= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
Meetup : Seattle: Decision Theory
Discussion article for the meetup : Seattle: Decision Theory
It's past time we had another meetup. As I mentioned earlier, it's past time for another meetup and, I'd like to have a discussion about decision theory. This recent post on decision theory is good background material. I'll be going over the material in that post and talking about some of the decision theory puzzles which standard decision theories don't do very well on and thus motivate trying to find new, better theories. Guy also that he would bring some puzzles. After that, we'll have a discussion about the puzzles. Ben will be hosting this week. The address is 5523 University Way NE, #501, There is a little buzzer next to the door so if you press "501" someone can let you in.
Discussion article for the meetup : Seattle: Decision Theory
Meetup : Seattle, Diseased Thinking and evidence on parenting
Discussion article for the meetup : Seattle, Diseased Thinking and evidence on parenting
We haven't had a serious-ish meetup in a while, so I'd like to do that this Sunday. Walid has graciously volunteered to host the meetup (call me to be let in 360-602-1069). There are two cats in the apartment that can be quarantined if necessary. The plan is read Diseased Thinking about applying reductionism to notions about diseases. I'd also like to discuss the role of parenting on life outcomes of children. Bryan Caplan's book "Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids" presents strong evidence that parenting style has surprisingly little impact on long term life outcomes of children. I'll begin by summarizing the evidence in the book and some of the things Caplan uses that evidence to argue and then we'll discuss for a while. I'm a bit of a Bryan Caplan fanboy, so come with your skeptic hat on. After that we'll have dinner and hang out. I'll try to bring a case of beer.
Discussion article for the meetup : Seattle, Diseased Thinking and evidence on parenting
Meta analysis of Writing Therapy
Robin Hanson recently mentioned "writing therapy" as potentially having surprisingly large benefits. In the example he gives, recently unemployed engineers who write about their experience find jobs more quickly than those that did not.
The meta-analysis paper he links to was pretty lame, but I found another meta-analysis, "Experimental disclosure and its moderators: A meta-analysis", on a somewhat broader topic of Experimental Disclosure that appears to be much better.
My judgment is non-expert, but it looks to me like a very high quality meta-analysis. The authors use a large number of studies (146) and include a large number of potential moderators, discuss their methodology in detail, and address publication bias intelligently.
The authors find small to moderate positive effects on measures of psychological health, physiological health and general life outcomes. They also find a number of interesting moderating factors.
What are you working on? December 2011
This is the sixth bimonthly 'What are you working On?' thread. Previous threads are here. So here's the question:
What are you working on?
Here are some guidelines:
- Focus on projects that you have recently made progress on, not projects that you're thinking about doing but haven't started.
- Why this project and not others? Mention reasons why you're doing the project and/or why others should contribute to your project (if applicable).
- Talk about your goals for the project.
- Any kind of project is fair game: personal improvement, research project, art project, whatever.
- Link to your work if it's linkable.
Meetup : Seattle biweekly meetup: problem solving
Discussion article for the meetup : Seattle biweekly meetup: problem solving
I'd like to try a problem solving meetup. Here's is roughly what I'm thinking:
The idea is to have everyone come to the meetup with an area of their life they would like help improving. The problem can be general ("I'm dissatisfied with my job") or specific ("I'm having trouble motivating myself to do my homework"). We will split up into small groups and try to come up with productive strategies to eachother's issues then perhaps have a larger discussion. In one or two weeks we'll review how successful these strategies were.
Afterwards we'll have dinner and chat.
Ben has graciously agreed to host us this week (ring the buzzer to get let in). Thanks Ben :)
See you guys there!
Discussion article for the meetup : Seattle biweekly meetup: problem solving
Is latent Toxoplasmosis worth doing something about?
Toxoplasmodi gondii is a parasitic protozoa who's primary host is cats but also infects other mammals, primarily mice and rats but including humans, as part of its life cycle. Infection by Toxoplasmodi gondii is called Toxoplasmosis and may be acute (flu like symptoms) or latent.
Toxoplasmosis is extremely common. Worldwide, about 30% (US 11%; France 88%!) of people about of people have Toxoplasmosis.
Toxoplasmosis is known to cause behavioral changes in rats:
It has been found that the parasite has the ability to change the behaviour of its host: infected rats and mice are less fearful of cats—in fact, some of the infected rats seek out cat-urine-marked areas. This effect is advantageous to the parasite, which is able proliferate if a cat eats the infected rat and thereby becomes a carrier.
Observational studies suggest that latent Toxoplasmosis may also cause behavioral changes in humans (source paper). The observed differences between infected people and non-infected people include:
- Decreased novelty seeking behavior
- Slower reactions
- Lower rule-consciousness and greater jealousy (in men)
- Greater warmth, conscientiousness and moralistic behavior (in women)
Meetup : The Planning Fallacy
Discussion article for the meetup : The Planning Fallacy
We're going to have a meetup this Sunday at 4pm since we haven't had one in a while. We'll be talking about The Planning Fallacy, when we've been burned by it, when and why it happens and how to ameliorate it.
See you folks there!
Discussion article for the meetup : The Planning Fallacy
Should I get genotyped?
I've heard several people here mention getting genotyped by 23andme (I assume there are other companies as well). Does genotyping have significant practical benefits or is it mostly for curiosity's sake? If there are significant benefits, what are they?
Reminder: $250 LessWrong source introduction prize submissions due soon
This is just a reminder that the deadline for $250 prize for the best introduction to the LessWrong source is (Edit: not Nov. 23rd!) next Tuesday Oct. 25th. Good luck to all contestants!
What are you working on?
This is the fifth bimonthly What Are You Working On? thread. Previous threads are here. So here's the question:
What are you working on?
Here are some guidelines:
- Focus on projects that you have recently made progress on, not projects that you're thinking about doing but haven't started, those are for a different thread.
- Why this project and not others? Mention reasons why you're doing the project and/or why others should contribute to your project (if applicable).
- Talk about your goals for the project.
- Any kind of project is fair game: personal improvement, research project, art project, whatever.
- Link to your work if it's linkable.
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