From Newcastle, Australia to Berkeley, San Francisco. I arrived yesterday for Less.online. I’ve had a bit of culture shock, a big helping of being increasingly scared, and quite a few questions. I’ll start with those. Feel free to skip them.

These questions are based on warnings I’ve gotten from local non-rationalists. Idk if they’re scared because of the media they consume or because of actual stats. I’m asking these because they feel untrue.

1. Is it ok to be outside after dark?
2. Will I really get ‘rolled’ mid day in Oakland?
3. Are there gangs walking around Oakland looking to stab people?
4. Will all the streets fill up with homeless people at night?
5. Are they chill? In Aus they’re usually down to talk if you are.

Culture shocks for your enjoyment:

1. Why is everyone doing yoga?
2. To my Uber driver: “THAT TRAIN IS ON THE ROAD!?”
3. “I thought (X) was just in movies!”
4. Your billboards are about science instead of coal mining!
5. “Wait, you’re telling me everything is vegan?” Thank Bayes, this is the best. All our vegan restaurants went out of business.
6. People brag about things? And they do it openly? At least, I think that’s what’s happening?
7. “Silicon Valley is actually a valley?!” Should have predicted this one. I kinda knew, but I didn’t know like I do now.
8. “Wow! This shop is openly selling nangs!” (whip its) “And a jungle juice display!”
9. All your cars are so new and shiny. 60% of ours are second hand
10. Most people I see in the streets look below 40. It’s like I’m walking around a university!
11. Wow. It’s really sunny.
12. American accents irl make me feel like I’m walking through a film.
13. “HOLY SHIT! A CYBER TRUCK?!”
14. Ok this is a big one. Apps I’ve had for 8+ years are suddenly different when I arrive here?
15. This is what Uber is meant to be. I will go back to Australia and cry. Your airport has custom instruction… in app! WHAT!? The car arrives in 2 minutes instead of 30 minutes. Also, the car arrives at all.
16. The google app has a beaker for tests now?
17. Snap maps has gifs in it
18. Apple Maps lets you scan buildings? And has tips about good restaurants and events?
19. When I bet in the Manifold app. A real paper Crain flies from the nearest tree, lands in front of me and unfolds. Written inside, “Will Eliezer Yudkowsky open a rationalist bakery?” I circle “Yes”. The paper meticulously folds itself back to a Crain. It looks at me. Makes a little sound that doesn’t echo in the streets but in my head, and it burns. Every time this happens I save the ashes. Are Manifold creating new matter? How are they doing this?
20. That one was a lie

Things that won’t kill me but scare me rational/irrational:

1. What if I’ve been wrong? What if this is all a scam? A cult? What if Mum was right?
2. What if I show up to the location and there is no building there?
3. What if I make some terribly awkward cultural blunder for SF and everyone yells at me?
4. What if no one tells me?
5. I’m sure I’ll be at least in the bottom 5% for intelligence at Less Online. I won’t be surprised or hurt if I’ve got the least Gs of people there. But what if it all goes over my head? Maybe I can’t even communicate with smart people about the things I care about.
6. What if I can’t handle people telling me what they think of my arguments without kid gloves? What if I get angry and haven’t learnt to handle that?
7. I’m just a Drama teacher and Psych student. My head is filled with improv games and fun facts about Clever Hans! ‘Average’ Americans seem to achieve much higher than ‘average’ Australians. I’m scared of feeling under qualified.

Other things:

1. Can you think of something I should be worried about, that I’ve not written here?
2. I’ve brought my copies of the Rationality A-Z books. I want to ask people I meet to sign their favourite post in the two books. Is that culturally acceptable? Feels kinda weird bc Yud is going to be there. But it would be a really warm/fuzzy item to me in the future.
3. I don’t actually know what a lot of the writers going look like. I hope this doesn’t result in a blunder. But might be funny, given that I expect rationalists to be pretty chill.
4. Are other people as excited about the Fooming Shoggoths as I am?
5. I’m 23, I have no idea if that is very old, very young, or about normal for a rationalist. I’d guess about normal, with big spread across the right of a graph.

It feels super weird to be in the same town as a bunch of you guys now. I’ve never met a rationalist irl. I talked to Ruby over zoom once, who said to me “You know you don’t have to stay in Australia right?” I hope Ruby is a good baseline for niceness levels of you all.

If you’re going, I’ll see you at Less.Online. If you’re not, I’d still love to meet you. Feel free to DM me!