This month our very own Chris Weaver will present on “Use of Bayesian statistics in Science: Advantages and Pitfalls” (see below for more detail), and then we’ll have a discussion.  Here’s a little bit more on what he’ll be covering: Bayesian techniques are popular in the rationality community, and also in science.

We’ll be talking about city planning, including what makes for a good city and how much planning should there actually be (versus organic growth). Here are two readings to facilitate discussion (not required, as usual): Jane Jacobs on cities http://www.zompist.com/jacobs.html A Scalable Urban Design and the Single Building City https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fnzZCq4XCeoWGPEp8/a-scalable-urban-design-and-the-single-building-city

This month’s topic is about technocracy, which economist E. Glen Weyl (in the reading) defines as “the view that most of governance and policy should be left to some type of ‘experts’, distinguished by meritocratically-evaluated training in formal methods used to ‘optimize’ social outcomes.” I think this is interesting because,

This month’s topic will be looking at technological progress from various perspectives. I thought it would be useful to layout a few key questions that might be of interest, and then we can see what people want to focus on at the beginning of the meeting. Overarching topic: Technological progress,

And here’s the suggested reading (reading any one of these should be sufficient): “The Network Structure of Exploration and Exploitation”from David Lazer and Allan Friedmanhttps://ndg.asc.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Lazer-Friedman-2007-ASQ.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2zzOtVAsm_yzRCF77wvy3JAcmrWsF-t3cq_MrXpk44wmLpDriTfCmSc78 “Modular structure within groups causes information loss but can improve decision accuracy”from Albert Kaohttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2018.0378 Press release: https://www.santafe.edu/news-center/news/group-decisions-when-more-information-isnt-necessarily-better?fbclid=IwAR0hVWRvd4NRuBbGQJrbF8rHnHxpGirXaN9fX7atF6AV7afrpwHF6t8K5wg Two podcasts from SFI discussing these topics: Nicole Creanza

The topic: Is any knowledge inherently harmful, on either an individual or a societal level? The readings:• from Scott Alexander: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/06/06/asymmetric-weapons-gone-bad/• from Nick Bostrom: https://nickbostrom.com/papers/vulnerable.pdf• from Wired, concerning Bostrom: https://www.wired.com/story/technology-could-end-humanity-how-stop-it/ The readings are not limiting factors — participants are encouraged to think Outside the Box™ to come up with possible examples of inherently

Chicago Rationalist—Topic List Archive 1. Is democracy a system which produces pervasive error in our society? i.e. moldbug strikes again (https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-clear-pill-part-1-of-5-the-four-stroke-regime/)2. Should proponents of free markets oppose capitalism? (chapters 4 and 9 of this book: http://radgeek.com/gt/2011/10/Markets-Not-Capitalism-2)3. What is an optimal course of action when you encounter a situation in which

Topic for this meet-up will be the paper by Jonathan Schulz et al. discussing possible origins of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich & Democratic) psychology being tied to the Catholic Church’s restructuring of norms surrounding kin marriage. If you’re going to just read one thing, read Tanner Greer’s blog post

Thanks Noah for suggesting the following readings & podcast! 1. https://www.princeton.edu/~cuff/voting/theory.html 2. https://www.electionscience.org/commentary-analysis/voting-theory-podcast-2012-10-06-interview-with-nobel-laureate-dr-kenneth-arrow/ 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow%27s_impossibility_theorem 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbard%E2%80%93Satterthwaite_theorem

1. On critical thresholds and cultural/scientific diffusion: https://www.meltingasphalt.com/interactive/going-critical/ 2. A second reference on critical thresholds (sorry for the self-reference but I’m rushing): https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6393/1116 3. Look up the definition of “phase transition” [possible cool topic for future meeting—things that hover near criticality..]