Abstract. A straightforward proposal for a group-theoretic invariant of knots fails if one really means groups, but works once generalized to meta-groups (to be defined). We will construct one complicated but elementary meta-group as a meta-bicrossed-product (to be defined), and explain how the resulting invariant is a not-yet-understood generalization of the Alexander polynomial, while at the same time being a specialization of a somewhat-understood "universal finite type invariant of w-knots" and of an elusive "universal finite type invariant of v-knots".
This will be an informal talk in the spirit of the talk I will be giving next week at Knots in Washington XXXIV.
Talk video. 
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Handout:
beta.html,
beta.pdf,
beta.png,
Sources: beta.zip,
Pensieve: 2012-03.
