Retreats | Center for Applied Rationality

CFAR Retreats

Upcoming workshops:

Friday, April 26 – Monday, April 29

Friday, May 17 – Monday, May 20

Saturday, July 20 – Tuesday, July 23

Click here for details on our upcoming applied rationality workshops.

Our retreats are the most powerful way we’ve found of teaching people a huge amount of useful skills in a short amount of time, in a way that’s exciting, fun, and that will actually stick and continue to have positive effects on their lives after they’ve returned home.

The format: students live on-site in CFAR’s headquarters in Berkeley, or in a picturesque retreat outside the city, for either four or eight days. Each day is packed with 6 hours of classes teaching some of the most useful techniques we know in epistemic and instrumental rationality, along with free meals, outings, games, and plenty of fascinating late-night conversation.

“So much more fun-packed, informative, and empowering than I could have dreamed. I don’t think there’s anything else out there like it.”

— Participant, June 2012 retreat

We put together a class of roughly 25 students per retreat, selecting for people who are not only intelligent, but motivated and warm, so you leave with a network of new friends and contacts.

Click here for a sample schedule of classes.

“I can’t recommend the CFAR rationality minicamps highly enough. I’m walking away with new friends, new knowledge, and new determination to unlock my potential. I fully expect to be a happier, more successful, and all-around better person as a result of attending.”

— Participant, May 2012 retreat

What We’ve Done

Our pilot retreats in May, June, and July 2012 drew rave reviews from participants. (Mean response to “Are you glad you came? (0-10)” was 9.4.) We’ve also launched a one-year randomized controlled study of the long-term effects of rationality training on people’s (a) reasoning ability and (b) life success.

What’s Next

Demand for a spot in our retreats is currently greater than capacity, but in the next year we’ll be expanding our operation to run more retreats, in more cities. And we’re adapting our material for a series of different groups, like students, doctors, and investors. Coming up next: applied rationality workshops.