Posts

Meetup : AI safety Berlin 2016-12-08T14:36:06.272Z
Meetup : LessWrong Community Weekend 2016-01-10T15:39:30.439Z
Meetup : European Community Weekend 2015 2014-10-21T14:55:50.412Z
European Community Weekend 2014 retrospective 2014-04-29T14:08:47.844Z
European Community Weekend in Berlin 2014-01-24T17:55:50.501Z
Meetup : Community Weekend in Berlin 2014-01-24T15:53:23.664Z
Meetup : Berlin 2013-11-11T12:35:40.100Z
Meetup : Berlin: Fermi paradox discussion 2013-09-12T08:27:33.984Z
Meetup : Berlin Social Meetup 2013-04-16T16:27:40.931Z
Meetup : Berlin Social Meetup 2013-04-16T16:24:32.302Z
Meetup : Berlin, practical rationality 2013-03-30T19:16:14.720Z
Meetup : Berlin social 2013-03-15T20:06:05.570Z
Meetup : Berlin 2013-03-03T10:08:35.561Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2013-02-19T06:10:53.949Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2013-02-02T08:08:09.113Z
Meetup : Berlin social meetup 2013-01-18T08:19:48.395Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup: Bayes 2012-12-22T14:43:14.377Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2012-11-20T16:32:48.295Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2012-11-09T04:59:58.349Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2012-10-22T05:41:38.062Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2012-10-09T04:57:05.105Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2012-09-17T13:42:22.966Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2012-08-11T09:59:26.150Z
Meetup : Berlin Meetup 2012-06-12T19:58:47.734Z
Meetup : First Berlin meetup 2012-05-03T15:30:26.852Z

Comments

Comment by blob on Covid 2/11: As Expected · 2021-02-12T20:13:14.258Z · LW · GW

20.3% of the analysed cases in week 4 were B.1.1.7, and current numbers for week 5 show 28.5%. The pdf linked from https://covid19.ssi.dk/virusvarianter/opgoerelse-over-udvalgte-af-sars-cov-2-virusvarianter is currently updated daily.

Comment by blob on Data about the new coronavirus variant (B.1.1.7) from Denmark · 2021-01-06T08:44:57.081Z · LW · GW

This follow-up work is also interesting: https://www.ssi.dk/-/media/cdn/files/scenarier_for_udviklingen_i_den_engelske_virusvariant_af_sars-cov-2.pdf?la=da

They use an agent-based model to extrapolate that the UK variant will reach 50% prevalence in Denmark around 40-50 days after Jan 1. 

The model does not account for control loop effects or vaccinations. It says that absent these and with the usual assumptions, Denmark would see a strong peak after 90 days where around 1.4% of the country would be infected at the same time, followed by herd-immunity decline to current infection levels after 180 days.

Comment by blob on What evidence will tell us about the new strain? How are you updating? · 2020-12-27T09:52:57.480Z · LW · GW

On 2: This reports that Denmark has found 33 cases of the new variant, out of 7800 analysed between Nov 14 and Dec 14. Source: https://www.ssi.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/2020/statens-serum-institut-udgiver-opdaterede-tal-for-den-engelske-covid-19-virusvariant, English reporting: https://www.thelocal.dk/20201224/denmark

Comment by blob on [deleted post] 2020-07-04T06:43:24.744Z

Note that the 2020 LWCW was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Comment by blob on Stupid Questions - September 2017 · 2017-09-27T12:20:34.780Z · LW · GW

Agreed!

My slightly grumpy theory is that Apple introduced silly-high dpis as a unique selling point and the other manufacturers had to follow. Sure, some increase in pixel density was useful but they overshot the ideal. (maybe my eyesight is worse than usual, or I have atypical usecases?)

Comment by blob on Stupid Questions - September 2017 · 2017-09-27T12:14:20.143Z · LW · GW

The typical distance between your eyes and the display is closer for a smartphone than for a monitor. If you had both and they had the same resolution the smartphone-pixel would usually take up more of your field of view than the monitor-pixel. The closer the display is to your eyes, the more pixels you'd like it to have. Think about VR headsets as an extreme case: their displays have resolutions like 2160x1200 and people complain that they can see every pixel.

And relating to that, adding more pixels has diminishing returns. Personally for instance I don't care about adding more pixels to current-gen monitors (while keeping the size constant; larger screens need more pixels). Some people would certainly be able to make use of it, but I would hardly benefit. Improvements in color would be very nice though and it's nice to see things start moving into that direction.

