Would I go again? It was a really good experience. I do wonder if it is the type of thing that would never be quite the same the second time. Despite thinking this, I am tempted.
Did it make me a measurably stronger writer?
I don’t think so. I am much prouder of the fiction I wrote before Inkhaven than what I produced during Inkhaven. A counterpoint to this: Ozy, Wales, Linch and Eneasz convinced me I should spend some time editing/revising my fiction—which I haven’t really been doing much. This could very well make me a much stronger fiction writer, but I haven’t really tried it yet. We will see what happens with my next short story.
Am I proud of what I wrote?
I am not sure. My first week, I wrote mostly terrible essays. I then started writing microfiction, and some of it still amuses me. I did get one longer bit of fiction done there, too: Lobsang’s Children. I am pretty happy with it, but it wasn’t a big hit.
Linch struck me as the most likely to become a professional blogger. Vishal’s blog was great and he is insanely well read. Though I didn’t really talk to him, Screwtape impressed me. He takes teaching/learning rationality seriously. By revealed preference, this isn’t something I care much about. But it is a noble pursuit and I am glad at least one person is still carrying the torch. I had a brief conversation with GeneSmith and was in awe at how many paths to intelligence augmentation he has considered, including really crazy ideas like methods for expanding adult skulls so as to have more room for brain grafts. He struck me as insanely smart.
Biggest regrets?
I was in a bad mood at the start and psyched myself out of enjoying the first week. I started drinking in an attempt to improve my mood and this was a poor decision. I was consequently rather rude to a few people. Interestingly, my tweets were (for whatever reason) much better than usual during this period.
The snack bar was so tempting, I gained about 10 pounds. I just don’t have willpower in regards to snacks. At home, I eat bland food to stay at the high end of “normal” BMI. I am very annoyed I did this to myself and am considering an extreme fast. I would have paid extra to be forbidden snacks, as stupid as this sounds. Perhaps Screwtape is right about this whole rationality thing.
What is Lighthaven like?
An excerpt from a tweet I wrote about this:
I am not the most visual person, but I can relay impressions. I would say it feels a bit Chestertonian. The Rose Garden Inn as patient zero, infecting various houses around it. The Chestertonian bit, in my imagination, is the implicit mad scheme to slowly undermine various stifling norms of city planning. One house at a time, seeds of freedom spread. I imagine this spirit infecting first the neighborhood and then the city of Berkeley itself. At a key moment, the planning commissioner will be turned and the revolution completed.
There is an artificial lawn. And though you’d think artificial grass would be tacky, it does somehow work. Once again, materials scientists have outdone God. There are “onions,” strange functional sculptures in which one can sit and have conversations. They look to me like large demonic hands transfigured from the artificial turf by some strange wizards, but in a pleasant way. There is a snack-bar, which is perhaps too generous with its offerings. I would recommend hiring Stephan J. Guyenet as a consultant to ruin everyone’s good time.
The aesthetics, then, I will describe as Post-Bureaucratic-Apocalypse chic. Planning laws and an aesthetically dead, inhuman, architectural tradition preventing any new beauty being constructed, those with taste must take the old and put it to new purposes. And this Lighthaven has done.
Favourite Visiting Writers? I am mostly interested in fiction, so talked with Daystar, Ozy and Alexander Wales. They were all great. Ozy’s feedback was particularly good. And they’re just a very pleasant, happy person. Daystar seemed cool and I should have asked for more feedback from him, though I did send him this very personal, autobiographical work.
How well run was it? It was very well run. I have no complaints. Ben Pace did a great job. I expect next year it will be even better.
Reflections on Inkhaven
Would I recommend applying next year? Yes.
Would I go again? It was a really good experience. I do wonder if it is the type of thing that would never be quite the same the second time. Despite thinking this, I am tempted.
Did it make me a measurably stronger writer?
I don’t think so. I am much prouder of the fiction I wrote before Inkhaven than what I produced during Inkhaven. A counterpoint to this: Ozy, Wales, Linch and Eneasz convinced me I should spend some time editing/revising my fiction—which I haven’t really been doing much. This could very well make me a much stronger fiction writer, but I haven’t really tried it yet. We will see what happens with my next short story.
Am I proud of what I wrote?
I am not sure. My first week, I wrote mostly terrible essays. I then started writing microfiction, and some of it still amuses me. I did get one longer bit of fiction done there, too: Lobsang’s Children. I am pretty happy with it, but it wasn’t a big hit.
These are my favourite of my short posts:
Harry Potter and the Rules of Quidditch
Remembering Aubrey Chang
With Adjustable Chef’s Tool Drawer
Most valuable thing about Inkhaven?
Inkhaven is nothing without its people.
Which residents impressed me most?
Linch struck me as the most likely to become a professional blogger. Vishal’s blog was great and he is insanely well read. Though I didn’t really talk to him, Screwtape impressed me. He takes teaching/learning rationality seriously. By revealed preference, this isn’t something I care much about. But it is a noble pursuit and I am glad at least one person is still carrying the torch. I had a brief conversation with GeneSmith and was in awe at how many paths to intelligence augmentation he has considered, including really crazy ideas like methods for expanding adult skulls so as to have more room for brain grafts. He struck me as insanely smart.
Biggest regrets?
I was in a bad mood at the start and psyched myself out of enjoying the first week. I started drinking in an attempt to improve my mood and this was a poor decision. I was consequently rather rude to a few people. Interestingly, my tweets were (for whatever reason) much better than usual during this period.
The snack bar was so tempting, I gained about 10 pounds. I just don’t have willpower in regards to snacks. At home, I eat bland food to stay at the high end of “normal” BMI. I am very annoyed I did this to myself and am considering an extreme fast. I would have paid extra to be forbidden snacks, as stupid as this sounds. Perhaps Screwtape is right about this whole rationality thing.
What is Lighthaven like?
An excerpt from a tweet I wrote about this:
Favourite Visiting Writers? I am mostly interested in fiction, so talked with Daystar, Ozy and Alexander Wales. They were all great. Ozy’s feedback was particularly good. And they’re just a very pleasant, happy person. Daystar seemed cool and I should have asked for more feedback from him, though I did send him this very personal, autobiographical work.
How well run was it? It was very well run. I have no complaints. Ben Pace did a great job. I expect next year it will be even better.
Presumably because you were drunk and angry
And you were doing so well, brother.
EDIT: What fiction have Ozy and Daystar written?
https://daystareld.com/pokemon/
https://ozybrennan.substack.com/p/ozys-fiction