Attending LessOnline

 April 2nd, 2025
meta
The internet has massively decreased the cost and effort of publishing. While "random people writing on the internet" doesn't sound like a good source of information, this would fit the majority of my favorite writers. Except most aren't "random people" anymore: by writing publicly over time readers have learned what these authors are good at and when to pay attention; the writers have built reputations. And with extensive practice at getting ideas across and quick feedback from the world on how successful they were, many bloggers have progressed from people who really like writing to people who write very effectively.

The team behind LessWrong is organizing LessOnline, a "celebration of blogging, truthseeking, and original seeing", the weekend of May 30th in Berkley. Many of my favorite writers will be there, including Kelsey Piper (formerly the Unit of Caring, now a journalist), Scott Alexander (formerly Slate Star Codex, now Astral Codex Ten), Patrick McKenzie (Bits About Money), Zvi Mowshowitz (Don't Worry About The Vase), and Julia Wise (Otherwise). [1]

While there's something a bit weird about an in-person gathering of people selected for their skills at communicating in online text, I've previously really enjoyed talking to other writers. Excited to be going!


[1] Pretty sure this is the first time Julia and I will be traveling together without our kids. Though we're not actually traveling together: I'll stay home through Friday morning so I can get the kids off to school, and she'll be coming back earlier Sunday night so she can get the kids from my dad (who is very helpfully watching them for the weekend!) before school.

Comment via: facebook, lesswrong, mastodon, bluesky, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Information control, isolation, and ideological abuse

[I have freelanced for a number of effective altruist organizations, such as the Centre for Effective Altruism and 80,000 Hours.

via Thing of Things March 11, 2026

The Newest Technology in Frozen

There are lots of different things in Frozen that are new-ish, but my dad and I were wondering: what is the actual newest thing in Frozen? This led me to watch Frozen a lot while taking notes. Some of the things I found included: Elastic hair-ties A safety …

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts March 1, 2026

2025-26 New Year review

This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Highlights include a minimal group house, the usefulness…

via Victoria Krakovna January 19, 2026

more     (via openring)