Comment by blob on LW 2.0 Open Beta Live · 2017-09-22T06:26:24.449Z · LW · GW

I have the same problem with a gmail account. I've tried several times, checked spam, searched. I assume google didn't accept the email.

EDIT: One of them arrived now.

Comment by blob on 2017 LessWrong Survey · 2017-09-16T12:42:55.454Z · LW · GW

I've taken the survey.

Comment by blob on Why CFAR? The view from 2015 · 2016-01-04T06:15:23.035Z · LW · GW

Here's a concrete anecdote related to the "Do-gooding and epistemic rationality" part.

One of the key benefits I got from the workshop I attended in 2014 was clearer perception and acceptance of my goals.

"I don't know what's important to me beyond myself, family, friends" and "It doesn't seem like I really care about the world" (donating to EA charities seemed like a should) got changed. I do care, and already did before the workshop. It seems like the goals hadn't propagated fully, I hadn't accepted them - possibly because of the scope, the stakes and the implications of taking them seriously.

I have a clear memory of this shift happening because the question "Given these goals, is what you're currently doing correct?" popped up for real the first time. It was great to be able to talk about it directly.

Comment by blob on European Community Weekend 2016 · 2015-12-26T10:50:22.540Z · LW · GW

There's a good chance you'll be able to participate even if you sign up late. We plan for more participants this time (100 instead of 80) and will also stagger signups in a way keeps some tickets available until a month in advance. If you want to be sure, committing now remains the best option though.

Comment by blob on European Community Weekend 2015 · 2014-11-19T18:34:05.675Z · LW · GW

There'll be many international participants so the official proceedings and most informal discussion will be conducted in English.

Comment by blob on European Community Weekend 2015 · 2014-10-20T03:51:08.961Z · LW · GW

Of course it will also be possible to offer contributing content at a later point. There will be an additional "call for papers" at a date closer to the actual event.

Comment by blob on European Community Weekend in Berlin · 2014-01-28T13:40:58.635Z · LW · GW

The response has been great: We now have 40 people tentatively signed up and can't accept more, unfortunately.

If you'd have wanted to sign up, please email John anyway! We may get back to you If someone can't come after all. It also gives us a better idea of how many people to expect next time!

Comment by blob on European Community Weekend in Berlin · 2014-01-25T15:55:02.909Z · LW · GW

Good point, done!

Comment by blob on European Community Weekend in Berlin · 2014-01-25T13:30:13.308Z · LW · GW

I'll gladly clarify things:

  • The 70 Euro mainly include a bed in a shared room for two nights, two breakfasts and a part of the conference room rent. We've tried to keep it as cheap as possible to allow everyone to attend.
  • The conference room fits 40, maybe more. We currently only booked 30 beds but could surely extend that.
  • Signing up involves transferring money, possibly internationally, and banks are ridiculously slow at executing these transfers. So only one person has successfully signed up by now. Maybe some bitcoin transfers have reached John already, I don't know. Yesterday evening there were 35 people who are definitely interested and 4-10 maybes.
Comment by blob on European Community Weekend in Berlin · 2014-01-24T15:03:39.182Z · LW · GW

If you send me a message with your email address, I'll make sure it gets to John. See you there!

Comment by blob on Meetup : Berlin, practical rationality · 2013-04-04T09:55:27.068Z · LW · GW

The location changed! Please check the mailing list for details.

Comment by blob on Programming the LW Study Hall · 2013-03-14T18:12:56.914Z · LW · GW

Somewhat customizable: It supports widgets, but I'm not sure to what degree the layout is editable.

Rearranging the internal video canvas layout seems to be not supported.

Comment by blob on Meetup : Berlin · 2013-03-04T01:09:12.507Z · LW · GW

Welcome to LessWrong!

If you're in Berlin and considering to attend, definitely join the mailing list. We usually have a poll to see who is coming to a meetup, but didn't run one this time. There are usually 6-10 of us.

Comment by blob on 2012 Winter Fundraiser for the Singularity Institute · 2012-12-07T07:06:04.055Z · LW · GW

I donated 650$ and will donate the same amount to the CFAR fundraiser.

Comment by blob on Meetup : Berlin Meetup · 2012-11-13T05:35:39.591Z · LW · GW

We will meet at Ming Dynastie tomorrow.

