I clicked here wondering if anyone had posted something for Ithaca and here you are. I’m in Ithaca. Probably not a typical SSCer though. Would join a meetup if I can..
The London UK meet up is very well organised but a bit busy and overwhelming. If anyone is interested in a smaller meetup in South London/Kent e.g Beckenham, Crystal Palace, let me know.
For the schelling/ACX Everywhere meetups I often filter the meetups so there's only one within a 30~60 minute range of each other, with the goal to have one big meetup everyone goes to rather than a bunch of small meetups. That said, the schelling/ACXE meetups are the only time I do that- and I encourage someone standing up at one of the big ones and saying "Hey, anyone want to do these regularly but closer to this part of town? How about next weekend?"
(I also don't know London geography very well so plausibly these are actually far enough apart and the locals will tell me that- I'm pretty happy with the New Jersey, Manhattan, and Long Island split in the U.S. for instance.)
Okay fair enough, Beckenham might be a bit close in that case but if there are people in Kent for whom East London is a bit far we could talk about somewhere further out of London.
Great. I might go to Newspeak House for the next social and see if there's much interest for a South London/Kent social. Beckenham Junction to Shoreditch High Street is an hour so it would meet Skyler's criteria. Bromley is an option too.
I'd guess most of the people interested in such a meetup wouldn't be at the next newspeak house social because it's moderately inconvenient to go there regularly for them.
One of these years I'll actually work up the courage to go to a meetup, impostor syndrome be damned. I'd like to say they always fall on my workdays, but that's not strictly true, and it's not like I couldn't take the time off...("going on a vacation?" "no, just meeting some fellow members of a worldwide conspiracy...I mean, sure")
*Receive incontrovertible proof that I'm too stupid to be a card-carrying Rationalist
*Doxx myself by talking too freely about job
*Struggle internally with which mask to wear, presentation-wise (unconsciously lapsing into "helpful retail assistant" personality basin, a sure sign I'm not comfortable with the company, IYKYK)
*Feel embarrassed about being downright poor by ACX standards
*Display ignorance due to old knowledge cutoffs across most domains that aren't narrowly-intense interets
I'm only half heartedly rationalist, and I'm really not EA because I think that missing the wood for the trees is their default mode, I also EAs tend to think I'm borderline reactionary right (I left a local EA signal group when someone tried to tone police my very reasonably expressed sentiment that if Switzerland was such a successful place, and also had really strict immigration rules, one could not immediately rule out a connection), and at my first meet up someone condescended hilariously to me on physics (he knew more about it than I do, but not by nearly as much as he seemed to think).
But I still had some fun discussions and met some new people. Basically you have far more upside than downside.
It's primarily for readers of ACX. You read ACX? You should be fine :)
(Also sometimes people go who don't read ACX and they generally report things going fine too, but if you read the blog there's nothing else to impersonate!)
Just go, you will find out 99% of the people are just normal and looking for an excuse to have a beer with others. Never been to a ACX meetup (never one local to me) but I have ran a couple software release parties before (Mozilla 1.0, etc.) and they go fine, i.e. "bunch of random people show up a mostly empty dive bar off peak hours and then proceed to drink and socialize because that's what people do. The stated thing the party was for, never mentioned beyond 'is that that group?'". You are having an irrational fear of imposter syndrome think it's going to be a get together of rationalists AI EA XYZ people with Musk and Grimes in tow and you won't fit it, really it going to be just normal people like you just looking for an excuse to break up the monotony. You figure in reality 95% (arbitrary number) of people that read ACX don't care about any of that stuff and the surveys generally show that.
If you're wondering if you should go: the meetup may be the first time in your life when 50% of people around you are *more* nerdy (...not to use other epithets) than you, and you come across as extremely normal and socially adept by comparison. It is a very strange new feeling, and I recommend experiencing it at least once.
I don't want to say "autistic" to mean "awkward and nerdy and basically being your ordinary typical rat", not because it might be offensive, but because it doesn't feel accurate. It's a diagnosis, I don't want to use it lightly on vibes.
Would there be any interest in a Nashville meetup? I don’t see one planned but Centennial Park or Vanderbilt University Commons seem like natural places to do one. I’ll volunteer to organize if someone replies to this comment saying they’d be interested in going, but I’m a little worried there isn’t a single person in this city who reads the blog apart from two of my friends here. Nashville isn’t exactly “nerd town” or “statistics blog readership hotbed” in my experience, but I would love to be proven wrong.
Well awesome, I’m filing an ad in Scott’s form for an event on a Saturday in April and will make a GroupMe for it in case people want to adjust time and place after the fact. I think we’re going to do it at Vanderbilt’s alumni hall outdoor seating area by the commons lawn and cater from Maggiano’s Little Italy—I’ll try to give understandable parking and directions info in the ad. You’ll see it when Scott follows up on this. Hopefully we (I can guarantee at least 3 if not 5 of my friends will be there) will see you there—let me know if you have a preferred day of the week.
