I'd like to know how this particular meetup goes - I want to try a similar thing in the NY group.
This was definitely a good meetup. Everyone seemed to enjoy the activity and was engaged in the conversation, everyone learned from it, and the feedback I got was positive. This time was a group of 5, last time was a group of 8 (but with fewer people contributing biases for discussion). Both were, in my opinion, one of the better meetups we've had.
Keep in mind that our group is very casual (an hour of chatting about drugs, religion, books and general life stuff before getting started, and a casual approach to the exercise). It would play out differently if the group or activity felt more formal.
We've done it once before, and it flowed well. I'll let you know how it works out this time around.
Discussion article for the meetup : West LA Meetup 02-08-2012
WHEN: 08 February 2012 07:00:00PM (-0800)
WHERE: 10850 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064
When: 7:00pm - 9:00pm Wednesday, February 8th.
Where: The Westside Tavern in the upstairs Wine Bar (all ages welcome), located inside the Westside Pavillion on the second floor, right by the movie theaters.
Parking is free for 3 hours.
Discussion Activity: Cognitive Biases Round-robin. Choose at least one item from Wikipedia's List of Cognitive Biases, and read up on it enough to introduce the topic to the group. Then, as a group, we will try to identify real-life situations where the bias would come into play, how it could be harmful, when it doesn't matter (or even helps!), and how to counter or use it.
This is also a good time to browse recent posts, especially those that pertain to our activity!
Don't worry if you don't have time to read anything, or even if you've never read any Less Wrong! Bring a friend! The atmosphere is casual, and good, intelligent conversation with friendly people is guaranteed.
I will bring a whiteboard with Bayes' Theorem written on it.
Discussion article for the meetup : West LA Meetup 02-08-2012