Less Wrong Copenhagen is back!

Join us for this coming Saturday at Studenterhuset. The meetup will have two components:

• Rationality Dojo: a section intended to be a serious self-improvement session for those committed to the Art of Rationality and personal growth. At this meetup I'll talk about "Sphexishness, Agentiness, and Noticing" and follow with related exercises.

• Socialising: second component is getting to know and enjoy the company of fellow humans who care about doing better. We'll drink, talk, maybe play a board game.

I'll be there from slightly before 15:00, call me on 22 47 83 73 if you're having trouble finding the group.

From the soon-to-published published CFAR Glossary:

Agency: Agency is the property of agents. An agent has explicit goals which they strive to accomplish by planning and executing appropriate actions. Non-agents unreflectively act out default behaviours, without considering whether these actions achieve their goals. Agency is the opposite of sphexishness.

Sphexishness: Coined by Douglas Hofstader in reference to the sphex wasp, sphexishness is the execution of seemingly intelligent behaviour by following a rigid algorithm. Sphexish behaviours, are repeated automatically, on habit, without checking for their effectiveness at achieving desired goals. Opposite of agency.