LessWrong Community Weekend 2019 – Last 10 Spots

post by DreamFlasher · 2019-08-04T09:20:49.181Z · LW · GW · 0 comments

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TL;DR: 10 remaining spots! Apply here: tiny.cc/lwcw2019_signup Keynote by Dr. Wanja Wiese: “From Predictive Engines to Conscious Machines and Uploading?” Already joining us in Berlin? Tell your best fellow human to join us When? Fr 30.08 noon - Mo 02.09 Where? http://jh-wannsee.de How much? €200

Less than 28 days left until the LessWrong Community and aspiring rationalists take off together for an exciting long weekend of sharing, exploration, connection and celebration. In the last few months we have already gotten many inspiring applications and filled all but the very last 10 spots! Apply now and join us for this special event.

From Friday August 30th to Monday 2nd September aspiring rationalists from across Europe will gather for 4 days of socializing, fun and intellectual exploration. The majority of the content will be unconference style and participant driven. Yet, we are very delighted to welcome Dr. Wanja Wiese as our keynote speaker and his take on predictive engines, conscious machines, and uploading. Find the full abstract for the keynote attached below.

On Friday afternoon we will put up four big daily planners and before you can spell “epistemology” the attendees will fill them up with 50+ workshops, talks and activities of their own devising, such as sessions about rationality techniques, acrobatic yoga and authentic relating; you can learn all about new hyper-cost-effective altruistic interventions, whether a dragon could hover and much much more.

This is our 6th year and we feel that the atmosphere and sense of community at these weekends is something really special. If that sounds like something you would enjoy and you have some exciting ideas or skills to contribute, do come along and get involved. This year is the biggest one yet and it’s an entire day longer than previous years!

The ticket price of €200 includes accommodation for 3 nights, on-site meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and snacks, as well as a tasty welcome lunch at 12:00 on Friday, and a shuttle bus from the restaurant to the venue. On Monday, we checkout by 10:00, but can continue to use some of the conference rooms for coworking and socializing until 15:00.

We still have spots available! Apply here: tiny.cc/lwcw2019_signup and make sure to let us know what experience and ideas you may contribute to this event: tiny.cc/lwcw2019_contribution.

If you would not attend due to financial constraints or if you have any questions, please email us at lwcw.europe@gmail.com.

Looking forward to seeing you there, The Community Weekend organizers and LessWrong Deutschland e.V.

From Predictive Engines to Conscious Machines and Uploading? Predictive processing approaches continue to play an influential role in cognitive neuroscience and philosophy of cognitive science. According to predictive processing, perception and action are underpinned by inference processes on sensory signals, based on an internal model of the world. Since predictive processing is a type of computation, it can also be implemented in artificial, silicon-based systems. But would this endow artificial systems with the same types of mental properties that intelligent biological systems, such as ourselves, possess? A lot hinges on whether the neural mechanisms underpinning consciousness and cognition can be regarded as implementations of predictive processing. If implementing certain forms of predictive processing is sufficient for consciousness, non-biological conscious machines will be possible. In principle, this would also enable us to upload our minds, thereby transcending the limits of mortal biological organisms. But would an uploaded version of myself really be me? And to what extent am I real in the first place, especially if what I experience as ‘me’ is the result of an evolved inference process?

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