Quick Start Instructions for Conversing with Us and Others using [matrix]
Follow these instructions and you will be able to chat with us and others at a cost of about $2.50 per month. In our opinion, the [matrix] network is the best place to have intelligent, purposeful conversations. If you are not familiar with [matrix], we advise that you use the following instructions to get yourself set up. [matrix] is like email in that you need an account with a "provider" (e.g. Gmail for email). You will also want to install client software. There are several alternative providers, and also several alternative client software applications. The instructions below will have you use a particular free client combined with a paid subscription account with a particular provider. "You get what you pay for!" Although you can use http://matrix.org as a provider for free, if you are serious about chatting, we recommend that you set yourself up as described below.
We do not receive any kind of payment or compensation for making the recommendations on this page. They are based upon our own experience; we learned the hard way!
In the alternative, you can just click on any of the links at the bottom of this page to make your own selection of provider and client. Wo alternative is to use matrix.org as provider and use the Element client. To do that, click on a link and, when prompted, select the Element client and follow the instructions for installing it. The end result will be that you will have a free account with matrix.org and you will be able to immediately join and enter the "room" that you selected when you clicked a link on this page.
We recommend using a paid subscription provider such as communick.com because you'll get better support and a more perfect (less troublesome) user experience. The matrix.org "home server" is heavily loaded and can be slow to respond. Some of the free providers do not provide adequate user support and/or use servers that do not always work correctly. (Without mentioning any names, yes, we are speaking from experience.)
The following list will help you find rooms that appear to be good places for such conversations. To suggest a room for this list, whether it is on [matrix] or somewhere else, post a link to the "Wo'O's Table room listed below. If you think that chat rooms on systems other than [matrix] should be listed on this page, please let us know and we will consider linking to them on this page.
We selected the following rooms as good places to have intelligent conversations. (Click "We..." at left for more detail.) [matrix] rooms listed on this page are thought to satisfy the following criteria: [matrix] is the best place to meet with others for intelligent, purposeful conversations. [matrix] excels because its rooms can, depending on the room's administrator, satisfy the above criteria as follows:
The list for [matrix], in alphabetical order:
[ "Reasonable Politics" on [matrix] ]
[ "Unreasonable Politics" on [matrix] ]
[ "Wo'O's Table" on [matrix] ] (registered students only)
Wo'O's Table is a classroom. Wo'O IdeaFarm (legal name Wo Of Ideafarm in U.S. jurisdiction) is a 70 year old economist (Ph.D. Lite, University of Chicago, A.M., University of Chicago, B.A. magna cum laude, UCLA).
While in residence at the University of Chicago in the Department of Economics, he was certified as an expert in the fields of Money and Banking (Ph.D), Finance (Ph.D.), and International Economic Relations (A.M.). His studies at the University of Chicago were funded by a full Hillman Scholarship, augmented by a Sloan Fellowship grant administered by Sloan Fellow and Nobel laureate Gary Becker, famous for his work on the economic analysis of marriage, family, and race. He was also nominated by the Department of Economics for the university-wide Danforth fellowship. His Ph.D. dissertation, "Price Determination in an Overlapping Generations Example Economy with Producible and Nonproducible Capital", was in the field of mathematical economics.
This dissertation attacked conventional Monetarist analysis by applying a generalization of the Capital Asset Pricing Model to argue that Monetarist analysis is illogical. In his dissertation, he also introduced the methodological idea, "what might be true is sometimes more important than what is true", to argue that scientific theory must be logical as well as consistent with observed facts.
From his time in residence at the University of Chicago to the present, his research interests have focused on the nature and evolution of gender and of gender roles, as well as the nature and evolution of morality, and the connection of both gender and morality to an understanding of how human coalitions can form and avoid the "free rider problem". More recently, about twenty years ago, he realized that if the human brain is a "wet computer" pattern recognizer, rather than a rational self interest calculator, then that might be how Mother Nature solved the game theoretic "free rider" problem to make human coalitions effective in evolutionary competition.
Wo'O IdeaFarm's objective in seeking students is to profess the ideas that young people need to hear but are not being told. Conventional institutions of education have become anything but, as faculties in those so-called universities have been transformed in their mission from teaching students how to think to teaching them what to think. In other words, legacy "educational" institutions have become propoganda ministries controlled by donors, and faculties, pursuing agendas that have nothing to do with empowering students by developing their intellectual abilities. Students, listen up! University faculties, and the donors who control them, are not your friends! Caveat emptor!
Anywo can read and independently study the ideas presented on http://ideafarm.com, which comprise the material that is the focus of the classroom experience in the Wo'O's Table room on [matrix]. But attempting to master that material alone and without the guidance of a teacher will be unnecessarily difficult for some and impossible for most.
To enter the classroom, you must be a paid student. Use the following link to register. Be sure to carefully enter your correct email address. Do not subscribe until after you've installed Element (or some other [matrix] client) and have successfully entered other rooms on [matrix]. After you've registered as a student, your email address will be used to send you an invitation to join the room. This is a manual process so please allow several hours. If you have any questions or problems, contact us at the email address displayed at the bottom of http://ideafarm.com .