juliawise comments on Meetup : Melbourne, practical rationality - Less Wrong

1 Post author: matt 24 September 2012 05:24AM

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Comment author: juliawise 25 September 2012 08:08:44PM 0 points [-]

What do you do at a practical rationality meetup?

Comment author: Maelin 27 September 2012 04:15:38AM 0 points [-]

Typically it's a group discussion of various rationality-related topics. In the past we've had problem-solving situations where somebody will be looking at a problem or upcoming decision in their life, and be unsure of how to optimise their outcomes, and the group will discuss it and try to formulate strategies and ideas to help out (for example, we did this when I was looking at buying a car, but unsure how to go about researching and deciding on one).

Other times we've had more structured activities, where members give presentations and/or run exercises to develop rationality skills. For example, we did a calibration exercise a while back, and more recently a few members have done presentations based on sessions from the rationality minicamps, or from the Skill of the Week posts.

Often we'll just discuss whatever topic is of interest, with a rational approach strongly encouraged. We'll often share techniques and tools for self-optimisation of all sorts (particularly electronic: websites, software, mobile apps etc) or personal progress toward self-improvement.