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Meetup : [Boston] Becoming Stronger
Discussion article for the meetup : [Boston] Becoming Stronger
What are you currently doing to make yourself a better person? Are you overcoming mental hurdles, improving your skills, or trying new things? We'll break into small groups and talk about our current projects in as much detail as is comfortable. This is an opportunity to get feedback on your plans and take useful ideas from other people.
Cambridge/Boston-area Less Wrong meetups are every Sunday at 2pm in MIT's building 66 at 25 Ames St, room 156. Room number subject to change based on availability; signs will be posted with the actual room number.
Our default schedule is as follows:
—Phase 1: Arrival, greetings, unstructured conversation.
—Phase 2: The headline event. This starts promptly at 2:30, and lasts 30-60 minutes.
—Phase 3: Further discussion. We'll explore the ideas raised in phase 2, often in smaller groups.
—Phase 4: Dinner. It's about a ten minute walk to the usual restaurant.
Discussion article for the meetup : [Boston] Becoming Stronger
Boston Megameetup July 13-14
On the weekend of July 13-14, Harvard High-Impact Philanthropy will be hosting a rationalist megameetup. Everyone who can make the trip is strongly encouraged to come. We'll meet at the Harvard Science Center in room B-10 at noon on both days. Crash space is available; comment or send me a PM to arrange. (I am supposed to say "the megameetup is not sponsored by the Science Center or Harvard University.") If you're planning to come, please RSVP in this thread or on our facebook event page.
Meetup : [Boston] The Psychology of Marketing
Discussion article for the meetup : [Boston] The Psychology of Marketing
f you've ever asked the question "how can I use my knowledge of psychology to take over the world?", then this talk is for you. Through the dark art known as marketing, people have been exploiting human psychology for their own means before the phrase "cognitive bias" even existed. Learn the science behind marketing, how you can use these methods to aid or destroy the world, and how you can protect yourself from the bombardment of advertisements that surround us all.
Cambridge/Boston-area Less Wrong meetups are on the first and third Sunday of every month at 2pm in MIT's building 66 at 25 Ames St, room 156. Room number subject to change based on availability; signs will be posted with the actual room number.
Discussion article for the meetup : [Boston] The Psychology of Marketing
Meetup : [Boston] The Science Of Happiness
Discussion article for the meetup : [Boston] The Science Of Happiness
We'll review the current research on what makes humans happy and discuss how to apply these lessons to our own lives.
Cambridge/Boston-area Less Wrong meetups are on the first and third Sunday of every month at 2pm in MIT's building 66 at 25 Ames St, room 156. Room number subject to change based on availability; signs will be posted with the actual room number.
Discussion article for the meetup : [Boston] The Science Of Happiness
Meetup : [Cambridge] Sunk Cost Kata
Discussion article for the meetup : [Cambridge] Sunk Cost Kata
We'll present the Center for Applied Rationality's material on sunk costs and go over their exercises on how to apply this knowledge in daily life.
Cambridge/Boston-area Less Wrong meetups are on the first and third Sunday of every month at 2pm in the MIT Whitaker Building (21 Ames St, Bldg 56), room 180. Room number subject to change based on availability. Signs will be posted with the actual room number. The side doors are sometimes locked; if so, you can get in through the main door at 25 Ames St.
Discussion article for the meetup : [Cambridge] Sunk Cost Kata
Megameetup Announcement: Boston, July 13-14
On the weekend of July 13-14, the Boston community will be hosting a megameetup. Everyone who can make the trip is strongly encouraged to come. Details are being worked out, but I expect to have presentations, pairwise discussion, a prediction market game, and (weather permitting) running around outside.
If you think you might come, please leave a comment and a confidence estimate. For example, if you would bring two guests and are 75% certain you will come, your comment might contain "me +2, 75%." If you need a space to crash at night, send me a PM.
Meetup : [Cambridge] How To Do Everything
Discussion article for the meetup : [Cambridge] How To Do Everything
This meetup will focus on practical skills for organizing and motivating yourself to accomplish short-term goals. We’ll have a handful of speakers give brief (maybe 3-10 minute) talks on individual techniques, which we'll use as topics for short, focused group discussions. I expect this to last 45-60 minutes before we break up for general discussion until dinner.
Topics so far:
—The Getting Things Done method
—Beeminder
—Team productivity sessions
If you have a useful technique to share, please do! Let me know and I'll add you to the roster. Cambridge/Boston-area Less Wrong meetups are on the first and third Sunday of every month at 2pm in the MIT Whitaker Building (21 Ames St, Bldg 56), room 180. Room number subject to change based on availability. Signs will be posted with the actual room number.
