[3:30pm start / arrival / preparation – formal dojo activities will commence at 4:00pm.]
The Less Wrong Sunday Rationality Dojos are self-improvement sessions for those committed to the Art of Rationality and personal growth, on the first Sunday of each month.
1) James Fodor will run a session on logical fallacies: Sloppy thinking, logical fallacies, and invalid reasoning are everywhere in life, and relatively few people have the ability to rigorously and critically examine arguments. We'll begin with a quick review of some key concepts in logic, such as the difference between validity and soundness, and also review some of the major types of logical fallacies and failure modes in reasoning. We'll then practise analysing real arguments, identifying where they go wrong, why they are problematic, and how they might be improved. (James is president of the University of Melbourne Secular Society, runs the group "Dealing With Disagreement", and is interested in epistemology, inter-faith dialogue, effective altruism, and applied rationality.)
2) A few of us recently met to discuss restructuring the Less Wrong Dojos. Patrick will report on our ideas, and we'll discuss.
3) As always, we will review the personal goals we committed to at the previous Dojo (I will have done X by the next Dojo). Goals are recorded via Google Forms here -https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MCHH4MpbW0SI_2JyMSDlKnnGP4A0qxojQEZoMZIdopk/viewform, and Melbourne Less Wrong organisers have access to the form results if you wish to review the goals you set last month.
4) Lightning talks: Learnt something cool? Gained an insight from one of the Less Wrong sequences? Share it with Melbourne LW! Speakers are limited to 5 minutes including questions. If you have something you would like to present a lightning talk on, please let one of the organisers know, either beforehand or on the day.
The Dojo is likely to run until about 6:30pm, after which some people will get dinner together.
If you have any trouble finding the venue or getting in, text or call Richard on 0421231789 or Chris on 0439471632
If you would like to present at a future Dojo or suggest a topic, please fill it in on the Rationality Dojo Roster: http://is.gd/dojoroster
To organise similar events, please send an email to melbournelw@gmail.com