Interest in video-conference discussion about sequences and/or virtual meetups?
post by jwhendy · 2011-04-06T22:13:11.024Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 33 commentsUpdate: We're up to 9 participants. Per jsalvatier's suggestion, I have created a Google Group for this. It looks like we have 8-9 total, and the move toward finalizing groups and dates/times is now at the Google Group thread HERE.
I plan to ask if I may take meeting minutes for whatever group I end up in and report back on how it goes. If we have multiple groups, we could all combine notes afterward and give a summary. Perhaps interest will grow in this type of activity.
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There's been a decent amount of talk lately about whether or not people have read the sequences, the costs and benefits of reading the sequences before posting, bringing back the sequences, other formats of "sequence-intake," and potential exercises coming down the pipes.
In other words, it seems that many are still interested in the sequences.
I happen to be 1 out of about 19 who has not read the sequences. (Gasp!) I'm working on remedying that.
Something else that's been frequently discussed as of late is the importance of community (and the desire/need for it).
Well, something occurred to me that might be of interest: combining interest in the sequences with the need for community. I'm inquiring about interest to have video (or audio) online conferences about the sequences, particularly for "n00bs" like myself who may not have been through the sequences. I'm in the midst of Map & Territory myself and am currently working though the Intro to Bayes.
Is anyone in a situation where they'd like to read a chunk of these and then have an online discussion? No one seems to be near enough to meetup in Minnesota, so perhaps the "online" route might work for others physically isolated from LWers.
I can see some hangups for this: bandwidth, moderating/getting off-topic, law-of-diminishing-returns, etc. I'm thinking a group of 3-5 per virtual discussion might be best to start. Skype or some other protocol (iChat, jabber, etc.) should work for most people.
Lastly, while my initial thought was to have some post-processing discussion regarding specific sequences... I could also see this as being a neat idea for those with no meetup groups near them, like myself. I thoroughly enjoy discussing with others here, and suspect that even were the discussions not to be explicitly on rationality, it would be very enjoyable to "meet" others here, hear about their lives, share about mine, and discuss, say, goals in life, how we're applying rationality to daily life, etc.
Pretty much anything could go -- start a discussion post for a virtual meetup on a particular topic, see how many are interested in the comment thread, and then perhaps divide people into groups of 3-5 based on availability, time zone, etc.
So, what's the interest in this?
Obviously, also share critiques, pitfalls, objections, or whatever else comes to mind!
33 comments
Comments sorted by top scores.
comment by Armok_GoB · 2011-04-07T14:38:37.229Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I am strongly interested in comunity, extremely isolated, and fairly miserable about it so somehting like this is somehting I'd REALLY want to be in on.
Relevant info: incapable of catching planing events most of the time but on skype most of the time so if the conference is to it shouldn't be a problem. Have read most of the sequences, but out of order so I might have missed the occasional article here and there. European timezone. Would prefer the group of the highest level if there are several to chose from. I might also be interested in being in more than one group if that's not frowned upon.
Replies from: jwhendy, jwhendy, jwhendy↑ comment by jwhendy · 2011-04-07T16:19:32.567Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Sounds great. I created a Google Group per jsalvatier's suggestion) for finalizing details. With the number of people I expect (perhaps between 10-15 when all is said and done), I'm thinking that splitting into groups of 3 will make the most sense. I'm open to changing this idea, but think that 3 will help with the "connectedness feel" and also not ruin everyone's experience off the bat due to bandwidth (not sure what 3+ audio and possibly video streams requires re. internet speed -- I only have 1.5mbps).
comment by erratio · 2011-04-07T07:54:15.142Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'm interested and can do late afternoon/evenings Central time on every second weekend (I'm assuming Central time is the go, since quite a few people who are very interested are using it - it comes out to early mornings in Sydney time, which is rather convenient for me)
Replies from: jwhendy, jwhendy, jwhendy↑ comment by jwhendy · 2011-04-07T16:16:47.742Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Sounds good -- I'll keep you posted. I think I'll hang out for a couple of days and see who trickles in and then will see about directing conversation over to the Google Group I just created (per jsalvatier's suggestion) for finalizing details.
comment by jsalvatier · 2011-04-07T05:19:39.027Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Make sure to make some kind of mailing list or other forum (I personally like googlegroups) for discussing times etc. and link to it on the meetup group wiki article so that other interested people can find out information.
Replies from: jwhendy, jwhendy, jwhendy↑ comment by jwhendy · 2011-04-07T16:15:44.935Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Maybe we'll pilot run this once and see how it goes first. My actual thought is to see if anyone would object to me making "meeting minutes" of whatever comes of this and then summarizing how it went in a separate post (maybe even top-level if people think it's worthy there).
Re. the google group... DONE. I'll comment on those interested after another day or so passes by and we can begin organizing over there to split up into smaller groups, by timezone, discussion topic, availability, or whatever else.
Thanks for the suggestion!
comment by virtualAdept · 2011-04-07T04:08:03.098Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'm definitely interested; similar to others, late evenings (EST) work on weekdays for me, or afternoon+ on weekends.
I'd be interested in discussing the sequences and people's day-to-day experiences with applying the more nonintuitive aspects of rationality.
Replies from: jwhendy, jwhendycomment by folkTheory · 2011-04-07T03:39:52.943Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'm in.
Replies from: jwhendy, jwhendycomment by zaph · 2011-04-07T02:20:57.181Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I've done the core sequences and the quantum physics one. I'd probably be up for something like this. I'm a bit on the time challenged side though. What type of schedule were you thinking of?
Replies from: jwhendy, jwhendy, jwhendy↑ comment by jwhendy · 2011-04-07T02:28:54.140Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Hadn't thought that far ahead. I'm thinking somewhere between every 2-4 weeks. I think that'd be enough time to let [other time challenged] people read through a decent amount of material.
Re. duration, perhaps 1.5-2hrs? Not really sure, though. Maybe that's way too long, or perhaps we could go on for a lot longer!
Definitely evenings if a weekday; otherwise weekends. I work full time.
comment by SilasBarta · 2011-04-07T02:07:59.382Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'm interested in a video/audio chat meetup. I've been wanting to use my webcam for a while anyway. I'm most interested in talking about the sequences (including to help others) and instrumental rationality.
Prefer evenings, I'm on Central time.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I've read the sequences. I will join the googlegroup.
Replies from: jwhendy, jwhendy, jwhendycomment by Dorikka · 2011-04-07T00:53:23.881Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'm interested in this.
Replies from: jwhendy, jwhendy↑ comment by jwhendy · 2011-04-07T00:57:24.114Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Cool! Anything in particular? Just discussion with other LWers, a sort of "dojo" experience of using the sequences as the material for an "online book club," or something else?
Replies from: Dorikka↑ comment by Dorikka · 2011-04-07T02:31:26.947Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
General discussion, especially on instrumental rationality and improving one's effectiveness. I'm somewhat less interested in discussing particular sequences, but I don't have enough confidence in my mental model of such a discussion to feel like I can make a very good estimate. I don't live anywhere near a meetup, so I see this as a way to have general contact with other LWers as well.
Edit: Weekday evenings (T/W/Th) are okay for me, but sometime on the weekend in the afternoon or evening is best.