Comment author: steven0461 09 September 2010 10:27:11PM 8 points [-]

If there are (relative to LW) many good self-help sites and no good sites about rationality as such, that suggests to me LW should focus on rationality as such and leave self-help to the self-help sites. This is compatible with LW's members spending a lot of time on self-help sites that they recommend each other in open threads.

Comment author: olimay 10 September 2010 03:02:56AM 5 points [-]

I'm surprised that you seem to be saying that LW shouldn't getting more into instrumental rationality! That would seem to imply that you think the good self-help sites are doing enough. I really don't agree with that. I think LWers are uniquely suited to add to the discussion. More bright minds taking a serious, critical look at all thing, and, importantly, urgently looking for solutions contains a strong possibility of making a significant dent in things.

Major point, though, of GGP is not about what's being discussed, but how. He's bemoning that when topics related to self-improvement come up that we completely blow it! A lot of ineffectual discussion gets upvoted. I'm guilty of this too, but this little tirade's convinced me that we can do better, and that it's worth thinking about how to do better.

Comment author: Zachary_Kurtz 26 April 2010 04:38:48PM 4 points [-]

Both really. How much time should we dedicate to making our map fit the territory before we start sacrificing optimality? Spend too long trying to improve epistemic rationality and you begin to sacrifice your ability to get to work on actual goal seeking.

On the other end, if you don't spend long enough to improve your map, you may be inefficiently or ineffectively trying to reach your goals.

We're still thinking of ways to be able to quantify these. Largely it depends on the specific goal and map/territory as well as the person.

Anybody else have some ideas?

Comment author: olimay 28 April 2010 04:26:00AM 1 point [-]

First, understand the domain of the problem so you can identify poential downsides. Is this area Black Swan prone? Does this resemble Newcomb's problem at all? What do (I think) the shape of risk is here?

For most things people need to do in daily life, we might just consider the cost of further optimization against cost of remaining ignorant and being wrong as a result of that ignorance. It can ne good to be aware of the biases that Prospect Theory talks about--am I putting off reasonably winning big because I'm so afraid of losing pennies?

Comment author: olimay 27 April 2010 09:18:03AM 3 points [-]

Background: two years ago, I dropped out of college with a tremendous amount of debt. I'd failed several classes right before I dropped out, and generally made a big mess of things.

Still alive today, I'm beginning to step free of a lot of social conventions, letting go of shame and the habit of groveling, and learning to really value (and not just know I should value) important things. I am searching for how to make my strongest contribution. In the short term, that probably has to do with making a lot of money, but on the side, I have an inkling that working on my writing and learning to take in and express complicated ideas in speech, prose, poetry, and myth could come in handy. I'm only okay at helping other people with their hangups, but I think it'd be a great thing if I could get really good at overcoming my own, especially the difficult seeming ones.

I owe Michael Vassar for some particularly good advice from a few months back. He also pointed me in the direction of the ancient Cynics--they've been a huge help to me, philosophically.

Comment author: olimay 27 April 2010 07:54:03AM 3 points [-]

Proposal 1 sidesteps the karma system mechanism too much. It wouldn't really encourage me to post more, and I don't think it'll improve quality beyond what a Discussion section would do.

Proposal 2 really doesn't address present lurkers' reluctance to comment. I would instead suggest all users get a small initial karma buffer that will absorb top post and comment downvotes. How that would work in conjuction with the top-post karma requirement, I'm not sure. The idea is to allow users to hide bad comments, give commenters a chance to integrate feedback, but still punish those who would use the "gimme's" as a chance for abuse.

I have high hopes for the discussion section--AT LEAST make sure to put in a plug for it in the not-logged-in welcome message. Having a smaller environment to practice, test out ideas, and get feedback would be great.

I hope people will just go ahead and ask, "Hey, if I invested more time thinking about this, do you think it would make a good post?"

Comment author: CronoDAS 14 April 2010 10:35:25PM 0 points [-]

Yeah, that's me.

Comment author: olimay 15 April 2010 05:09:12PM *  1 point [-]

Great! I'm in Plainsboro and I'd enjoy meeting you sometime soon, if you're up for it.

I go to the NYC meetings about once a month, but mostly the not-quite public ones --these aren't advertised on Meetup.com. It's for the regulars: game nights, focused discussions, and hang-out times. For example, one of our members recently hosted a poker tutorial (He's a successful gambler works in math-of-gambling.) If you're interested in those kinds of activities too, I'd encourage you to join the Google Group.

Comment author: Jess_Riedel 12 April 2010 06:02:59PM *  4 points [-]

I attended a meetup in Santa Barbara which I found largely to be a waste of time. The problem there--and I think, frankly, with LW in general--is that there just aren't that many of us with something insightful to say. (I certainly don't have much.) While it's great, I guess, that the participants acknowledge the importance behind some of the ideas championed by Yudkowsky and Hanson, most of us don't have anything to add. Some of us may be experts in other fields, but not in rationality.

Here's the perfect analogy: it's like listening to a bunch of college guys who've never played sports at a high level discuss a professional game; they all repeat the stuff they hear on ESPN, and the discussion isn't wildly wrong, but they're just regurgitating what they hear.

Do you feel like this described the NYC meetup at all? Do you think the meetup was worthwhile?

Comment author: olimay 14 April 2010 09:56:34PM 0 points [-]

I always find it worthwhile, but maybe it's not what you are expecting or looking for. It's become a social group, with a slightly intellectual bent. It's not an attempt to recreate LessWrong in-person. The core group really has become a community, as in: make connections, understand each other, communicate, and in certain ways, offer mutual support. I find the discussion almost always stimulating, and even though I only go up once every month.

Q: Generally, what kinds of meetups would you enjoy attending?

Comment author: CronoDAS 10 April 2010 07:44:41AM 1 point [-]

I added myself to the Meetup group. I live about an hour's driving distance from NYC.

Comment author: olimay 14 April 2010 09:33:46PM 0 points [-]

Do you happen to be in Central NJ? I remember someone mention being in the vicinity of New Brunswick, but don't recall if it was you.

Comment author: Jess_Riedel 30 March 2010 05:57:18PM 1 point [-]

What happens at the meetups?

Comment author: olimay 04 April 2010 01:30:14AM 1 point [-]

Discussion, mostly ad-hoc. On some occasions the discussion has been more focused it was assumed participants had read certain LW related things.

Comment author: olimay 19 February 2010 02:20:09PM 0 points [-]

Jasen, is your talk and any ensuing Q&A going to be recorded? I can't be there, but: advance cheers.

Comment author: AndrewKemendo 30 October 2009 06:10:17AM 4 points [-]

I am currently working on a google map API application which will allow LW/OB readers to add their location, hopefully encouraging those around them to form their own meetups. That might also make determining the next singularity summit location easier.

If there are any PHP/MySQL programmers who want to help I could def use some.

Comment author: olimay 05 November 2009 07:39:42PM *  0 points [-]

Neat idea! I missed this first time around, and so posted a comment on the open thread asking about creating some central regular-meetup info repo. Same general desire to connect people with meetups.

I know a little PHP (can create forms, WordPress themes/plugins and such, but I use other languages more often). Let me know how it's going and if I can be of any use.

View more: Prev | Next