I've been procrastinating on working on what I learned at the minicamp. Recently I presented an abridged version of one of the sessions (self-modification through operant conditioning) to my local meetup. It went very well, and then something surprising happened. I could actually work on the minicamp stuff! I suspect the positive response increased the value of working on it. It was a bizarre feeling - like trying to stand on a stair that isn't there - to expect akrasia and suddenly be capable of working instead.
This is the public group instrumental rationality diary for the week of May 28th. It's a place to record and chat about it if you have done, or are actively doing, things like:
Or anything else interesting which you want to share, so that other people can think about it, and perhaps be inspired to take action themselves. Try to include enough details so that everyone can use each other's experiences to learn about what tends to work out, and what doesn't tend to work out.
Thanks to everyone who contributes!
(Previously: 5/14/12, 5/21/12)