I think there are lots of different good things that come out of having a primary hub, with pretty different valuations. I basically don’t expect people to have the same goals here, or for them to maybe have them altruistically but not personally.
For example, one big benefit of a hub is that it makes dating easier if you’re looking to date other rationalists (well, except for the whole gender ratio and poly thing). This doesn’t matter to me anymore personally, as I’ve found a long-term partner, but that worked out primarily because I was in the major hub, and so had more options to find a good match. But it still seems like a major benefit of having a primary hub to me; if (say) MIRI wants new hires to be able to date rationalists or EAs, it seems like a good idea to have the office near lots of single rationalists and EAs. [Otherwise, you might find the only people you can hire to work in your volcano lair are the ones that are already married.]
Another benefit of a hub is that you get to have in-person conversations more easily and more spontaneously. I live in a group house that’s organized itself physically to try to maximize ‘organic connection units’, where people end up talking or connecting who otherwise wouldn’t have come into contact. The more connection needs to be scheduled, the less of it you get (because taxes lead to deadweight loss) and also the less serendipity you get (because you only talk to the people who you know about).
I think people are influenced by their surroundings and what people around them are doing; the thing where you know lots of people who care about X is social proof that you too should care about X and effort put into it isn’t wasted. If everyone is living in some random town and just connected to the Craft or Movement through the internet, this increases the chance that they disengage to do something else instead.
I think there are lots of different good things that come out of having a primary hub, with pretty different valuations. I basically don’t expect people to have the same goals here, or for them to maybe have them altruistically but not personally.
For example, one big benefit of a hub is that it makes dating easier if you’re looking to date other rationalists (well, except for the whole gender ratio and poly thing). This doesn’t matter to me anymore personally, as I’ve found a long-term partner, but that worked out primarily because I was in the major hub, and so had more options to find a good match. But it still seems like a major benefit of having a primary hub to me; if (say) MIRI wants new hires to be able to date rationalists or EAs, it seems like a good idea to have the office near lots of single rationalists and EAs. [Otherwise, you might find the only people you can hire to work in your volcano lair are the ones that are already married.]
Another benefit of a hub is that you get to have in-person conversations more easily and more spontaneously. I live in a group house that’s organized itself physically to try to maximize ‘organic connection units’, where people end up talking or connecting who otherwise wouldn’t have come into contact. The more connection needs to be scheduled, the less of it you get (because taxes lead to deadweight loss) and also the less serendipity you get (because you only talk to the people who you know about).
I think people are influenced by their surroundings and what people around them are doing; the thing where you know lots of people who care about X is social proof that you too should care about X and effort put into it isn’t wasted. If everyone is living in some random town and just connected to the Craft or Movement through the internet, this increases the chance that they disengage to do something else instead.