Name: Alex Hedtke Age: 27
Came here via HPMOR, stayed for the rationality. Organizer for the Kansas City Rationalists. Founder and co-organizer for Kansas City Effective Altruism. Founder and co-CEO of ‘The Guild of the ROSE’.
Name: Alex Hedtke Age: 27
Came here via HPMOR, stayed for the rationality. Organizer for the Kansas City Rationalists. Founder and co-organizer for Kansas City Effective Altruism. Founder and co-CEO of ‘The Guild of the ROSE’.
Done! Link to the transcript has been posted in the description, and also here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MjTM4revF1upDvO00y0v8jF8G6HUbcABtFDxVYiLyPc/edit?usp=sharing
Is there a different venue/format for the notes you had in mind?
My IRL rationality group is preparing to test that sequence. It looks promising, although we do have some quibbles with it. If we successfully finish testing, we’ll publish the details.
If I find that it does have actual impact on the podcast’s effectiveness, then I absolutely will seriously consider changing it. Your criticism has updated me marginally in that direction, but it’s not quite enough for me to act on it, particularly since you’re the only person to mention it. Thank you for your feedback!
If anyone has any questions, I am co-CEO of ROSE and will be periodically checking these comments. :)
At its core, SE is merely coaching people in asking the Fundamental Question of Rationality. As an SE-er, it’s my way of Raising the Sanity Waterline. It’s excellent at circumventing the Backfire Effect.
There are as many motivations for SE as there are practitioners.
I’m sure that there are Street Epistemologists that are guilty of this, but that’s literally opposite of what I encourage or practice.
No hardcover option?
That’s very kind of you, thank you. It means a lot.
Yes, that is the correct sequence of events. I was raised in a Christian household, but the first belief I truly held for myself was atheism. I am no longer a Christian or theist in any way.
CEO of the Guild of the ROSE here. This is an excellent writeup, and I appreciate the shoutout. You’ve correctly identified that our current structure lends itself more towards a university-like environment, but we have always aspired for that to just be one piece of the Guild. We are also interested in being a more open-ended community and providing the things you describe.
Right now, we are limited by funds and time. We have been working on this project for several years without pay, and so we have had to severely restrict what we focus on. If anyone wants to use us for the aspirations outlined in this post, let us know and we will happily lend ourselves to this mission.
The Kansas City Rationalists are putting together a dojo, for the purpose of improving our cognitive abilities, happiness, and efficiency. For content, we will be using the ‘Hammertime’ sequence. Attendees are expected to read the introduction (‘Hammers and Nails’) and Day 1 (‘Bug Hunt’), as well as put together their bug list. The meeting will consist of meta-discussion about the content, and discussion about our experience putting together our bug lists. Bonus points if you are willing to share the bugs you found!
We will be meeting weekly, at the same time and location.
Please have a non-leather hardcover option for us vegans. :)
The primary goal of this document is to articulate my personal moral philosophy, and I use the Mohism branding because it has strong corollaries to said moral philosophy, but otherwise I am reinventing it from scratch.
I do think that a lot of the core tenets are widely (if subconsciously) held. As for the ones that aren’t widely held, I personally think they should be. But, like any good Neo-Mohist, I’m willing to be convinced otherwise. ;)
The phrasing of this as a philosophy for others to adopt is mostly an aesthetic decision, a reframing to help me look at it more critically.
Thanks for the feedback!
Basing it on Mohism is more of an aesthetic decision than anything; if classical Mohism has an issue then Neo-Mohism should set out to solve it. :)
I think there’s a difference between “no fixed standards” and “the ability to update standards in light of new evidence”. Neo-Mohism is definitely about “strong opinions, weakly held” kind of thing. The standards it sets forth are only to be overturned by failing a test, and until then should be treated as the best answer so far.
If you would like to attend a Guild mixer to meet the Council and some of the students, come join us saturday! We expect to do this on a monthly or quarterly basis.
https://bit.ly/3lOco5O
The Bayesian Conspiracy needs to be updated with Jess as a new host. :)
I didn’t even know about this resource. Thanks!
Hi, Motasaurus. I certainly hope you stick around! Don’t let our disagreements drive you off.
However, on that note, I’m afraid I would have to disagree. While I think you can have “better than average” epistemology and still be a Christian, perhaps even be in the top 25% percentile, I don’t believe you can aspire to be a perfect Bayesian and still be a Christian.
I would respectfully point out that the Apostle John is hardly a neutral spectator in determining whether one can be both Christian and Rational. Additionally, he certainly didn’t have access to anywhere near the same level of understanding of human cognition, science, and probability theory as we do; to use an Eliezer illustration, the greatest physicists of his age couldn’t have calculated the path of a falling apple.
Also, how would one go about acquiring these CFAR techniques? Is attending a workshop mandatory? I don’t quite have the discretionary funds for that. :P
Yes, but they could all be explained by the fact I just sat down and bothered to think about the problem, which wouldn’t exactly be an amazing endorsement of rationality as a whole.
I also don’t look at rationality as merely a set of tools; it’s an entire worldview that emphasizes curiosity and a desire to know the truth. If it does improve lives, it might very well simply be making our thinking more robust and streamlined. If so, I wouldn’t know how to falsify or quantify that.