We'll run monthly meetups starting with this one. This talk is the start of a series on decision analysis for personal life. If you want to influence or organize future Stockholm meetups, let me know.

The talk will introduce a bit of notation, but mostly be an informal presentation. After 30 minutes the event will open to audience discussion.

PLEASE NOTE: START TIME IS 3:30 PM. For some reason it's displaying incorrectly.

The next meetup for Less Wrong Melbourne will be on Saturday 8th October 2016. Turn up at 3:30pm to socialise, and we start at 4pm sharp.

THIS WEEK: A Bayesian Guide on how to read a Scientific Paper - with Mark Harrigan.

This talk will provide a guide on how to successfully read and make sense of a published Scientific Paper in the peer reviewed literature, regardless of your discipline expertise. It includes a Bayesian guide to assessing the probability that the conclusions of the paper are credible and a step by step guide outlining how to approach reading, understanding and assessing the conclusions.

It won't make you an instant expert in a field where you don't have much experience, nor will it guarantee that you will spot faulty science - but it will improve your skills in understanding how published science is presented and improve your ability to weigh the credibility of its conclusions.

DINNER AFTERWARDS: At about 6:30pm some of us generally head for dinner in the CBD, and you are welcome to join us.

WHEN: Saturday 8th October, 3:30pm to 6:30pm

WHERE: Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane. Level 1, Room 1. (The room will be noted in a sign on the front door.) If you have any trouble finding the venue or getting in, text or call Chris on 0439 471 632. For the greatest convenience, prompt service and general awesomeness, please arrive around 3:30pm.

WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?: The Less Wrong Melbourne Rationality Dojos are self-improvement sessions for those committed to the art of rationality and personal growth. We welcome new members who are interested in exploring rationality. We're "aspiring rationalists" and always open to learn.

We will be going to the park to hang out, play games, and have fun conversation in the park.

Location: Meridian Hill Park is around 16th & W Streets NW (Google Maps); it's a few blocks away from the Columbia Heights or Woodley Park-Zoo Metro stations. We will be meeting near this entrance, toward the southwest corner.

Upcoming meetups:

• Oct. 2: Math Discussion
• Oct. 9: Games Discussion
• Oct. 16: Fun & Games

Meeting is on 4th floor of the Performing Arts and Humanities Building. Permit parking designations do not apply on weekends, so park pretty much wherever you want.

We’ll be meeting to give and listen to very short talks!

We’ll do 7-minute lightning talks with 3 additional minutes allowed for questions. We’ll also limit the number of programming-related talks to no more than half of all talks, in order to promote variety.

A talk doesn’t have to be formal, planned, or even something that you’d expect someone to Give A Talk About; it can be as simple as telling the group about something you find interesting or cool. In the past, we’ve had people talk about topics like: how complicated the process of organizing fresh food for airplane flights is, their experience volunteering for a local political campaign, a video game they were designing and writing, and many others.

We don't expect any sort of preparation or practice for these kinds of talks. They're very casual and the expectations are low. If your talk isn't great, it's okay because we'll just move on to another one in a few minutes. If it helps, think of it this way: you're just being given the conversational floor for a few minutes, in a slightly more organized way than usual.

For help getting into the building, please call (or text, with a likely-somewhat-slower response rate): three zero one, three five six, five four two four.

Format:

We meet and start hanging out at 6:15, but don’t officially start doing the meetup topic until 6:45-7 to accommodate stragglers. Usually there is a food order that goes out before we start the meetup topic.

About these meetups:

The mission of the SF LessWrong meetup is to provide a fun, low-key social space with some structured interaction, where new and non-new community members can mingle and have interesting conversations. Everyone is welcome.

We explicitly encourage people to split off from the main conversation or diverge from the topic if that would be more fun for them (moving side conversations into a separate part of the space if appropriate). Meetup topics are here as a tool to facilitate fun interaction, and we certainly don’t want them to inhibit it.