mindviews

• mindviews 24 Jun 2011 4:48 UTC

  2 points

  on: Re­cent site changes

  First off, let me say thank you for all the work that’s gone into the site update by everyone involved! The three changes I like most are the new header design (especially the clear separation between Main and Discussion—the old menu was too cluttered), the nearby meetup section, and the expanding karma bubbles.

  I had one question about how the nearby meetup list and Location. Is the meetup list supposed to sort by location somehow? If so, what do I need to put in my location? Thanks!

• mindviews 21 Apr 2011 1:02 UTC

  3 points

  in reply to: gwern’s comment on: Offi­cial Less Wrong Redesign: Call for Sugges­tions

  I agree that the single comment view has more boilerplate up top, but otherwise I’d say it usually fits on screens without any trouble.

  I was curious about your comment so I took a look at the screenshot. You say in the bug report that you’re using a “fairly small font” setting but the font is being rendered much larger for you than I see using default IE9 and FF4 settings. Plus your picture shows the page with a serif font while the CSS specifies sans-serif. I’m not sure if it’s a browser issue or if you’re using custom settings, but in a 1600x900 view (as your screenshot size is), I can see the full comment without scrolling.

  Mostly I’d like to know if other people “take 2 screens to see one permalinked comment” because I agree that reasonably short comments should be visible without scolling.

• mindviews 7 Apr 2011 9:40 UTC

  2 points

  on: April 10 2011 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  Sorry I can’t make it this time—I’ve got travel plans this weekend. Hope to see everyone next time.

• mindviews 25 Mar 2011 23:07 UTC

  2 points

  on: 26 March 2011 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  Count me in.

• mindviews 24 Feb 2011 23:30 UTC

  4 points

  in reply to: JenniferRM’s comment on: Fe­bru­ary 27 2011 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  I plan on coming.

• mindviews 17 Dec 2010 4:52 UTC

  2 points

  in reply to: GreenRoot’s comment on: De­cem­ber 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  I’ll make a weak vote for the IHOP near UCI. It’s easy to get to, has free parking, and seemed to work reasonably well for the last meetup.

• mindviews 17 Dec 2010 4:36 UTC

  2 points

  on: De­cem­ber 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  I’ll be there. I’ll be driving from Torrance and can give a ride to anyone who happens to be in that area or along the way.

  What links here?

  • De­cem­ber 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup by JenniferRM (16 Dec 2010 22:28 UTC; 16 points)

• mindviews 2 Nov 2010 2:46 UTC

  13 points

  on: What I would like the SIAI to publish

  For those of you who are interested, some of us folks from the SoCal LW meetups have started working on a project that seems related to this topic.

  We’re working on building a fault tree analysis of existential risks with a particular focus on producing a detailed analysis of uFAI. I have no idea if our work will at all resemble the decision procedure SIAI used to prioritize their uFAI research, but it should at least form a framework for the broader community to discuss the issue. Qualitatively you could use the work discuss the possible failure modes that would lead to a uFAI scenario and quantitatively you can could use the framework and your own supplied probabilities (or aggregated probabilities from the community, domain experts, etc.) to crunch the numbers and/​or compare uFAI to other posited existential risks.

  At the moment, I’d like to find out generally what anyone else thinks of this project. If you have suggestions, resources or pointers to similar/​overlapping work you want to share, that would be great, too.

• mindviews 22 Oct 2010 6:38 UTC

  0 points

  on: Oc­to­ber 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  I’ll be there but I may not arrive until ~2PM. Not sure what the setup at the IHOP is, but I can bring a LCD projector to hook up to any laptops that join us.

• mindviews 22 Oct 2010 6:28 UTC

  1 point

  in reply to: michaelklachko’s comment on: Oc­to­ber 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  It’s a social gathering for anyone interested in discussing anything relevant to the LW community. I personally have been part of discussing rationality in general, cryonics, existential risk, personal health, and cognitive bias (among other topics) at the 2 meetups I’ve been to. It’s a good excuse to meet some other folks and trade ideas, start projects, etc.