Well awesome, I’m filing an ad in Scott’s form for an event on a Saturday in April and will make a GroupMe for it in case people want to adjust time and place after the fact. I think we’re going to do it at Vanderbilt’s alumni hall outdoor seating area by the commons lawn and cater from Maggiano’s Little Italy—I’ll try to give understandable parking and directions info in the ad. You’ll see it when Scott follows up on this. Hopefully we (I can guarantee at least 3 if not 5 of my friends will be there) will see you there—let me know if you have a preferred day of the week.
Aside, but please definitely go to one of these meetups if you're able. Even if you're nervous or feel you won't fit in. A few years ago, I felt the same way, but it turned out to be one of the better decisions I've made.
Also, if you're in the Twin Cities, MN area- keep an eye out, we'll be announcing our spring meetup soon.
I tried to do this a couple years ago in Bloomington, IN. No one showed. I just walked my dog in the park nearby and chatted with someone running some totally different meet up so it was still fun.
I expect there just aren't enough interested people but I will try again if I get a couple comments here to the contrary.
Which year was that? Someone said they got six people for a Bloomington meetup in 2021 (or me/my predecessor made a data error somewhere, which happens) but I know attendance ebbs and flows.
Thank you for trying! The best way me and Scott have for finding out which cities would have attendees is for someone to give it a shot, and some people find out there aren't readers. That's half the purpose I have for the previous attendance sheet, so folks are at least forewarned.
"Meetups Czar Skyler can reimburse you for the nametags, food, drinks, and other things like that, though reimbursements are likely going to go out slower than last year."
Is this still true, or is it outdated information?
I am once again doing the Sisyphean task of hosting a meetup in Baghdad, hoping against hope that someone will attend.
I have given up on going there myself, so if you happen to be here (lord have mercy on your soul) and you want to come you should inform me. you can contact me at my telegram (https://t.me/Wolfram_Sigma), or join the meetup telegram group (https://t.me/+n7U-ilkVA_dkNTUy).
May I suggest that there is a common thread of constitutional reform on the agenda in the spirit of the "last rights" piece? Very timely with US's 250th birthday.
For the people that don't know what country they live in, a product I'm sure of their excellent private schooling from the sort that read ACX, can you deconflict it for the so it's easier to find, i.e. USA v. the United States of American, UK v. the United Kingdom, etc. Your survey all over the place, I assumed it was a drop down to prevent this but seems not.
The SUPERMAJORITY PLAN TO IMPEACH TRUMP and HIS ADMINISTRATION
It will take 292 house and 67 senate votes to obtain a supermajority vote. This is the key to accomplishing anything in the house or senate. The house and senate will be able to impeach Trump and his administration for their crimes and corruption.
The Democrats are the only ones that will stand against Trump. We have to vote out as many republicans as possible.
EVERYONE IS GOING TO HAVE TO VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS IN THE NOVEMBER 3RD MIDTERM ELECTIONS TO MAKE THIS WORK
Make sure you share this with everyone you know without social media. People without social media are unaware how corrupt and detrimental Trump’s administration really is for our country. The media outlets do not post anything negative about Trump. Some people don’t even know what the midterm elections are or how important they are.
TRUMP, HIS ADMINISTRATION, HIS BILLIONAIRE PEDOPHILE NETWORK , AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ARE MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE WORKING CLASS TO SURVIVE.
If anyone is interested in Ithaca, NY I could cause one of these... please comment below if there's even a single SSCer here
I clicked here wondering if anyone had posted something for Ithaca and here you are. I’m in Ithaca. Probably not a typical SSCer though. Would join a meetup if I can..
As a typical organizer I would like to confirm that we usually quite enjoy having nontypical SSCers show up
I’m in Syracuse. Tight schedule this spring but would try to make it.
The London UK meet up is very well organised but a bit busy and overwhelming. If anyone is interested in a smaller meetup in South London/Kent e.g Beckenham, Crystal Palace, let me know.
For the schelling/ACX Everywhere meetups I often filter the meetups so there's only one within a 30~60 minute range of each other, with the goal to have one big meetup everyone goes to rather than a bunch of small meetups. That said, the schelling/ACXE meetups are the only time I do that- and I encourage someone standing up at one of the big ones and saying "Hey, anyone want to do these regularly but closer to this part of town? How about next weekend?"
(I also don't know London geography very well so plausibly these are actually far enough apart and the locals will tell me that- I'm pretty happy with the New Jersey, Manhattan, and Long Island split in the U.S. for instance.)
