inevitable

at 8, my parents attempted to restrict my computer access because i was playing too many flash games. but i found their passwords.

at 9, my uncle bought me a D&D starter kit.

at 10, i discovered the D&D themed webcomic "Order of the Stick", and made a forum account. i began learning how to torrent to download expensive D&D splatbooks, leaving the torrents running for days at a time on our trickle of an internet and sneaking the family laptop downstairs at night to read them

at 11, my grandparents made me the generous birthday gift of an ipod touch. i quickly learned how to jailbreak it, primarily for the purpose of hacking mobile games

at 12, for homeschooling i watched a recorded lecture series of a Yale philosophy course on Death. after finishing it, i searched google for arguments for and against the existence of a soul. i would discover both reddit and lesswrong

at 13, someone on the Order of the Stick forums linked to Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. i read all that was out within a week, and returned to reading more of lesswrong

in retrospect it all seems very inevitable. i doubt there was anything my parents could have done

@bryancsk

How did a sweet and wonderful farmboy who grew up in a tropical paradise with intermittent electricity become so internet-poisoned? What were the specific steps in happenstance that led to this? https://t.co/4UYodqXLgR