Class name Description

Students and staff gather. Plans for the day are exposed, and they plan how to make the most out of the day
Morning Meta Covers the schedule, updates, good way to propagate information
Fermi estimation is a technique for figuring out approximate answers to quantitative questions when you lack data.
Y: Fermi Estimation We try to find a chain of steps that lead us to the final answer while making reasonable assumptions at levels where our intuitions are strong.
A: Inner Simulator
M:What is Causality Bayesian Networks and an introduction into Graphical Models, which form the mathematical underpinnings of understanding causality in the world.
T: Cryptography Talk about the math behind cryptography, Diffie-Helman key exchange and RSA
O: Estimating Consequences How to work through the pros and cons that emerge from each consequence of a decision
Rationality technique to improve introspection
Uses Eugene Gendlin's model of focusing as a
A: Focusing way to help people connect w/ their internal feelings and resolve internal conflict
Advanced math class focusing on logic and recent MIRI results.
M: Prisoner's Dilemma & Provability Covered Fairbot, Prudentbot, and Lob's Theorem
A brief class on the famous computer-science result that Programs are equivalent to Proofs.
D: Programs = Proofs This underlies a lot of modern automated theorem provers like Coq.
A primer on "attention" as a concept and resource that people can optimize for.
V: Attention and Flow Explains how Attention has increasing marginal returns as you remove more and more distractions
A: Double Crux on AI Risk Rationality technique about how to engage in productive debates, with examples on the topic of AI risk
Y: Statistical Street Fighting Making sure you are savvy about people who use statistics to lie
Rationality exercise to become more aware of our comfort zone and try to expand it.
Focuses ideas about becoming more comfortable w/ yourself and understanding
Comfort Zone Expansion where your limits are and "leaning" on them
Y: Defense Against the Dark Arts Demonstrations of how to recognize sales or persuasion tricks and techniques, and how to defend against such influence.
A primer on common knowledge, and why it is important. With a cute math problem to introduce it, featuring logic and deduction.
V: Common Knowledge Also, an amusing anecdote about the "recursive tower" of updating on common knowledge
M: Economics How a tax can actually increase overall productivity in situations where otherwise things devolve into a tragedy of the commons.
Essentially, the power of a 5 minute timer.
Flash A: Resolve Cycles; But it's powerful!
O: Failure of Formalism; How you can be restricted by using a model that is inappropriately formal for a subject area
A way to keep a "problem solving griomore" that can be used to solve problems
Recommended approach is to tackle multiple problems at a time, so you can
H: Searching for Hits rotate between them
Debugging circles (Yan) Participants and counselors talk in circles of four, with people taking turns to explain a problem they have, and the rest asking questions and helping to debug it
Visit to the offices of the Future of Humanity Institute. Discussion with FHI researchers on existential risks such as artificial intelligence, synthetic biology
FHI + Lunch and nanotechnology
D: Therapy and Self Improvement
Overview of therapeutic philosophies and common techniques that can be valuable for self improvement and improved empathy/interactions with others
D: Romance Epistemology (Optional?) Common beliefs/mistakes about romance/dating, and maybe skills important to healthy egalitarian relationships
D: Rational Fiction/Narrativemancy Overview of what rational fiction is, narrativemancy for self improvement, and goal of raising the "sanity waterline"
D: Understanding/Shifting Values Practice mapping values out and evaluating them against each other to change your mind, or others'.
Captions
Y Yan
A Anna Salomon
M Mihaly Barasz
T Timothy Chu
O Owen Cotton-Barratt
D Daniel Ziegler
V Michael 'Valentine' Smith
H Harmanas Chopra
D Daystar Eld/Damon P-Sasi