Comment by blob on Meetup : Berlin Meetup · 2012-10-10T03:52:09.221Z · LW · GW

The meetup after this one isn't planned yet. We'll probably use a doodle poll that's sent around on the mailing list to find a good day again. Also check the note about scheduling in this meetup's announcement.

Comment by blob on Meetup : Berlin Meetup · 2012-09-20T10:22:22.382Z · LW · GW

It's on Friday the 28th. The poll was sent via the mailing list, I'm not sure whether you're subscribed to it.

Comment by blob on Less Wrong Product & Service Recommendations · 2012-07-03T10:22:02.231Z · LW · GW

E-book readers such as the Kindle

I use mine way more often than I originally expected. The low weight means I can have it in my bag by default. A lot of content is available in e-book format and it's easy to get onto the device. Reading lengthy articles on it makes me less likely to get distracted by links, email, etc.

The unexpected killer feature for me was that you can use it one-handedly. I've been carrying my sleeping daughter and reading at the same time for hours - that would have been impossible or at least prohibitively uncomfortable with a book.

Comment by blob on How to Run a Successful Less Wrong Meetup · 2012-06-01T05:04:38.742Z · LW · GW

Great document! Were there any major changes from the last version on google docs?

Some comments:

The "Add new meetup" button described in "Making the announcement" only appears if you have more than two points of karma. While most organizers probably meet that requirement, I thought I simply hadn't found the right place and had to ask someone. I'd prefer if the button showed, but was disabled and had a "need two karma for that" tooltip for people with <2 karma over adding the information to the document.

In the section on Liar's dice:

See Wikipedia for a number of variants, as well as detailed information about the bidding systems.

Unfortunately the descriptions of the various bidding systems were recently removed from Wikipedia. This is the last revision that has them.

Comment by blob on Group rationality diary, 5/21/12 · 2012-05-30T05:10:26.117Z · LW · GW

Is the mini-camp material available publicly somewhere? It may be interesting to have for other meetups but I couldn't find it in a quick search.

Comment by blob on Meetup : First Berlin meetup · 2012-05-08T13:03:31.562Z · LW · GW

Sure! Can you send me your email address? I'd like to ask if anyone else from the mailing list is interested and would CC you to make it easier to organise.

Comment by blob on Welcome to Less Wrong! (2012) · 2012-04-25T20:46:17.601Z · LW · GW

I have decks for:

  • English vocabulary. I've learned many new words and sometimes get an explanation for a word I had only inferred the meaning of from the context - and guessed wrongly.

  • Family facts, mostly birthdays. It's a minor thing really, but I used to not know how old everyone is. And more than once I felt bad when someone asked about the age of a parent and I had to say 'no idea'.

  • Random facts I've looked up several times before or that I don't want to have to ever admit not knowing. Like the age of the solar system, the first few digits of Euler's number, approximately when Newton lived. This kind of thing.

What I wish I had a deck for: Math. I really enjoyed doing math and am sad that I'll forget most of the definitions and theorems now that I don't use them regularly anymore. I've tried converting my lecture notes into flashcards, but it's a lot of work that I'm not motivated enough to do.

Comment by blob on Welcome to Less Wrong! (2012) · 2012-04-25T14:57:10.474Z · LW · GW

Hello!

I'm a mathematician and working as a programmer in Berlin, Germany. I read HPMOR after following a recommendation in a talk on Cognitive Psychology For Hackers and proceeded to read most of the sequences.

Reading LW has had several practical consequences for me: Spaced repetition and effective altruism were new to me. Things have also improved around social skills, exercise and nutrition.

I'm also part of a small Berlin LW meetup: spuckblase and me have met twice - and now we got contacted by two other Berlin based lurkers which prompted the creation of a wiki entry and a mailing list. We're now planning the first meetup that will actually get a meetup post and be announced in advance.

Comment by blob on [German] Wo wohnt ihr? · 2012-01-04T07:37:59.436Z · LW · GW

That's me. I found here through HP:MoR fairly recently and am currently reading through the sequences. I'm also a mathematician who, surprisingly, never attended a lecture on probability theory. Eliezer insistently praises Jaynes' "Probability Theory", so I also got that to fill in the blanks.

If you're interested, I'd like to meet and chat. I'll send you a PM.