Discussion article for the meetup : [Cambridge] How To Do Everything
Mortal: A Transponyist Fanfiction
I recently published Mortal, a novella-length My Little Pony fanfiction meant to introduce anti-death concepts to an unfamiliar audience. Short description:
Twilight Sparkle's friends have lived long and happy lives. Now their time is coming to an end, but Rainbow Dash, at least, will not go gently. Twilight has the power to save her friend's life. Is it worth violating the natural order?
This is a character-driven melodrama. It's not particularly rationalist, but it's very, very transhumanist. Unlike, say, Friendship is Optimal, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one to people who don't already know the source. It assumes familiarity with the characters and the world.
I am going to talk about how I put together the story and how people reacted to it. This will contain spoilers.
This line exists so you can break out of the automatic "read everything on the page" mode if you want to avoid the spoilers.
This story was structured as something of a bait-and-switch. I watched the reaction to a previous transhumanist horsefic (yes, there's more than one), and I was struck by how easily readers matched the explicitly anti-death narrative to the "immortality is a curse" trope. Rather than fight against this trend, I decided to work with it. The first act is meant to look like a story about learning to accept the inevitability of death. Starting in chapter 3, I break further and further away from that mold until the protagonists finally rebel against the status quo.
The first chapters got a lot of people invested who I suspect would've been turned off by a less familiar opening. Once I was into the third act, I stopped being subtle and used every trick in the book to make the pro-death characters look like the unreasonable ones. Judging by the comments, there's no shortage of readers who were angry at having their expectations flouted, but quite a few seem thoughtful, and some explicitly changed their mind on the subject.
Meetup : Cambridge: The Meaning Of Life For Beginners
Discussion article for the meetup : Cambridge: The Meaning Of Life For Beginners
Cambridge/Boston-area Less Wrong meetups are at 2 PM on the first and third Sunday of every month at the MIT Whitaker Building [21 Ames St, Bldg 56], room 180. Room number subject to change based on availability. Signs will be posted with the actual room number.
This meetup's theme is figuring out which things are most important to you and how to weigh them against one another. RSVPs at the meetup site are nice but not required.
Discussion article for the meetup : Cambridge: The Meaning Of Life For Beginners
Ritual Report: Schelling Day
On Sunday, April 14th, the Boston group held our first Schelling Day celebration. The idea was to open up and share our private selves. It was a rousing success.
That doesn't do it justice. Let me try again.
By all the stars, you guys. This was beautiful.
About fifteen people showed up. Most of us were from the hard core of Boston's rationalist community. Two of us were new to the group. (I'm hopeful this will convince them to start attending our regular meetups.) There was a brief explanation and a few vital clarifying questions before we began the ritual, which went for maybe 90-120 minutes, including a couple of short breaks. All of us spoke at least once.
I don't want to go into specifics about what people said, but it was powerful. I learned about sides of my friends I would never have guessed at. People went into depth about issues I had only seen from the surface. I heard things that will make me change my behavior towards my friends. I saw angst and guilt and hope and pain and wild joy. I saw compassion and uncertainty and courage. People said things they had never said before, things I might not have been brave enough even to think in their position. I had tears in my eyes more than once.
Speaking went remarkably smoothly. I set a timer for five minutes for each speaker, but it never ran out. (Five minutes is a surprisingly long time.) Partway through, Julia suggested we leave a long moment of silence between speakers, which was a very good idea and I wish I'd done a better job of enforcing it.
Afterwards, we had a potluck and mingled in small groups. At first we talked about our revelations, but over time our conversation started drifting towards our usual topics. Next time, in order to keep us on topic, I'll probably try adding more structure to this stage.
The other area I wanted to improve was the ritual with the snacks. We had five categories: Struggles, Confessions, Hopes, Joys, and Other. There weren't many Hopes, and there wasn't much distinction between Struggles and Confessions. I'll change this for next time, possibly to Hardships, Joys, Histories, and Other. There's room for improvement in the specific snacks I picked, too.
This celebration was the most powerful thing I've experienced since the Solstice megameetup. I don't think I want to do this again soon—it was one of the most exhausting things I've ever done, even if I didn't notice until after I'd left—but I know I want to do it again sometime.
To everyone who came: I'm so proud of what you did and who you are. Thank you for your courage and sincerity.
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