What I learned in 2010

Apparently I learned a lot of things that year!

[Note: 2010 was the year I quit my first job, went to the UK and started my Master’s degree, made a whole bunch of new friends, and started to become myself again after a bit of a confidence and identity crisis between late 2008 and 2009. I learned a lot that year, and here are a few things.]

1. The linear model of innovation is WRONG. Putting more money into science doesn’t necessarily bring about more innovation. Why? Because the technology often comes before the science that seeks to understand it — think airplanes (early 20th century) and aerodynamics (mid-late 20th century). This is the kind of stuff I’m doing at school, by the way. It kinda rocks.
2. There are lots of good people working in the Trinidad and Tobago public service.
3. There are lots of bad people working at the upper end of the Trinidad and Tobago public service.
4. I learned how to cook, in a non-microwave sorta way.
5. I can survive quite well without bread, milk and coffee, and with a minimal amount of salt and sugar. I’m starting healthy eating from now, though I have no interest in living for a long time.
6. Smoking shisha with a big group of friends is great, but it’s no match for smoking shisha with a small group of my best friends.
7. I accomplished one my 2010 New Year’s Resolutions: I learned how to use Twitter properly. And by that I mean, Twitter has taken over my (online) life.
8. Twitter pwns Facebook.
9. Twitter and Tumblr pwn Facebook to an almost immeasurable extent.
10. I can drink (almost) every day of an academic term and still do rather well.
11. I’ve learnt how to interact with people who aren’t native English speakers. This is the best and most rewarding thing I’ve learnt this year. I’ve become much more patient and understanding of people.
12. I love sharing knowledge, whether through teaching or just regular conversation. This is strongly related to the point above, but I’ve also felt this through my tutoring work in the first half of the year.
13. I’ve seen how fMRI scanners work, and I’ve been in one — while drunk, no less (it was for an experiment). By far the coolest thing I’ve done all year. Now, whenever I’m reading one of Jonah Lehrer’s wonderful neuroscience blog posts or articles and he mentions fMRI, I can proudly say “I’ve done that!” In 2011, I will see and learn what my brain looks like when I’m drunk.
14. I really love Brighton. But I love Montréal more, and still sometimes miss it like an amputated limb. Home? Not so much, apart from family and close friends. But I’ll be seeing them (for a month) in March-April, and that is fucking awesome.
15. Participating in psychology experiments is an absolutely superb way to earn pocket change. In addition…
16. …the Psychology Department at the University of Sussex harbours some of the finest females in this great nation we call the United Kingdom. I mean, my department (SPRU) has its fair share of gorgeous girls and pretty ladies in it, don’t get me wrong. But damn, them psych chicks gone and taken it to a whole ‘nother level. Psych department FTW.
17. I really enjoy light blogging (i.e. Tumblr), and I hope to do more of it in the new year. I love writing in general, especially about music and football.
18. I’ve learnt how to filter people’s words and actions with signaling theory, via Robin Hanson, LessWrong, and You Are Not So Smart. This is an invaluable way of looking at the world, to my mind.
19. I’ve discovered the extent to which Tyler Cowen is my absolute hero in life.
20. I can be a bit of an idiot when I’m drunk. I knew this before, but I had to learn this again because I forgot.
21. A slight intonation of the cranium is as adequate as a spasmodic movement of one optic to an equine quadruped utterly devoid of visionary capacity.
22. Rehash of the last one: a nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse.
23. Having an iPad = near-paperless existence. Before I bought it, I used to print almost all my course readings, burning through ~250 double-sided pages in less than 2 months. Since I’ve bought the iPad, I’ve printed maybe 2 pages. Reading is so good on this thing, it’s unbelievable. Reasons #2056 and #2057 to get it…
24. …however, for those who are thinking about getting one, you should know this. The iPad is like New York or London: if you don’t have a plan for what you’re gonna do when you get there, don’t go. You’ve got to have a pre-determined purpose for using it — whether it be uni reading, leisure reading, light gaming or (my favourite) hipster douchebaggery — once that’s settled, you’ll find this toy becomes your best friend. And fast.
25. I’ve slowly and imperceptibly become That Apple Guy. Apologies.
26. I really, really, really love rum. No Coke, please!
27. There is too much interesting stuff on the internet.
28. I have an excessive fondness for white women who can sing. Corollary: My unrealistic dream for 2011 is to have a springtime skinny-dipping session with Victoria Legrand on Brighton beach (the English one, not the Coney Island one).

As ever, I despise myself physically. But in 2010, I’ve become a lot happier with myself as a person.

Originally published at crimesagainsthumility.tumblr.com.