The next Berkeley meetup will be a Mountain View-style meta-meetup. The idea is that there are lots of rewarding things we can do if we know that we want to do them and if we have a plan for them. So on Wednesday, July 11, we'll gather at Zendo and discuss what topics and activities we want for future meetups, and plan out the next several weeks of meetups.

For directions to Zendo, see the mailing list, or call me at .

EDIT: Michael Smith of the Center for Applied Rationality has volunteered to run interested parties through an experimental rationality training unit at the meetup. Here's his description:

The topic is fudoshin — literally "imperturbable mind." It's related to Julia's combat reflexes material, but it's more directly targeted at the feeling of againstness that can arise when feeling defensive or when wanting to push for a particular result. I've worked out some mental hacks that, when paired with some physiological tricks, seem to work really well for practicing this state of mind. I originally developed these tools as a method of teaching people to be effective at mentally challenging parts of aikido but I've found it gives me a very strong impression of being more open to listening to criticism and taking ideas seriously. It's also just a pleasant state to be in. :-)

The agenda for Wednesday is as follows:

7:00pm: Doors open.
7:15pm: Meta-meetup: Plan the next several meetups.
8:15pm: Michael's fudoshin session. (This should take 1-2 hours.)