Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20 - Less Wrong

Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 05:42:18 +1100

Submitted by Psy-Kosh • 5 votes • 29 comments

Where: Udipi Restaurant, on Orchard Lake road, between 12 and 13 mile road (much closer to 13 mile)

When: Sunday, February 20, 12:30pm (This can be moved a bit later or such if that's better for anyone)

Unless anyone who would otherwise come except for the date/time being bad, that's what I'm going to go with.

If you plan on showing up, go ahead and comment here so I'll have an idea about that. (Although if you don't comment and you find that you do still want to show up, don't feel that your not having commented is a reason not to show up.)

EDIT: From the discussion thread, some people in Ann Arbor would come if they had a ride. So if anyone is coming from Ann Arbor and is willing to give a ride, please mention that. Thanks.

29 comments

arundelo on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-14T05:48:17.433171+11:00

I'll be there.

arundelo on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-21T06:46:26.192705+11:00

We had a turnout of 10 by my count (not counting two younglings). Thanks to Psy-Kosh for starting this.

For reference: I was near the northeast corner of the table, next to Psy-Kosh. My real-life name is Aaron Brown.

Here's Doug Engelbart's mouse-tastic 1968 "Mother of All Demos" (and the Wikipedia entry).

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-23T03:43:32.639186+11:00

Yeah, 10 sounds about right. And nice to meet you. :)

mhowardthomas on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-21T07:59:37.082124+11:00

Great to meet you, Aaron. And great to meet all of you! Thanks to Psy-Kosh for setting this up, we should do more. My real life name is Michael Thomas, I was the shorter of the two guys with the babies, bald and with a mustache. I sat next to Aaron.

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-23T03:44:46.645049+11:00

Aaah. Never mind my previous comment to you then about not knowing which one you were, then. :) And you're welcome. Thank you for showing up.

torekp on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-22T11:21:03.594606+11:00

Glad to meet you all. My name is Paul Torek. I'm the bald guy with no mustache who sat almost directly across from Psy-Kosh. I'll second the thanks to Psy-Kosh.

When might we get together next?

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-23T03:45:51.717645+11:00

Glad to meet you too, and thank you for showing up. :)

As far as next time? Well, how often we want to do this? Weekly? Once every two weeks? Once a month? (And is this the same place okay to do it regularly, or would all of you prefer other places?)

realitygrill on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-23T06:18:48.959493+11:00

Cool to meet you all :)

I think we need a venue in which it's easier to talk. As for how often, I don't know..

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-14T15:08:12.539255+11:00

Yay.

Gorp on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-17T05:48:13.330532+11:00

I just discovered the site about a month ago...can't believe there's going to be a meet up in the area! I'm planning on coming and bringing along a friend.

mhowardthomas on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-21T02:40:09.387580+11:00

My wife and I plan on attending with another interested couple, plus one baby each for total of 6 people.

realitygrill on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-20T13:50:56.054071+11:00

I don't know if it's cost effective, but the Ann Arbor-ites could try ZipCar.

Sniffnoy on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-20T14:13:35.941690+11:00

Don't think I'lll show up, 12:30 AM^H^H PM Is kind of early for me on a weekend. (I had considered resetting my sleep schedule this weekend, but ultimately I didn't.)

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-20T16:56:58.990046+11:00

I think you meant pm anyways,, next time mention and I'll set it later.

It's not a problem for me at least. It's a bit late for me to change it (Although if you want to show up at 1 or perhaps 1:30, I should still be there...)

But yeah, lemme know next time for what would be a better time.

Sniffnoy on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-20T17:08:00.639652+11:00

Yes; I didn't say anything because I was thinking I might reset my schedule this weekend.

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-20T17:11:49.542191+11:00

Ah, okay then.

realitygrill on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-16T15:26:12.646869+11:00

I think I will be able to make it, also. Excellent!

realitygrill on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-21T06:39:23.592725+11:00

So, I was the incentive guy.

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-23T03:41:31.387434+11:00

Hi incentive guy! :) Nice to meet you.

mhowardthomas on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-21T07:59:53.435792+11:00

Nice to meet you!

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-23T03:42:46.638671+11:00

Nice to meet you too. (Er, which one were you again? (Was nice to meet all of you, so I can make the statement honestly even without knowing that particular info. :)))

mhowardthomas on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-24T08:03:30.825889+11:00

I was the smaller of the guys with a baby. I was the one who was complaining about people having inconsistent metrics for assigning value. I'm rather new to this site, and I wouldn't surprise me to find these issues covered previously, I may just need to do some digging. It was great meeting you and so many similarly interested individuals. If only more people cared about being less wrong!

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-24T10:27:25.342307+11:00

Well, you probably are right that we're not really totally consistent, at least in our reasoning.

I was just noting that we as individuals kind of need to resolve those inconsistencies. Generally, when you notice an inconsistency in your preferences, you're able to either decide you prefer one to the other or say you don't know, at which point you (at least for the moment) assign them equal rank, right?

Further, I was noting that even if for some stuff you're not entirely clear on, there're cases where you definitely prefer one thing to the other all else being equal. (The case of not being equal is where you start computing the knock-on effects/separate consequences and modify the net value based on those modifiers...)

Then from there, one can construct utilities by looking at differences between how much stuff is valued. (Which basically can be done by going "if I'd be equally surprised if A or B occur, if I have no particular expectation one way or the other... And if I'm offered to either conditionally replace A with C... that is, if A would have occurred, instead C will occur) or to replace B with D, then whichever one I choose, I'd assign a higher difference to.(ie, utility(C) - utility(A) > utility(D) - utility(B) if you choose the first option, or if you're indifferent, you set those differences as equal.) From there you have an internal "currency" to use, and you can pretty much dutch book argument your way up to Bayesian probability (and the rest of decision theory, I believe). (Well, okay, to actually make the Dutch Book argument work here, we have to focus more on your potential losses and gains rather than the opponents, and more "how much potential utility are you willing to sacrifice to gain some other amount of utility under some circumstances", but that's more just rephrasing and such)

torekp on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-14T09:46:19.745912+11:00

I probably will be able to make it.

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-14T15:07:58.657902+11:00

Cool.

stochopt on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-04-20T06:04:15.435290+10:00

How about another meet up on Sunday the 15th of May in Farmington Hills or Ann Arbor?

arundelo on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-07-09T15:15:55.021698+10:00

Whoops, I just now noticed this.

I'd like to do another meetup sometime (I'm in Farmington Hills but I'd be willing to drive to Ann Arbor, schedule permitting). Doing it at Udipi again would work for me, but it would be nice to find a quieter place.

PhilGoetz on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-14T14:41:52.618024+11:00

Wow, I used to live about a mile from there! Across 12 mile (or was it Farmington?) from where they used to hold the rodeo. But I have a feeling they don't have rodeos there anymore...

Psy-Kosh on Farmington Hills, MI Less Wrong meetup: Sunday, February 20

2011-02-14T15:07:50.993845+11:00

I'm pretty sure there's no rodeos anywhere around 12 mile and orchard lake... (When was this?)

Anyways, you live close enough still that you plan on showing up, or you're just mentioning that you once lived in the area a while back?