42 Comments
User's avatar
Michael's avatar

Never been to a ACX meetup before, but I’ll try to attend tmw.

Leon's avatar

What happens at an ACX meetup?

Isaac King's avatar

Usually a lot of talking about arbitrary topics that interest the people in the group. At my first one I spent an hour+ talking to someone who wanted to build self-sustaining blimps for skysteading.

Eh's avatar

Hot air or light gas based? How do you deal with wind?

Isaac King's avatar

Hydrogen. Use solar power to synthesize it from atmospheric moisture.

I don't think we talked about wind. Doesn't seem like a big problem; have a small engine to ensure you can stay away from North Korea, and otherwise you're good to float wherever.

Eh's avatar

Unfortunately upstreams can carry you up way too high where it’s freezing cold. This is a big problem for paragliders. I am afraid wind and rough weather would be the main issue preventing this from being viable. But maybe some clever design can obviate this?

Isaac King's avatar

Ah, good point. That may be one of the many flaws in the plan.

Eh's avatar

Actively avoiding rough weather like the planes do may be possible, but the maximum speed of the blimp is going to be much lower than a plane. Maybe one should gravitate around an area with constant mild weather.

Immortal Lurker's avatar

How is skysteading superior to seasteading? Or Nebraskasteading?

I mean, it does sound like a fascinating conversation, but it seems like it runs into problems immediately.

Isaac King's avatar

Nebraskasteading has the problem of being subject to a certain country's laws, which kind of defeats the point of "steading" in the first place.

I think the benefit over seasteading is mainly the "cool factor". :)

Immortal Lurker's avatar

Fair enough. If the cool factor is the main design criteria, it definitely meets it.

Does self sustaining mean literally no goods or services taken from the outside world? Growing its own crops with hydroponics, etc? How big do the ships need to be?

Isaac King's avatar

I don't remember. I think they might have been planning to get food delivered from the ground. I think the idea was for them to be individual blimps, not huge floating rafts, so probably not enough space for significant crops.

Kevin's avatar

Unrelated but a connection I just made. When I see pictures of Berkeley I get the emotional response that egalitarians get when they see a mega yacht.

Scott Alexander's avatar

Why? From a thousand feet up it's quite lovely.

Kevin's avatar

Berkeley is lovely, and mega yachts are straight up awesome.

However I think the implications, land use, inequality, etc, inhibit both me and the egalitarians from appreciating their beauty.

Ben W's avatar

Regular attendees, what do you find most valuable or intriguing when meeting new attendees?

Those of us trying to making a good impression but whom generally struggle to do so would appreciate the advance notice.

Beata Beatrix's avatar

Sorry for off-topic, but since I’m not sure best way of contact—as a non-paying subscriber, all the paid posts are showing up for me for some reason (often amusingly titled as Hidden). I can’t access them, of course, but I’m pretty sure this is unintentional behavior. Just FYI, Scott/Substack

Paul Goodman's avatar

Where are you seeing them? They show up in the listing of all posts and I think that's intentional- showing us what we're missing can be good advertising.

Eh's avatar

They show up in the archive, I guess that’s intended behavior from Substack?

Paul Goodman's avatar

Yeah I assume the idea is that reminding you that subscriber-only posts exist is a good encouragement to subscribe. Especially in a way that shows you the title and gives you a chance to get curious.

TM's avatar

I actually find it convenient, especially for the newsletters where some 10% is subscribers only, as it gives me a view of what else is out there, behind the paywall.

For ACX I also find it convenient, as I'm not always logged in, and when logged out I still can see those other posts compared to them just disappearing.

zirkafett's avatar

I’ve never been to a meet up but I’d love to try Berkeley. Do people ever bring kids?

Isaac King's avatar

I've only been to two, and there were no kids at either. But as long as they're not going to be super distracting (running around, yelling, etc) I don't see any reason not to bring them.

Rebecca's avatar

San Jose meetup organizer (one of several) here. We frequently get kids, they are fine and welcome. Our guest room happens to be full of toys even (for complicated historical reasons involving disorganization and grandkids) which is sometimes convenient for small kids. Older ones often enjoy joining in the chatting. We are atypical in several ways, I don’t promise this is standard and I don’t know the Berkeley group, but it’s at least true for us.

Lila Krishna's avatar

When's a san jose meetup happening next?

Andy B's avatar

Also please come to the Canberra Meetup on Monday, we had a great turn out last year :-)

magic9mushroom's avatar

You posted this too late for the Melbourne one; that was last night.

Scott Alexander's avatar

The list says "Time: Sunday, May 7th, 07:00 PM" - is that wrong, or is my understanding of the international date line very confused? I thought it could only be at most one day later there, but it's only 5/5 here now.

magic9mushroom's avatar

Apparently, I'm the one confused. There was a LW meetup in Melbourne last night (5th May) at 6:00 pm, but the one you've advertised seems to be a different one.

(It's 7:00 pm 6th May in eastern Australia as I'm posting this.)

J. Goard's avatar

Sad, I'm flying from Korea to San Francisco on the 10th.

Leonidas Aurelius's avatar

Is there a chapter of the ACX based in Cape Town, South Africa?

Skyler's avatar

There's at least one meetup happening there, on May 27th. (https://www.lesswrong.com/events/AAPnyjpNBwtBD6hix/cape-town-south-africa-acx-meetups-everywhere-spring-2023) I think people show show up to that and collect emails for a mailing list to do it regularly, but as the Meetup Czar I obviously would say that.

Arin Spanner's avatar

I am at this meetup right now

Olly's avatar

Thanks Scott and hosting team. It was great to meet some other ACXers! :)

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Carollblein's avatar

This meetup sounds like a fantastic opportunity for the ACX community to connect in person! It's great that you're encouraging everyone to attend, even if they feel a bit out of place. Sometimes the most meaningful connections happen when we step out of our comfort zones. For those who might be hesitant, it's worth remembering that shared interests often lead to great conversations. Looking forward to hearing how it goes—especially in such a beautiful location like the Rose Garden Inn. Enjoy the meetup! By the way, if you're working on any writing projects, consider checking out https://qualitycustomessays.com/ for some extra support.