Yeah, I suppose if you live somewhere with a non-censored internet, you can just find them on Facebook & viola. I live in China so that isn't an option. I downloaded pictures of my co-workers from the company website instead & plugged them into Anki. Yeah it is a bit weird, but it works & as long as people don't know you're doing it, it seems to encourage people to like you & feel liked by you. I work in medicine & there's also a good correlation to hospital safety when you know the names of the people you're working with.
The other thing I thought about was making an undercover video & then extracting the photos from there. Basically, don't let them know you're taking their picture. The upside is that it seems less weird than taking the photo of someone you just met, the downside is that if you get caught everyone is going to think you're a true freak.
This is the public group instrumental rationality diary for July 1-15.
Thanks to cata for starting the Group Rationality Diary posts, and to commenters for participating!
Next diary -- July 15-31
Immediate past diary -- June 1-30
Rationality Diaries archive