Less Wrong Melbourne

Updated 2 April 2020

Welcome! We are a friendly band of people in Melbourne, Australia, learning to use our brains better, in order to live better. “Aspiring rationalists”, if you will.

We’re interested in:

  • Epistemic rationality – getting closer to understanding what’s true.
  • Instrumental rationality – being more effective at our goals.
  • Applying rationality to ourselves (rather than just talking about how other people are irrational).

About us

Our inspiration comes from:

  • The website Less Wrong, and its Sequences. However, a local real life community is a different beast from a global online community. (It’s easier to be friendly in real life.)
  • The Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR). CFAR held its first workshops outside the USA in early 2014, in Victoria. A number of us participated and found it very valuable.
  • Many other sources, including great books about the mind, changing habits, and communication…) and related groups within Melbourne (notably Effective Altruism Melbourne).

What we do

We meet regularly in Melbourne for a social meetup on the first Friday night of each month, generally at a quiet pub near the city (or by video conference when there’s a pandemic). Announced on our FB group and perhaps on our Google calendar.

We’re also open to impromptu social outings, excursions and discussions.

In the past we have run monthly “rationality dojos” but these have been mostly on hold since late 2018. (Past topics include: The Planning Fallacy, Cognitive Dissonance, Memory, Fixed Mindset & Growth Mindset, Communication Strategies, and How to Learn Faster & Teach More Effectively.)

We are part of a wider rationality community, in the sense of a Less Wrong, Bayesian approach to rationality. Our community overlaps heavily with Effective Altruism Melbourne, for example (see their Facebook and Meetup) and our monthly social (above) is a combined Less Wrong–Slate Star Codex social.

Find out more

For announcements and event details, or to ask a question, join us online:

 

Header image credit: Carlton Gardens, CC-by 3.0.