Less Wrong meetup for our Helsinki group.
Links about the stuff we discussed:
Computing your skill: A very in-depth article on how you build up a ranking algorithm for a 1vs1 game. We were discussing the player ranking systems in Go.
Natural Language, Semantic Analysis and Interactive Fiction: Graham Nelson's paper on developing a programming language based on natural language that seems to have proven successful against all odds. Contains lots of thought about how natural language has useful conciseness of expression for programming, and a long bibliography on Nelson's studies of the philosophy of language. We were discussing how natural language might use a construction similar to the anonymous lambda functions in some programming languages. (The version in IF Theory Reader might be a revised one.)
The Fastest and Shortest Algorithm for All Well-Defined Problems. We discussed Solomonoff induction and Marcus Hutter's stuff. This paper was mentioned.
What is a Low Level Language. Also related to Solomonoff induction, why should we assume that Turing machines are a good formalism for universal simplicity. If you assume that some computing formalism is good, this article talks about why it might be reasonable to call some specific formalisms "simple".
On the Algebraic Structure of Consciousness. Somehow this thing that associates octonion algebra to human short term memory came up.
Cool, based on the usual state of the meetups map I was starting to think Europe was a desert.
Less Wrong meetup for our Helsinki group.