Okay fair enough, Beckenham might be a bit close in that case but if there are people in Kent for whom East London is a bit far we could talk about somewhere further out of London.
I'd like a Beckenham meetup, even if it's not an official ACX spring meetup TBH.
Great. I might go to Newspeak House for the next social and see if there's much interest for a South London/Kent social. Beckenham Junction to Shoreditch High Street is an hour so it would meet Skyler's criteria. Bromley is an option too.
I'd guess most of the people interested in such a meetup wouldn't be at the next newspeak house social because it's moderately inconvenient to go there regularly for them.
You all know the local geography and culture better than I do- if the locals think folks wouldn't go to the London one, I'm open to adding it!
One of these years I'll actually work up the courage to go to a meetup, impostor syndrome be damned. I'd like to say they always fall on my workdays, but that's not strictly true, and it's not like I couldn't take the time off...("going on a vacation?" "no, just meeting some fellow members of a worldwide conspiracy...I mean, sure")
Just do it, what can go wrong?
People might find out I'm an impostor.
Of a real person?
Well, I don't identify as an AI at least, though of course just saying so proves little.
You'll fit in just fine
*Receive incontrovertible proof that I'm too stupid to be a card-carrying Rationalist
*Doxx myself by talking too freely about job
*Struggle internally with which mask to wear, presentation-wise (unconsciously lapsing into "helpful retail assistant" personality basin, a sure sign I'm not comfortable with the company, IYKYK)
*Feel embarrassed about being downright poor by ACX standards
*Display ignorance due to old knowledge cutoffs across most domains that aren't narrowly-intense interets
*Find out that the community I like to associate with online isn't my cup of tea offline, and make some difficult updates in both directions, similar to Jenn's experience here: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/otgrxjbWLsrDjbC2w/in-my-misanthropy-era
The only winning move is not to play.
I'm only half heartedly rationalist, and I'm really not EA because I think that missing the wood for the trees is their default mode, I also EAs tend to think I'm borderline reactionary right (I left a local EA signal group when someone tried to tone police my very reasonably expressed sentiment that if Switzerland was such a successful place, and also had really strict immigration rules, one could not immediately rule out a connection), and at my first meet up someone condescended hilariously to me on physics (he knew more about it than I do, but not by nearly as much as he seemed to think).
But I still had some fun discussions and met some new people. Basically you have far more upside than downside.
Do you go to the local dive bar to socialize with people less intelligent than you?
My attendance at the local bars is uncorrelated with the average IQ of the patrons.
It's primarily for readers of ACX. You read ACX? You should be fine :)
(Also sometimes people go who don't read ACX and they generally report things going fine too, but if you read the blog there's nothing else to impersonate!)
Don't worry, one of the regulars here is explicitly an anti rationalist
Just go, you will find out 99% of the people are just normal and looking for an excuse to have a beer with others. Never been to a ACX meetup (never one local to me) but I have ran a couple software release parties before (Mozilla 1.0, etc.) and they go fine, i.e. "bunch of random people show up a mostly empty dive bar off peak hours and then proceed to drink and socialize because that's what people do. The stated thing the party was for, never mentioned beyond 'is that that group?'". You are having an irrational fear of imposter syndrome think it's going to be a get together of rationalists AI EA XYZ people with Musk and Grimes in tow and you won't fit it, really it going to be just normal people like you just looking for an excuse to break up the monotony. You figure in reality 95% (arbitrary number) of people that read ACX don't care about any of that stuff and the surveys generally show that.
If you're wondering if you should go: the meetup may be the first time in your life when 50% of people around you are *more* nerdy (...not to use other epithets) than you, and you come across as extremely normal and socially adept by comparison. It is a very strange new feeling, and I recommend experiencing it at least once.
Is it actually bad to say autistic? Nerdy has kinda lost its meaning in recent decades
I don't want to say "autistic" to mean "awkward and nerdy and basically being your ordinary typical rat", not because it might be offensive, but because it doesn't feel accurate. It's a diagnosis, I don't want to use it lightly on vibes.
That only works for half of us xD
(and I am not in that half, it turns out)
Some of us have been to glad school and/or academic conferences before.
Would there be any interest in a Nashville meetup? I don’t see one planned but Centennial Park or Vanderbilt University Commons seem like natural places to do one. I’ll volunteer to organize if someone replies to this comment saying they’d be interested in going, but I’m a little worried there isn’t a single person in this city who reads the blog apart from two of my friends here. Nashville isn’t exactly “nerd town” or “statistics blog readership hotbed” in my experience, but I would love to be proven wrong.
I would be interested!
