Bay Area Bayesians Unite!

post by Eliezer Yudkowsky (Eliezer_Yudkowsky) · 2007-10-28T00:07:42.000Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 15 comments

Robin Hanson has his fellow GMU economists to talk to, but I'm not associated with a university and I live way out in the boondocks: the echoing emptiness of, er, Silicon Valley.

Overcoming Bias gets over 2000 visitors per day.  Surely some of you are from the Bay Area.  Would you be interested in a Bay Area meetup of Overcoming Bias readers?

Polls after the jump.
If you're interested at all, please vote in at least the closest-city poll.
Polls will be processed for a best-compromise value, not a binding modal result.
If I get at least 30 responses, I'll start looking into meetup locations.

Opinion Polls & Market Research
Opinion Polls & Market Research
Opinion Polls & Market Research

15 comments

Comments sorted by oldest first, as this post is from before comment nesting was available (around 2009-02-27).

comment by alex4 · 2007-10-28T02:06:47.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

you should always have a dummy option in public internet polls. This will help weed out those who just have to vote, even if the choices are not applicable to them ;-)

comment by Brandon_Reinhart · 2007-10-28T02:25:06.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

As Alex says, just add an option for "lol, wut?" to every poll to weed out people who might otherwise vote randomly for the hell of it. :P

Should be an Austin, TX meet up. It's like the Bay Area, but a hell of a lot more affordable :)

comment by Doug_S. · 2007-10-28T04:05:02.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I live within driving distance of New York City. I do not plan to attend any such event in California in person.

comment by Eliezer Yudkowsky (Eliezer_Yudkowsky) · 2007-10-28T04:13:47.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I was only proposing an informal meetup, not an international conference.

comment by Robin_Hanson2 · 2007-10-28T13:20:37.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I do as Eliezer says have my GMU colleagues to talk to, but even so we might consider having a DC area meetup sometime. Maybe we should see how the Bay Area version turns out first.

comment by Alex5 · 2007-10-28T15:27:54.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Central Ohio anyone?

It's a lot like the Bay Area, or Austin, except well...

ok I'm deluding myself - it's not at all like the Bay Area or Austin.

comment by Nick_Tarleton · 2007-10-28T17:56:56.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

While we're at it... central North Carolina?

comment by Bob3 · 2007-10-28T21:11:37.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

At the risk of revealing my ignorance, at a meeting of Bayesians, who would do the talking? I would attend Eliezer's gathering just to observe and absorb.

comment by Michael_M._Butler · 2007-10-29T02:51:49.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I'm up in Sonoma County -- how about something teleconferenced via Skype, or something multipoint?

comment by Richard_Hollerith2 · 2007-10-29T04:18:52.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Butler, I'm near Sonoma Cy. Send me an email sometime.

comment by Pete_Carlton · 2007-10-29T04:38:28.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Looks like there had been 52 responses before me.. I hope I am free to attend (I'm in Berkeley..)

comment by Recovering_irrationalist · 2007-10-29T14:50:01.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

A long way off yet... but given the hopefully growing correlation, how about another one at the time and town of the next Singularity Summit?

comment by Gustavo_Lacerda · 2007-10-30T03:22:20.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Nick: Look at http://www.stat.duke.edu/ . To paraphrase two CMU statisticians at once: if Bayesianism is a cult, Duke is its Sodom & Gomorrah.

Coincidentally or not: my blog and this blog are the first two Google hits to bayesian+sodom+and+gomorrah

comment by hoffmang · 2007-10-31T21:29:51.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

If we are 15 or less, I can volunteer my companies offices in Foster City.

-Gene

comment by Mike_K · 2007-11-02T15:38:22.000Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

What about a Boston/Cambridge-area meetup? This seems to be another area that would be appropriate for such a thing. Though, of course, no OB writers are from around here afaik.