Applied Rationality Workshops

Information on Workshops

The Center for Applied Rationality is a nonprofit founded to give people more understanding and control of their own decisions and behavior. The techniques we teach are inspired from models of reasoning from probability and decision theory, combined with cognitive science research on how human brains actually work and how we can train ourselves to improve. Through thousands of hours of curriculum testing and participant feedback, we develop those mathematical and empirical insights into everyday skills (like those described in our rationality checklist) — how to make more accurate predictions, avoid self-deception, and use arithmetic in ways that better motivate you to action. And after all that testing, we filter the very best classes down into a cohesive four-day workshop that you can now attend.

Join us for one of our upcoming immersive rationality workshops, where we’ll share our findings with a select group of founders, hackers, and other ambitious, analytical, practically-minded people. We’ll teach you the science behind our techniques to satisfy your intellect, and lead you through exercises to kick-start the habit of applying them in your daily life. Check out our testimonials page, the Workshops FAQ, or see the sample workshop schedule.

"Rationality training has given me more mental clarity than I knew it was possible to have."

— Liron Shapira, Co-founder & CTO of Quixey

Gain powerful insights into…

• How to combine conflicting intuitions from multiple sources, including your gut reactions, your analytic reasoning, and of course the opinions of others;
• The science behind the body’s stress reactions, and skills to make it easier to ask experts for knowledge, clients for business, or investors for capital;
• The structure of your own goals and motivations;
• How to redesign and change your own habits;
• How to better delegate tasks to yourself;
• How to learn new skills faster;

… and lots of other topics that aren’t on the schedule because you’ll learn about them from other participants.

Price and Benefits

The total cost of attendance is $3,900. That price includes:

• The four and a half day long workshop itself
• Room and board starting from the Wednesday evening of opening session, through the Monday morning after the workshop.
• 200 page handbook, complete with references for further reading
• Four free follow up coaching calls with a CFAR staff member
• Access to many alumni community benefits:
  • Free access to coworking space in the CFAR offices in downtown Berkeley
  • At-cost alumni workshops. Small, free or donation-based workshops that are either deeper dives into a particular part of our curriculum, or experimental new material that we want to test
  • Active alumni mailing list
  • Alumni events like our yearly reunion, test sessions, and frequent meetups
  • Mentorship and instructor training. This is selective program for people who are interested in deeply learning the CFAR curriculum and potentially adding to it, and for those who are interested in teaching our material to others

Payment plans are available, as well as need-based financial aid. And if you conclude the benefits to your happiness and effectiveness don’t recoup the investment, we’ll refund your money up to a year after you attend the workshop.

Some relevant numbers...

• 9.2 average response, from past participants, to the question “On a scale from 1 (not at all) to 10 (extremely): Are you glad you came to the workshop?”
• 96 hours of fully immersive instruction
• 1 to 3 staff to participant ratio, so there’s always someone available before and after class to discuss applying the material in your life