If noise proves to be a problem, would anyone be up for experimenting with alternate venues for future meetups? I really liked the quiet atmosphere that we had at our last meeting (until that second party showed up, anyway). But that may have been a fluke.
From what I've seen so far, pubs don't seem to be overly conducive to rational discussion, though I am aware that some people have expressed their preference for them. If nothing else, we could compromise and alternate the venue every two weeks, between a pub and something slightly less noisy.
Unfortunately I have no suggestions, since meatspace is not my specialty.
I'd (reluctantly) trade-off access to alcohol for a quieter environment - unfortunately I have no specific recommends to make on a place.
Once the group is a little more established, a private venue (someone's house) might work best. Completely dependent on whether or not people have large enough houses in the right neighbourhood (and are willing to put up with us).
When: Thursday, April 14th, 20:00
Where: The Bedford Academy, 36 Prince Arthur Avenue
Hi everyone,
Same plan as the last meetup. The reservation is under my name (Spencer Sleep) this time, as last time they put the name down as "Less Wrong" (first name and surname) and got angry at me when they found out that wasn't a real person (even though I told them it was a discussion group when making the reservation). We will hopefully be upstairs, as that was a nice quiet place last time, but there is a party of 100 people up there from 16:00 until an unspecified time, so our reservation is for "the quietest area of the bar".
We may do some rationality games/exercises if people are interested. I will prepare something small (probably along the lines of paranoid debating) and if it works out well, we can try something more involved in later meetups.
As always, newcomers are extremely welcome. All we ask for in someone at our meetups is that they be willing to listen and learn, and we're pretty lax about the former, and have no way of measuring the latter, so please feel free to join us, no matter your age/rationality experience/any other thing that would sway you to not do so.
See you there.