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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   4588 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 7, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I'm the organizer for my city's LW/SSC/Rationality (capital R) meetup. We have a similar demographic to the one you experienced, minus the "many in the greater..." part. Most of our group is 30 or younger, with a few 40+ people sprinkled in. Engagement varies in a pattern I've yet to study or understand: some socials get 10+ people out, others three; some purposeful meetups (i.e., we're discussing topic X) get eight, others a mere two. (I suspect it's a combination of unlucky schedule misalignments, the topic only appealing to a handful of people, and it often being a hastily-designed event due to my personal time/energy constraints.)

Nothing major has come out of the group at a collective level. I hold an annual goals meetup on the first week of January designed to help members network with each other to find similar people and potential accountability partners, but it ends up with people stating their goals and never following up on them until the next year when they've been forgotten. Some members hang out with each other outside of the group. I've started accountability partnerships with a few. I do think there's opportunity given the average member's intelligence and ambition.

I think regularly attending is largely worthwhile solely because of the people you meet there. I don't have many IRL friends interested in the topics we discuss, so the meetups are a good outlet to talk about things in person, especially with people smarter than me! Consider attending more and trying to grow the group without sacrificing the member quality.

Regarding new/younger writers in the space: I don't know of anyone besides myself (and I wouldn't even count myself considering how small of a following I have). I graduated from undergrad in 2020 and regularly post on my website/publish monthly changes to Substack. Happy to DM you if you're interested in the link. (I don't want to post it here because it feels like improper advertising.)

I wouldn't mind you advertising, for one. Feel free to take this comment as a reason to; now it's not unprompted.

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