Post by mattgreenrocks »

sn9 wrote: post #114
steveBK123 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually work for a guy like this now and at first I didn't quite get what he was doing, but I really like it now. He comes from a non-technical background but can code enough to be dangerous now. He loves talking to experts in every facet of what we do, and just start from the most basic foundational questions. He has absolutely no ego about embarrassing himself by the basics of questions he asks and no shame abou…

This guy will be a staff engineer soon.

Hopefully they want that title :)

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#136

Post by pphysch »

Podgajski wrote: post #98
rco8786 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your purpose with these posts?

My point is to help you not forget your compassion. All this talk about agency is nothing if you don’t have the luck to go along with it. So if you see someone who’s homeless, don’t talk to them about their agency. Just help them.

> Just help them.

Trivializing homelessness like this doesn't help, and I strongly disagree that "agency is nothing" to unhoused people. There are many free resources available, but the organizations providing them often don't have the capacity to efficiently allocate them to those in need, due to difficulties with reach, etc.

Escaping poverty is a function of others' generosity (luck) but also agency; you can't do it without some amount of self-belief and proactivity and exposing yourself to opportunities for aid. But it's very difficult and a lot of people give up.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#137

Post by kiba »

jvanderbot wrote: post #40
drakonka wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always assumed everyone assumed everything was learnable. Realizing this (i.e., that being everyone's default belief) might not be the case is kind of blowing my mind a little right now.

You can learn anything you want, but really wanting is the hardest part.

There's all sort of obstacles to learning. It could be the price of the courses you want to take, the lack of motivation/willpower/discipline to follow through, poor learning skills, lack of equipment or materials.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#138

Post by kiba »

Scubabear68 wrote: post #56
nick__m wrote: post #20

Assume everything is learnable This made me think of late grandmother who used to say : "c'est faite par du mondes" which roughly expand to "a person did/learned/discovered that so there is no a prioi reason that I cannot do so myself". That's the greatest value she passed unto me. When I feel that I cannot do something, I think about that phrase and persevere.

I found this out late in life working on an environmental cause. We were all volunteers and had limited money, so I started learning about pipelines and regulations and legal concepts, etc etc. If you have the right kind of mind, it very empowering to be able to step into a new field and really learn it and work it. The flip side of this is that not everyone’s brain works this way. In fact, I’d say the vast majority…

Learning materials in itself a skill that is not widely taught.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#139

Post by kiba »

hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #123
SeanAnderson wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to share what you're working towards?

Language learning, endurance biking, weight loss, and meditation at this point. (EDIT: some physical wound healing too, forgot about that) Quitting alcohol was also a very similar battle after a decade of increasingly severe abuse of it. I had my last drink 467 days ago, and for the first 6 months or so basically the only things I had the mental fortitude to juggle were "don't lose my job" and "don't succumb to the b…

Doing what you want to do is my very definition of being agenty. Some of the most difficult thing in the world required long duration effort.

Re: How to Be More Agentic

#140

Post by adfisgnio1234 »

I think this post does a great job of arguing against its own thesis. This woman was apparently the rank one poker player in the world. She obviously has great natural ability and works hard at what she does. So why doesn't she stick with anything for longer than a few years? Why has she had an impressive start to four or five different careers without following through on any of them to real greatness?

She believes, or wants us to believe, that her personality has helped her overcome her modest abilities. Instead it seems that her immense natural ability has overcome a personality that should by all rights have led her to ruin.

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