What we're about
Welcome to the hub for all things in Portland related to effective altruism and rationality aka PEAR!
Effective altruism is about using reason and evidence to do the most good we can with our limited resources. For more information about how we do this, visit effectivealtruism.org.
In the rationality community, we aspire to improve our reasoning and decision making and address the biases that prevent us from holding true beliefs and accomplishing our goals. For more information on rationality, here’s a brief explanation on LessWrong, or dive into some of the posts on Scott Alexander’s blog.
Please feel free to come out, even if, like many of us, you feel awkward, feel that you're not the typical rationalist or effective altruist, are worried that people won't like you, are just curious, or have read this far, etc. Any event is welcoming but PEAR Social dinners are especially casual. We would love to have you join Portland's effective altruism and rationality community!
All events will be posted here on Meetup, on our public calendar, and sent out from our mailing list. You can also check out the previous events we've hosted, and keep the conversation going on our Discord. If you have any other questions, please message us anytime here on Meetup or at support@pearcommunity.com.
Hope to see you soon!
Upcoming events (4+)
When: 1pm - 3pm Every Other Sunday
Where: I booked 10 person study room at Multnomah County Central Library (801 SW 10th Avenue). It's on the second floor.
About:
During these meetings we will dive deeper into some of the problems of AI safety and see what progress we can make, or at least make sense of the difficulties.
Topic:
This is the second of two meetings discussing image network interpretability. We'll discuss the following two articles:
Contact:
Lead: Joel
Support: Isaac
Support: Sam at[masked]
- Sonny
- Sam F.
- Joel B.
- 5 attendees
---- This event is hosted by a PEAR affiliated group, not PEAR itself. ----
When: 7:00pm on every Monday
Where: Online at https://discord.io/solutions
About:
Every Monday, the Solutions Discord server hosts Article Discussions - we read an interesting article about news, technology, ethics, politics, or anything else we find interesting, and then we talk about our thoughts on it!
Discussions are open to everyone's involvement. We vote on, and announce, articles each week in the Discord server, so stay tuned there for the latest info!
Topic:
Check the Discord "Article Announcements Channel"
HOW TO JOIN: Sign up for Discord and join our server (https://discord.io/solutions). You'll need some sort of mic (you can also join using the Discord app on your phone).
Solutions is a podcast/publication/community hosted by Elias Jackson and Grant Erwin that tackles societal and economic problems using evidence and reason. https://medium.com/solutions
## Other links
- Article Discussions Homepage: https://article-disc.vercel.app
- Announcement: https://medium.com/solutions/introducing-article-discussions-42debdaa42f6
- Solutions Podcast: https://medium.com/solutions
- Sam F.
- Elias J.
- Eric S
- 3 attendees
When: 5:30pm every other Thursday
Where: Cartopia at 1207 SE Hawthorne
About:
This is PEAR Social at Cartopia, one of our favorite spots with the Firepits, thai food, and heated tent. If you're new, this is a great way to meet people in the group and find out what we are about in a low - key social setting. If you've been before, you know it is where some of the most unexpected and insightful conversations take place. Can't wait to see you!
Cartopia Description:
- This 8-cart pod sits a couple of blocks away from Hawthorne Asylum and features 3 roaring fire pits and a heated tent for colder weather. Pyro Pizza is a standout here, with a brick pizza oven in the trailer serving up popular wood-fired pizzas. Potato Champion’s poutine is another cart popular with locals for a late night bite, as this pod is open later than most others.
Contacts:
Lead: Jeremy at[masked]
Support: Conor at[masked]
Support: Sam at[masked]
- Conor
- Sam F.
- banessa g.
- 3 attendees
When: 5:00-7:30 pm
Where: Beeminder's (Daniel Reeves's) House at 3246 NE 57th Ave, Portland, OR 97213
About:
This is a Bi-Weekly PEAR Meetup, where we talk about recent posts on EA, ACX, or LessWrong or do something else interesting. Please feel free to come, even if, like many of us, you feel awkward about it, feel that you're not the typical rationalist or effective altruist, are completely new to either community, or worry that people won't like you, etc.
Food will be provided! With most options being vegetarian or vegan. Can't wait to see you!
Topic:
TBD
Contact:
Lead: Sam at[masked]
Support: Lukas at[masked]
- Isabel
- Sam F.
- 2 attendees
Past events (174)
- Elias J.
- Sam F.
- 2 attendees
