by [anonymous]
1 min read11th Sep 20112 comments

10

Yesterday, we held the first German LessWrong meeting in Munich. Attending were six people, mostly from south Germany. The main focus was to get to know each other and see where we stand on various issues, but we also discussed nootropics, mainly nicotine and melatonine, methods of self improvement, existential risks, intelligence explosion, maximizing one's own utility and forming goals. We also touched upon the simulation argument and metaethics.

Highlights were:

  • Muflax' report on the benefits of Nicotine.
  • We found that even if there is no intelligence explosion, even a moderately above-human intelligent AI could pose somewhat of a threat.
  • We did not find any core-morality that we agreed would be shared by all human cultures.
  • If you can read german, please help me finish my wikibook Grundlagen des Rationalen Denkens by commenting on it.

New to LessWrong?

New Comment
2 comments, sorted by Click to highlight new comments since: Today at 4:00 PM

I promised to give you feedback on your wikibook. Some quick thoughts:

There is a ton of at false or at least controversial stuff (e.g., "Disappointment is always something positive"; "instrumental rationality" = "instrumentale Rationalität" (wheras it's "instrumentelle Rationalität") or stuff that cannot be understood without further knowledge (what is your average reader to make of the words "The Litany of Gendlin"?).

The preface is lacking footnotes, links or an outline.

You're obviously just getting started on this project, so maybe you should rather wait for EY's book(s) on rationality and try a translation thereof?

I'm living in Germany as well, bummer I couldn't make it. Soon I'll be living in Vienna though, so I may try to organize a meeting there in a few months.

For people who want some nicotine without the part where the cigarette kills you: you may want to check out the new electric cigarettes. They work with a fluid that is available with different concentrations of nicotine (or even none at all). Supposedly they are completely harmless, as nothing is burned - the fluid is simply evaporated by the electric cigarette/cigar/whatever.