Berkeley visit report
A few weeks ago, ShannonFriedman, an IFS counselor living in Berkeley, posted Female compatriots stay for a week in Berkeley an offer for rationalist women who are agenty to stay in her spare room for a few days. I replied, as I have a goal of getting to know the people associated with Less Wrong, the Singularity Institute and the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR). She and I had a get to know you skype video interview, to talk about the trip. Shannon is a master connector, who genuinely enjoys introducing people who share common interests and complementary skills. As I had a goal of meeting interesting people, the planning was around helping me accomplish that. I traveled with a friend, copt, who I met through the Less Wrong group I organize in Fort Collins Colorado. Shannon, fortunately, had two spare rooms for us. Her house, which she shares with several other people is in a residential neighborhood not too far from the secondary shopping district on San Pedro. It is on the main floor of a house, with a big back yard. Berkeley is beautiful. The yards are full of flowers. There was an excellent coffee shop, Caffee Trieste (the sad coffee), within walking distance of the house, and a good breakfast restaurant also within walking distance. Downtown Berkeley is only a mile away, with good public transit connections to San Francisco, The mornings were foggy and cool (50F), the afternoons sunny and warm (75F). Over the 4 days of our visit, we met: Julia Galef, mathy and elegant, formerly of New York, who is in Berkeley working with CFAR. She's known for her organizing work within the skeptical community. I had enjoyed watching her presentation to Skepticon this year, on The Straw Vulcan. She and Shannon are working on improving marketing for CFAR. Luke Muehlhauser (lukeprog), tall, handsome, with dark hair, the Executive Director of the Singularity Institute, met briefly with us to discuss copt's work in finance. Nisan, who organizes the Berkeley Less Wr
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