[This post will be updated when we have decided what the meetup topic will be, if any.]
We will meet at 1 pm at "La Fleur en papier doré, close to the Brussels Central station. The meeting will be in English to facilitate both French and Dutch speaking members.
If you are coming for the first time, please consider filling out this one minute form to share your contact information.
The Brussels meetup group communicates through a Google Group.
Meetup announcements are also mirrored on meetup.com
No theme has been chosen this month. We will meet at 1 pm at "La Fleur en papier doré", close to the Brussels Central station. The meeting will be in English to facilitate both French and Dutch speaking members. If you are coming for the first time, please consider filling out this one minute form to share your contact information. The Brussels meetup group communicates through a Google Group. Meetup announcements are also mirrored on meetup.com
Imagine that the only way you could dig a trench was with a spoon. Imagine that you'd done that - that you'd got stronger, faster, tougher until you, digging with your spoon, could dig a deep trench several metres long.
Now imagine someone gives you a spade. You'd probably be able to divert a fairly large river.
Now imagine someone gives you a spade.
I'd probably call it unethical and try to get it banned.
General Case:
In an otherwise well-constructed discussion on a subject, the author says something that reveals a significant misunderstanding of the subject, casting doubt on the entire piece, and the ability of the author to think about it sensibly.
Motivating Example:
A few years ago, a lot of public libraries in the UK were closed under austerity measures. Author Philip Pullman (a highly-educated, eloquent and thoughtful man) gave a speech on the subject, which was transcribed and widely circulated online. It was about the non-pecuniary value of libraries, and their value as educational and community resources. It was a very strong speech, but at one point it put forward the proposition that the value of libraries are completely incalculable and beyond measure. This took the wind out of the speech's sails for me, and my takeaway was "you write and speak very well, but you clearly can't be trusted to think about this subject in any useful way".
I experience this quite a lot. I'll be reading something online, mentally nodding along, thinking "yeah, this makes sense", and then the author will undermine all their credibility, not by saying something radical or obnoxious or unworkable or ignorant, but by saying something that demonstrates they don't know how to think properly about the issue.
Scott Aaronson has posted a transcript of his "conversation" with Eugene Goostman.
Does the internet count as "the general population"? If so: identifying and shaming logical fallacies. Sure, people do it imperfectly, and a lot more readily for the opposing side than for themselves, arguments are soldiers etc. But it's still harder to get away with them, for an overall positive result on truth-seeking.
This is a long term meetup announcement to ensure there's always a Brussels meetup visible in the sidebar. We're not sure we'll actually meet on the date given here, but there'll definitely be meetups in the meantime. If this month's meetup hasn't been announced on LW, it's probably just procrastination from the organizer.
We meet every second Saturday of the month at 1pm at "La Fleur en papier doré", close to the Brussels Central station. The meetings are in English to facilitate both French and Dutch speaking members.
Our main web page for meetup announcements and conversations is here.
According to a 2010 unscientific internet survey, over 5% of LessWrong users have Asperger syndrome, which is maybe 25 times more than the general population.
I know, I know. On a website that's all about hyper-rationality and breaking down social interactions into their game theory origin in order to design an AI that can do them better? Shocking.
In this month's meetup (what little of it we'll spend being on-topic), we will discuss what a boring world it would be if we were all the same, and how to rephrase this saying to appeal to people who think boring is good.
We will meet at 1 pm at "La Fleur en papier doré", close to the Brussels Central station. Depending on the weather, we may also spend some time outside. The meeting will be in English to facilitate both French and Dutch speaking members.
If you are coming for the first time, please consider filling out this one minute form to share your contact information.
The Brussels meetup group communicates through a Google Group.
Meetup announcements are also mirrored on meetup.com
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Let's check featured articles on the main page on 19 July 2014....and...there we go.
"Eliezer Yudkowsky Facts" as a featured article. Wow, that's certainly one way to react to this kind of criticism.
(I approve.)