Well awesome, I’m filing an ad in Scott’s form for an event on a Saturday in April and will make a GroupMe for it in case people want to adjust time and place after the fact. I think we’re going to do it at Vanderbilt’s alumni hall outdoor seating area by the commons lawn and cater from Maggiano’s Little Italy—I’ll try to give understandable parking and directions info in the ad. You’ll see it when Scott follows up on this. Hopefully we (I can guarantee at least 3 if not 5 of my friends will be there) will see you there—let me know if you have a preferred day of the week.
There are at least 2 of us. Count me in!
Well awesome, I’m filing an ad in Scott’s form for an event on a Saturday in April and will make a GroupMe for it in case people want to adjust time and place after the fact. I think we’re going to do it at Vanderbilt’s alumni hall outdoor seating area by the commons lawn and cater from Maggiano’s Little Italy—I’ll try to give understandable parking and directions info in the ad. You’ll see it when Scott follows up on this. Hopefully we (I can guarantee at least 3 if not 5 of my friends will be there) will see you there—let me know if you have a preferred day of the week.
I wish there was a meeting for the weirdos like me in Philly, where it is always sunny
We have monthly meetups in Philly! DM me and I'll add you to the Discord.
The sheet is blank for me?
I can see the formatting and the column names but all the cells apear empty
Yep, that's because this got posted a little after midnight where I live. I'm sitting down to start working my way through the incoming stack.
Aside, but please definitely go to one of these meetups if you're able. Even if you're nervous or feel you won't fit in. A few years ago, I felt the same way, but it turned out to be one of the better decisions I've made.
Also, if you're in the Twin Cities, MN area- keep an eye out, we'll be announcing our spring meetup soon.
Lemme know about TC meetup
I tried to do this a couple years ago in Bloomington, IN. No one showed. I just walked my dog in the park nearby and chatted with someone running some totally different meet up so it was still fun.
I expect there just aren't enough interested people but I will try again if I get a couple comments here to the contrary.
Which year was that? Someone said they got six people for a Bloomington meetup in 2021 (or me/my predecessor made a data error somewhere, which happens) but I know attendance ebbs and flows.
Thank you for trying! The best way me and Scott have for finding out which cities would have attendees is for someone to give it a shot, and some people find out there aren't readers. That's half the purpose I have for the previous attendance sheet, so folks are at least forewarned.
"Meetups Czar Skyler can reimburse you for the nametags, food, drinks, and other things like that, though reimbursements are likely going to go out slower than last year."
Is this still true, or is it outdated information?
It's still true, though the "likely going out slower than last year" is very real.
I am once again doing the Sisyphean task of hosting a meetup in Baghdad, hoping against hope that someone will attend.
I have given up on going there myself, so if you happen to be here (lord have mercy on your soul) and you want to come you should inform me. you can contact me at my telegram (https://t.me/Wolfram_Sigma), or join the meetup telegram group (https://t.me/+n7U-ilkVA_dkNTUy).
That’s insane. I wish you luck
Anyone in Northeast OH, greater Cleveland area interested?
Yes, I am a definite maybe.
I misread "Skyler" as "Skynet."
Look, nobody has ever seen Scott's Meetup Czar in the same room as the Cyberdyne Systems AI.
May I suggest that there is a common thread of constitutional reform on the agenda in the spirit of the "last rights" piece? Very timely with US's 250th birthday.
Anyone know where the last LA meetup was held? What part of the city?
Schelling meetup last September I think, western side of the city near Angel Park.
For the people that don't know what country they live in, a product I'm sure of their excellent private schooling from the sort that read ACX, can you deconflict it for the so it's easier to find, i.e. USA v. the United States of American, UK v. the United Kingdom, etc. Your survey all over the place, I assumed it was a drop down to prevent this but seems not.
They should all be standardized from here out!
Ty
The SUPERMAJORITY PLAN TO IMPEACH TRUMP and HIS ADMINISTRATION
It will take 292 house and 67 senate votes to obtain a supermajority vote. This is the key to accomplishing anything in the house or senate. The house and senate will be able to impeach Trump and his administration for their crimes and corruption.
The Democrats are the only ones that will stand against Trump. We have to vote out as many republicans as possible.
EVERYONE IS GOING TO HAVE TO VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS IN THE NOVEMBER 3RD MIDTERM ELECTIONS TO MAKE THIS WORK
Make sure you share this with everyone you know without social media. People without social media are unaware how corrupt and detrimental Trump’s administration really is for our country. The media outlets do not post anything negative about Trump. Some people don’t even know what the midterm elections are or how important they are.
TRUMP, HIS ADMINISTRATION, HIS BILLIONAIRE PEDOPHILE NETWORK , AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ARE MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE WORKING CLASS TO SURVIVE.
WE HAVE TO STOP THEM FROM DESTROYING THE COUNTRY
Hi Skyler, I filled out the form for the Santiago ACX meetup, but unlike previous years I haven't received any confirmation yet, is this expected?