Cafe Meetup 10/28: Concept Day

It’s been a while since we had one of these! Let’s have a concept day, where you share useful concepts that have helped clarify and focus your thought. Examples from ones we’ve discussed in the past:

  • Nash equilibrium: a situation where no one can improve by changing their behavior alone.
  • Superstimulus: something that is finely tuned to appeal to you and is much better than ancestral humans could have ever experienced (e.g. candy, drugs).
  • Scissor statement: statement that gets people to argue with each other, infuriated that the other side won’t agree.
  • Motte-and-bailey: vacillating between whether you defend an extreme or moderate view.
  • Comparative advantage: when two parties can gain from trade even when one is better at everything.
  • Moloch: phenomena where everyone is incentivized to keep things bad.
  • Self-fulfilling prophecy: when the act of predicting something can influence the predicted event to come about.

To that list, we could add items like micromorts (which came up during Covid), BATNA, and inadequate equilibria.

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The meetup is at Central Market, 4001 N. Lamar, in the cafe area. Look for the LW and SSC signs. People start arriving at 1:30 pm, and the main activity (such as it is) will begin at 2:30 pm. Please follow in-store signs and guidance.

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