Meetup : Meetup: Less Wrong Israel Meetup (Tel Aviv) with special guest Tomer Kagan
Discussion article for the meetup : Meetup: Less Wrong Israel Meetup (Tel Aviv) with special guest Tomer Kagan
* UPDATE *
Sadly, Tomer had to move his flight to an earlier date, and so he will not be able to attend.
Instead, our main talk will be Solving real problems with economics by Aur Saraf .
Furthermore, we will be hosting another special guest, Joshua Fox, a MIRI Research Associate and representative in Israel who will tell us a little about his job at MIRI and AI research.
* Previous meetup info below *
We’re very proud to host special guest Tomer Kagan from Quixey for this upcoming event on Thursday, December 26th. Tomer is the CEO and Co-Founder of Quixey. Quixey is a company dedicated to helping users find and use apps in their everyday lives. In 2011 he was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30.
He currently sits on the board of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and is also an advisor to Innovation Endeavors, Mucker Lab Seed Fund, and Upwest Labs.
A lifelong entrepreneur, Tomer was the Founder and CEO of Your Logo Here, a branding solutions provider for companies such as Google and Slide. In his spare time he is an advisor to a local AZA chapter—a high school aged Jewish leadership-focused youth organization.
Our program is:
20:00-20:15: Assembly
20:15-21:00: Main Talk
21:00-22:00: Dinner & Discussion
22:00-23:00: Rump Session (minitalks)
23:00-: End of official programming
Main Talk: Tomer Kagan
Backup Talk: Aur Saraf—Solving real problems with economics
Rump Session: Each participant will give a 4-minute talk (+3 minute encore if we applaud hard enough). Giving a talk isn’t mandatory, but it’s highly recommended. Not confident that what you have to say is relevant to our interests? Unsure about your public speaking skills? Doesn’t matter—in the rump session, anything goes. - Note, you don’t have to prepare a talk to come! Speaking at the rump session is completely only if you want to.
Feel free to contact me (Gal Hochberg) at hochbergg@gmail.com or at 0545330678 for any further information
Directions to the location:
Givatayim, Weizman 18, corner of Gush Etzion, Floor 2, Apt 3. Entry from Gush Etzion st, on the building is a Histadrut Haovdim sign.
Weizman street is perpendicular to Katzanelson st, a 15 minute walk from the diamond exchange from Ramat Gan.
To people coming from Jerusalem: Take line 480 from the central bus station, from Arlozorov in Tel Aviv take the bus described further below. There are return buses till 3:00 am.
To people coming from within Tel Aviv by bus:
Take line 55 from the station near the park (next to the protest tents), and get off on “Weiman—Jabotinsky” station. Go back a ways and you’re there. The entry is from Gush Etzion st next to the Taxi station in the building with the supermarket.
Line 45, 60 and 160 - get off at “Katzanelson—Gan Hazikaron”, walk back on Katzanelson till the corner of Weizman, take a left on Weizman and continue for one block. The apartment is in the building with the supermarket. The entry is from Gush Etzion st next to the Taxi station.
From Azrieli take line 63 from the station on Begin st next to the Azrieli mall. Get off at “Moetzet Hapoalim” and cross the street. The entry is from Gush Etzion st next to the Taxi station in the building with the supermarket.
By Tel-O-Fun bike: There is a station 10 minutes away in Nahalat Yitzhak. Afterwards go to Aliyat Hanoar, walk one block to the left (North) till Katzanelson. Continue on Katzanelson till Weizman. Take a right on Weizman and after one block you are in Gush Etzion st. The entry is from Gush Etzion st next to the Taxi station in the building with the supermarket.
By Car: There is marked municipal public parking which is free at night, but there isn’t a lot of it.
Excellent, can’t wait to see everyone there!
Note: We’ve changed location this time. If anyone needs directions on how to get there, contact me!
Is LessWrongism the new Bolshevism?
Such a strange question in such a strange thread.
No.
But a cautionary comparison with 19th centry Socialism (before Bolshevism, totalitarianism, etc) came to mind as soon as I learned about transhumanism and singularitarianism, and indeed my first post to a list from this community (SL4) was about that.
I wrote an article about this for H+Magazine
(EDIT: And also,,, I just realized that this the above comment should be on the open thread.)
Hmmm… Enlightenment-based ideology that, applied naively as most apply it, loses sight of its own limits and tramples over the greater complexities of human life? Looking to take over the world and usher in a new utopian age? Utilitarian and humanist in basic philosophy?
Yes, the pattern matches. What we can say in the defense of LessWrongism is that the advanced stages of indoctrination do actually include acknowledgement that “there are more things in Heaven and Earth”. Thus, I would generally trust, say, the staff of MIRI and CFAR to act as competent public intellectuals for the new administration of some country that just underwent a revolution, even if I think some LessWrong lurkers and posters would fall immediately into either the Bolshevik/Randian failure mode of acknowledging only one organizing principle in life.
;-) DISCLAIMER: I’m actually a socialist myself and brewing material to talk over with an FHI guy, so the comparison being made here should be taken as “ribbing but friendly”.