The Singularity Institute is coming to Oxford, England for AGI-2012!

AGI-2012 runs December 8th–11th, but many of us will be arriving as early as the 6th or 7th, and some will be leaving as late as the 16th. We are looking for generous members of the Less Wrong community who would be willing to host us during our visit.

Who's coming?

• Luke Muehlhauser
• Louie Helm
• Carl Shulman
• Alex Altair
• Malo Bourgon
• Anja Heinisch

Why you might want to host us?

• You want to help SI save some money.
• You want to see Luke Meuhlhauser fact #8 for yourself.
• You want to hangout with us, which is great, because we also want to hangout with you.
• You want to marvel at Louie's boyish good looks in person.

• your location,
• what dates you can host one or more of us, and
• how many of us you're able/willing to put up with :)

The Singularity Institute is looking to hire someone familiar with decision theory to help finish Luke's Decision Theory FAQ (with the possibility of working on other projects afterwards). The first task of this individual will be to expand on section 11 by explaining each of the Newcomblike problems and showing how EDT, CDT, CDT+, and TDT perform on each of them. 

Pay will be hourly and starts at $15/hr, but will increase if you produce a good product. You must be able to commit an average of 20+hrs/wk.

Those applying for the position should be generally familliar with most of the following:

• Axiomatic decision theory (VNM, Savage)
• EDT, CDT, CDT + causal graphs (CDT+), and TDT
• Newcomb's problem, medical Newcomb's problem, Parfit's hitchhiker, etc.

If you are interested in the position, apply here!

The Singularity Institute and the Center for Applied Rationality are looking to expand their web development team. As per usual we'd like to post this opportunity to the LW community first. All work will be on a contract basis (you quote us your hourly rate).

Perks:

• Make money while contributing to organizations you care about.
• Age and credentials are irrelevant; only product matters.

The Singularity Institute has recently made the transition to a LaTeX based document production workflow for its publications and republished its existing research papers. However, there is still much work to be done and we need more remote LaTeX editors. Some projects currently in the queue include converting both The Sequences and Facing the Singularity into LaTeX based books.

As with other remote positions, pay is hourly and starts at $14/hr but will increase if you produce a good product.

Perks:

• Work flexible hours: Complete your work in few large chunks or many small ones—at 03:00 or 18:00—it's up to you.
• Work from wherever you please: your home (maybe even in bed), your local coffee shop, a hostel in Nepal, whatever.
• Age and credentials are irrelevant; only product matters.
• Make money while contributing to The Singularity Institute.

Faith, Hope, and Singularity: Entering the Matrix with New York’s Futurist Set

To my knowledge LessWrong hasn't received a great deal of media coverage. So, I was surprised when I came across an article via a Facebook friend which also appeared on the cover of the New York Observer today. However, I was disappointed upon reading it, as I don't think it is an accurate reflection of the community. It certainly doesn't reflect my experience with the LW communities in Toronto and Waterloo. 

I thought it would be interesting to see what the broader LessWrong community thought about this article. I think it would make for a good discussion.

Possible conversation topics:

• This article will likely reach many people that have never heard of LessWrong before. Is this a good introduction to LessWrong for those people?
• Does this article give an accurate characterization of the LessWrong community?

Edit 1: Added some clarification about my view on the article.

Edit 2: Re-added link using “nofollow” attribute.