Actually Rational & Kind Sequences Reading Group

Come get old-fashioned with us, and let’s read the sequences at kryptoklob’s house!

He’s been banned from the Lighthaven campus by Ben Pace, and has no idea why...so he’ll host his own event.

With blackjack...and...okay, no that’s a joke, there won’t intentionally be any gambling here.

(That’s me—kryptoklob = Caleb Ditchfield = segfault.)

We’ll show up, mingle, do intros, and then split off into randomized groups for some sequences discussion—or stick together if there’s not that many people.

Please do the reading beforehand—it should be no more than 20 minutes of reading.

(pic below is from my recent housewarming party; guests were lovely!)

This group is aimed for people who are new to the sequences and would enjoy a group experience, but also for people who’ve been around LessWrong and LessWrong meetups for a while and would like a refresher.

This meetup will also have dinner provided! We’ll post ahead of time with the food so you know if it works for you, but it will cover meat-eaters, veggies and vegans alike.

Please RSVP to this event so we know how many people to have food for.

For this Sept 5th meetup, we’re reading from the first book of the sequences highlights. The mandatory readings are

1. The Lens That Sees Its Flaws

2. Your Strength as a Rationalist

3. What do we mean by rationality?

4. Twelve Virtues of Rationality

5. Optional bonus: Use the Try Harder, Luke

These are quite short and should take around 15-20 minutes to read all together.

The meetup starts at 6pm. We’ll split into discussion groups around 6:30, and dinner will be served at about 7:30pm, after which point we’ll hangout around the fireside as late as we feel like.

You can come without having read the essays from the sequences, we do want you to get to join, but you might be lost—so don’t make it everyone else’s problem if that is the case, please :)

Some questions to ask yourself about the essays as you read them

• What’s the most important point in the essay?

• What’s the weakest point in the essay? Or what is the essay wrong about?

• Can you think of a way to apply the ideas in this essay to your own life?

For the future

• I’d like to make this a every-two-weeks meetup! If you’d like to get notified of future events, you can subscribe to our meetup below to get an email whenever we add another one.