All of adb's Comments + Replies

adb00

Their pages mention that they are funded entirely by donations from past students.

After you've taken the course, how much do they contact you (to solicit donations or otherwise)?

0e803ecea3
Just to add to Luke_Grecki's comment (which is spot on), at some of the old student courses it's not even mentioned. The Goenka centers are remarkably passive about donations.
1[anonymous]
Their attitude towards donations: if you feel that you've benefited from the course and would like others to be able to do so in the future then you can give a donation. The donation shouldn't be given for the purpose of paying for the benefits you've received. IIRC they don't ever explicitly ask you if you want to give a donation. At the end of the course there is a visible table set up where you can give donations if you want to. They also have forms you can fill out if you'd like to get emails about volunteer opportunities.
adb00

May I suggest you put this meetup and future ones on the calendar?

adb00

How long does the meetup typically last?

0jimrandomh
2-3 hours.
adb50

Psychohistorian doesn't say the idea isn't useful, just that reliance on it is incorrect. If the theory is "people mostly do stuff because of signalling", honestly, that's a pretty crappy theory. Once Signalling Guy fails this test, he should take that as a sign to go back and refine the theory, perhaps to

"People do stuff because of signalling when the benefit of the signal, in the environment of evolutionary adaptation, was worth more than its cost."

This means that making predictions requires estimating the cost and benefit of the be... (read more)

pjeby220

it's real easy to look at a behavior that doesn't seem to make sense otherwise and say "oh, duh, signalling". The key is that the behavior doesn't make sense otherwise: it's costly, and that's an indication that, if people are doing it, there's a benefit you're not seeing.

People do all sorts of insane things for reasons other than signaling, though. Like because their parents did it, or because the behavior was rewarded at some point.

Of course, signaling behavior is often rewarded, due to it being successful signaling... which means it migh... (read more)

adb10

Medford, MA. Enjoyed the OB meetup on the MIT campus, which was convenient since I work across the street. I'd be up to renting a car and driving to Amherst or New Hampshire for a meetup on a weekend, especially if there was time for hiking.