Thanks, this is quite informative, especially your closing paragraph:
Still, I’d say more of our work has been focused on movement-building than on cutting-edge research, because we think the most immediate concern is not on cutting-edge research but on building a larger community of support, funding, and researchers to work on these problems.
This makes sense to me; have you considered incorporating this paragraph into your core mission statement ? Also, what are your thresholds for deciding when to transition from (primarily) community-building to (primarily) doing research ?
Also, you mentioned (in your main post) that the SIAI has quite a few papers in the works, awaiting publication; and apparently there are even a few books waiting for publishers. Would it not be more efficient to post the articles and books in question on Less Wrong, or upload them to Pirate Bay, or something to that extent—at least, while you wait for the meat-space publishers to get their act together ? Sorry if this is a naive question; I know very little about the publishing world.
what are your thresholds for deciding when to transition from (primarily) community-building to (primarily) doing research ?
We’re not precisely sure. It’s also a matter of funding. Researchers who can publish “platform research” for academic outreach, problem space clarification, and community building are less expensive than researchers who can solve decision theory, safe AI architectures, etc.
Would it not be more efficient to post the articles and books in question on Less Wrong, or upload them to Pirate Bay, or something to that extent—at least, while you wait for the meat-space publishers to get their act together ?
Like many academics, we generally do publish early drafts of forthcoming articles long before the final version is written and published. Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Thanks, this is quite informative, especially your closing paragraph:
This makes sense to me; have you considered incorporating this paragraph into your core mission statement ? Also, what are your thresholds for deciding when to transition from (primarily) community-building to (primarily) doing research ?
Also, you mentioned (in your main post) that the SIAI has quite a few papers in the works, awaiting publication; and apparently there are even a few books waiting for publishers. Would it not be more efficient to post the articles and books in question on Less Wrong, or upload them to Pirate Bay, or something to that extent—at least, while you wait for the meat-space publishers to get their act together ? Sorry if this is a naive question; I know very little about the publishing world.
We’re not precisely sure. It’s also a matter of funding. Researchers who can publish “platform research” for academic outreach, problem space clarification, and community building are less expensive than researchers who can solve decision theory, safe AI architectures, etc.
Like many academics, we generally do publish early drafts of forthcoming articles long before the final version is written and published. Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4.