Tag: Brainstorm

Vox’s First Law at work

Vox’s First Law: Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from insanity. Or, in this case, autism:

State therapy specialists claimed Jacob
Barnett would never tie his shoes, read or function normally in society.
But the boy’s mother realized when Jacob was not in therapy, he was
doing “spectacular things” completely on his own.
She decided to trust her instinct and
disregard the advice of the professionals. Instead of following a
standardized special needs educational protocol, she surrounded Jacob
with all the things that inspired passion for him – and was astonished
at the transformation that took place.

Following a diagnosis of autism at age
two, Jacob was subjected to a cookie cutter special education system
that focused on correcting what he couldn’t do compared to normal
children. For years, teachers attempted to convince Kristine Barnett
that her son would only be able to learn the most basic of life skills….

By the time Jacob reached the age of 11, he entered college and is currently studying condensed matter physics at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. According to an email Professor Scott Tremaine wrote to Jacob’s family:
“The theory that he’s working on
involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and
theoretical physics … Anyone who solves these will be in line for a
Nobel Prize.”

Jacob also has an IQ of 170 — higher than that of Einstein.

This is an object lesson in what we discussed at the May Brainstorm. Never, ever, blindly trust the so-called experts. Respect, but verify.

Brainstorm schedule

This is the current Brainstorm schedule. Italic indicates a closed event available only to Brainstorm members.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Roosh V, 10 June, 6 PM EDT 500 275 seats left. Reserve seat.
Brainstorm June, 24 June, 7:30 PM EDT Members only.



PAST EVENTS:
Martin van Creveld, 31 May, 2 PM EDT
Brainstorm May (Crohn’s, Dark Energy, Hugos)

Members should mention what topics they are interested in discussing this month either here or on the chat channel, I’ll pick three and then select two panelists after the topics are settled. Save the astrophysics for July, as that will be the main topic, Stickwick will be one of the panelists again and she wants some time to prepare for it.

Also, most of you are probably unaware that I taught a 12-week course on game development and the history of games in Zurich last year at a Swiss technical institute. Although it was well received and I was asked to repeat it, the regular travel was a bit too brutal and with the promised fast train from Milano still more than a year away, I declined.

However, I plan to revive the course in September with the sponsorship of the institute, albeit online via the webinar software we’re using for Brainstorm. It’s going to be a 10-lesson course for $150, and Annual members will be allowed to attend free if it’s of interest to them. In addition to the core material, the course will feature 30-minute interview/Q&As with various industry figures, including veteran designers, programmers, artists, magazine editors, and even a studio head.

Brainstorming

I felt last night’s event went fairly smoothly, all things considered. Even though we went about 15 minutes longer than scheduled, I wasn’t able to address all of the questions in detail, but the chat server worked, as did both of the recordings. Transcripts will be sent out to everyone who signed up as soon as they are completed.

If you’re interested in signing up on an annual basis for a 20 percent discount, you can do so now, otherwise you can just sign up on a monthly basis as your schedule and interests permit for $25 per event.

The next event is a free one and will feature an interview with Martin van Creveld, the Israeli military historian, on Sunday 31 May at 3 PM Eastern time. Members will have priority seating; I don’t know yet if there will be 100 or 500 seats available.

If you attended and want to share your opinion about how it went, for good or ill, feel free to do so. Three panelists seemed to work pretty well, but in the future I we’ll definitely want to nail down the three primary subjects, one per panelist, ahead of time.

Brainstorm May

We have 92 participants for the first Brainstorm (which will be at 7:30 PM Eastern regardless of what it says on the invite), and the event is now closed. The invitations for tomorrow will be going out within the hour; Dr. Greg Anderson will be serving as the sole panelist for this particular session. We THINK we’ve figured out a way to make it more organized, with Markku running the show as I focus on the topics at hand, but we’ll see how it goes. Please keep in mind that we’re new to the system and it won’t be surprising if it’s less than entirely smooth.

One thing I am pleased to announce is that although the system software does not have an audience chat feature, we’ve installed one on our own server so attendees can chat directly with one another in a second window. Instructions will be provided along with the invites.

And since there isn’t much to discuss in this regard, here is an email from #21, a Rabid Puppy asking for the chance to discuss the Hugo-nominated works now that the Hugo Packet has been released.

I request a post in which to discuss the Hugo Award finalists, now that the packets are out. That is to say, I just read some of them and I really, really need to vent.

I am kind. Vent away.

Brainstorm is go

After the impromptu, but successful experiment in webinaring earlier this week, and after consultation with a few of those most interested in the concept, I’ve decided to proceed with the Brainstorm concept. Right now, all sessions are limited to 100, but I’m hoping to be able to expand that to 500, especially in anticipation of some of the more popular open events planned. All 100 slots were registered for the test, and most of those registered showed up at some point in time during what ended up being an hour-long session.

The annual cost will be $20 per month, which will comprise at least one closed Brainstorm session per month, plus additional sessions both open and closed. The closed sessions will be between 90 and 120 minutes, and will be comprised of a single main topic, which will usually be announced, plus two secondary topics that will be selected by that month’s panelists. Single sessions will cost $25, but until we get the annual ticket confirmed and set up, it will be $20 per month for everyone. Seats for Brainstorm May are available now and can be reserved at Castalia.

The first open event will be an interview and Q&A with Martin van Creveld later this month concerning his excellent book A HISTORY OF STRATEGY. The second one will be in June with William S. Lind and will address cultural 4GW as well as his forthcoming THE 4GW HANDBOOK and a certain novel whose deceased author he is representing.

As for the closed events, I will announce the three panelists after we set a time and date for the first one, which will take place in the next two weeks. The best time for me is around 7 PM EST, and it doesn’t really matter which day, so if you plan to attend and you have an opinion, let me know in the comments here.  Over half of the 100 spots have already been claimed, so if you’re inclined to participate, best to jump in before they all fill up.

To address four of the issues raised by the experiment, 1) the documentation says the panelists can see the questions, but I want to test to confirm that this is true, 2) there is no audience-to-audience chatting feature, 3) the irritating chimes were caused by people entering and leaving the session and will be turned off next time, 4) a transcript will be provided to all attendees and annual Brainstorm members within two weeks of the session. I do not plan to make transcripts or recordings of the closed events generally available, but transcripts of the free events will be available for purchase from Castalia for those who are interested in them.

The lead topic for May Brainstorm is going to be a discussion of a new hypothesis of a disease class and how it relates to some soon-to-be published research to which I happen to be privy. It’s a matter of particular interest to me and quite possibly to more than a few people here as well. I’d prefer to have one or two of the panelists have either medical or scientific backgrounds, so if you’re registered for the May event, you fit that description and you’re willing to control a mike, please email me and let me know.

I should assure those not participating that this will have very little effect on the blog, as most of what I intend to discuss in the closed Brainstorm sessions are the sort of things that cannot be reasonably discussed in an open, lightly moderated medium such as this one. And everyone is welcome to attend the open sessions, assuming that everyone < 500.