It's times like this where I wish there was a consistently updated dump of meetup summaries available for global use to all meetup organizers at the very least.

preference inference based on the structure of [your] goals

It's nothing too formal - wisdom gleaned from an article here and a blog post there.

Most of us readily have a list of goals that come to mind, but it's likely that they are subgoals and we are unaware of why exactly we do them. So, you keep on asking "What will this goal do for me?" instead of "What will do this goal for me?", creating downwind nodes in your graph until you presumably hit your preferences. In which case you (a) could check your preferences for consistency and overlap (see Nozick), and (b) investigate if your current subgoals are the best way to maximize your preferences, or find new ones.

Apparently this can be prescribed from the Connection Theory framework, but I haven't found it necessary to study Connection Theory. They make some interesting guesses about what happens when our stated goals conflict, amongst other things.

One day we're going to have to unpack "aesthetic" a bit. I think it's more than just 'oh it feels really nice and fun', but after we used it as applied to HPMOR and Atlas Shrugged - or parable fiction in general - I've been giving it a similar meaning as 'mindset' or 'way of viewing'. It's becoming less clear to me as to how to use the term.

I've been using it in justifications of reading (certain) fiction now, but I want to be careful that I'm not talking about something else, or something that doesn't exist, so my rationality can aim true.

Has anyone indexed the set of Five-Second Skill posts on Less Wrong? E.g. Get Curious, the Algorithm for Beating Procrastination, Value of Information etc.

Hearing some clear thinking will be a nice refreshment from the being processed in the bowels of cultural academia.

I'd love to cover how to find the exchange rate between opportunities, willingness to pay, and Making your explicit reasoning trustworthy., in that particular order. The latter I wanted to present but it features some pretty masterful rationality, so it might be beyond my capability.

I could lead a small talk on Job-hunt-hacking, but it could wait for next week if my plate is full.

Also of importance, what about the three upvoters?

That doesn't privilege FAI, methinks, and seems too charitable as an after-the-fact explanation with not so much as a survey.

I think it's still hard to privilege if that kind of effect exists in the first place.