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Excited to see everyone today. Re-reading through the links, I think they might be a bit too pro-nuclear. I'm going to recommend a reading from the last meetup, Safe Enough which argues we're thinking about nuclear risks incorrectly. A key excerpt:
Still. The advocates who intone solemnly on the importance of analyzing nuclear energy in terms of dispassionate numbers, as above, use the wrong models. To estimate the potential impact of cascades, we cannot simply average what has been. Our models have to consider the total damage possible - the number of rice grains in our pile, the energy of the atoms in our nuclear fuel.
[...]
To take Probabilistic Risk Assessment seriously requires that we think beyond intuition and experience, and place our faith in an intricate web of calculations and simulations. That we celebrate meticulousness over freedom and invention. That we recognize that while our vigilance will protect us from some catastrophes, it will never shield us entirely.
I'm confused about what a worst-case for nuclear power looks like, because I don't understand what it would mean to direct the maximum amount of radiation from a nuclear power plant to the most populous areas. The talk from Michael Shellenberger made it seem like living near Chernobyl isn't that bad? Looking forward to discussing!
Mars is locked due to the Santa Claus parade, so please gather at the Elizabeth St. entrance. We'll accumulate there until 14:15.
Event is happening November 24th. Accidentally set the date wrong when initially making the event.
The door from the Queen's Park subway entrance is unlocked, so use that entrance. I'll be waiting outside University Avenue entrance until 14:15
MARS building locked due to protest. Meet outside West entrance on University Avenue. I'm still wearing the neon jacket.
Because some of you were asking, here's the yearly review template I use: https://alexvermeer.com/8760hours/
Its integrated into productivity website I use: https://intend.do/?r=u0hywhp1rz
To find the meetup, look for a woman wearing a neon jacket. I am ill, so my partner is running the meetup in my place. She'll be wearing the neon jacket and handing out name tags.
MARS is closed due to the Santa Claus Parade, so we're going to gather nearby at https://what3words.com/fizzle.relating.title
which is outside the Mercatto cafe. I'll still be wearing a neon jacket. We'll relocate to somewhere warmer at 14:30
I forgot my neon yellow jacket, so look for a black baseball cap instead.
FYI, Terraform Industries published a new blog post about the cost of their hydrogen electrolysis, which is significantly less than you're linked estimate of around $7/kg. They claim they can get $3/kg using current legacy solar, but with current solar cost trends continuing (which I know you're skeptical of) could reach $1.12/kg. They accomplish this by optimizing the cost/efficiency trade-off of the electrolysis setup.
I'm assuming Casey Handmer is being overly optimistic, but I can't tell by how much.
I previously mangled the event time. For the sake of clarity, let me mark it down in this comment so people are notified: Sunday, March 26th from 14:00 to 16:00 EST
I am irrationally/disproportionately insecure about discussing my mediocre/generic goals in a public forum, so I'd rather discuss this in-person at the meetup. :apologetic-emoji
I think David's primary concern is choosing the goals in "systematically finds a better path to goals" which he wants to name "meta-rationality" for the sake of discussion, but I think could be phrased as part of the rationality process?
I truly do not know. I have many friends (Hazard) and acquaintances (Malcolm Ocean) in those communities and only understand their blog posts and investigations/discussions 20% of the time, but maybe that's because I'm a stage 4.5 dweller.
Hilariously, this meetup is motivated by the sentiment/discomfort/uncertainty expressed in Ellie Hain's reply to the tweet you linked:
the problem is though, that the more meta you go, the less concrete solutions you get. A lot of talking but very little doing
Aside: I've met Ellie Hain in person and like the School for Social Design, but have yet to find a way to design an approachable meetup around their ideas.
Due to surprise concert, we've moved to the roller rink which is quieter https://what3words.com/resold.burn.hitters
Even though it is raining, The Bentway is sheltered so the meetup location is unchanged.
There's going to be snacks in the form of muffins and some samosas.
Started reading this book and made it to chapter 3 before giving up. Mostly ends up being a tour of various pitfalls when pursuing something ambitious. For example:
- Your data can come from a fraudulent source.
- Confirmation bias can blind you to potential sources of failure.
These points felt obvious/familiar and I was hoping for a more systematic treatment.
I do appreciate her disambiguation and would also like answers to the questions in her conclusion!
My friends have recommended:
- Reading Elinor Ostrom to get a theoretical grounding.
- "Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty" by Acemoglu & Robinson
Note the location has changed to the Bentway, which is underneath the Gardiner Expressway, due to forecasted rain. Despite being underneath a highway, it is still quite easy to have conversations in this setting and it is well ventilated.
I apologize for the last minute change and will send people to Norway Park to collect anyone confused.
Feedback
In the "Preprint" example, you use @wraps without explaining it. I think it's worth noting it is imported from functools and it's general purpose?
The section "Branching without if" is a bit confusing, because it is unclear if those examples work or need more code.
Discussion
This might be out of scope of the mentorship, but I'd like gilch's opinion/heuristics on:
- Good decorator use vs. abuse
- The argument "Python would not need decorators if it supported multi-line anonymous functions"