  I don’t think we have an agenda organized for this one. But if you’re curious, take a look at the comments from the September SoCal meetup for an idea about what was discussed and what people thought was good/​bad/​interesting about it.

• mindviews 28 Sep 2010 9:58 UTC

  2 points

  in reply to: Alicorn’s comment on: Open Thread, Septem­ber, 2010-- part 2

  I tried something different and added a link to this section. Any comments on how that works?

• mindviews 27 Sep 2010 3:03 UTC

  0 points

  in reply to: Will_Newsome’s comment on: Open Thread, Septem­ber, 2010-- part 2

  I’ll join in the fun—any suggestions appreciated.

  My profile is currently limited to OKC users, though. I wish there were more LW ladies in SoCal who were easier to find...

• mindviews 21 Sep 2010 3:00 UTC

  1 point

  in reply to: darius’s comment on: Septem­ber 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  Hi Darius—If no one else is driving through Burbank, I can backtrack and pick you up.

• mindviews 13 Sep 2010 22:40 UTC

  4 points

  on: Septem­ber 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  I’ll be there. I’ve got space for 3 more in my car. If anyone in the Pasadena/​Glendale area would like a ride, let me know.

  What links here?

  • Septem­ber 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup by JenniferRM (13 Sep 2010 2:31 UTC; 15 points)

• mindviews 11 Jul 2010 9:52 UTC

  4 points

  in reply to: Yoreth’s comment on: Open Thread: July 2010, Part 2

  Is there any philosophy worth reading?

  Yes. I agree with your criticisms—“philosophy” in academia seems to be essentially professional arguing, but there are plenty of well-reasoned and useful ideas that come of it, too. There is a lot of non-rational work out there (i.e. lots of valid arguments based on irrational premises) but since you’re asking the question in this forum I am assuming you’re looking for something of use/​interest to a rationalist.

  So my question is: What philosophical works and authors have you found especially valuable, for whatever reason?

  I’ve developed quite a respect for Hilary Putnam and have read many of his books. Much of his work covers philosophy of the mind with a strong eye towards computational theories of the mind. Beyond just his insights, my respect also stems from his intellectual honesty. In the Introduction to “Representation and Reality” he takes a moment to note, “I am, thus, as I have done on more than one occasion, criticizing a view I myself earlier advanced.” In short, as a rationalist I find reading his work very worthwhile.

  I also liked “Objectivity: The Obligations of Impersonal Reason” by Nicholas Rescher quite a lot, but that’s probably partly colored by having already come to similar conclusions going in.

  PS—There was this thread over at Hacker News that just came up yesterday if you’re looking to cast a wider net.

• mindviews 11 Jul 2010 9:07 UTC

  9 points

  on: Open Thread: July 2010, Part 2

  An akrasia fighting tool via Hacker News via Scientific American based on this paper. Read the Scientific American article for the short version. My super-short summary is that in self-talk asking “will I?” rather than telling yourself “I will” can be more effective at reaching success in goal-directed behavior. Looks like a useful tool to me.

• mindviews 11 Jul 2010 0:56 UTC

  1 point

  in reply to: JenniferRM’s comment on: July 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  I found a public parking structure just around the corner here with the first 2 hrs free and I believe $3 flat rate parking after 5pm that was a good deal.

• mindviews 9 Jul 2010 8:37 UTC

  0 points

  in reply to: darius’s comment on: July 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  A trip through Burbank should be fine—I just PMed you contact details.

• mindviews 9 Jul 2010 2:15 UTC

  1 point

  on: July 2010 South­ern Cal­ifor­nia Meetup

  I’m game. I’ll be driving from Pasadena and can give a ride if you need one.

• mindviews 25 Jun 2010 10:06 UTC

  4 points

  in reply to: wedrifid’s comment on: A Ra­tional Education

  Were you thinking of “Affirmative Action Isn’t About Uplift”?

  http://​​www.overcomingbias.com/​​2009/​​07/​​affirmative-action-wasnt-about-uplift.html