I am currently writing fiction that features protagonists that are EAs.
This seems at least related to the infrastructure fund goal of presenting EA principles and exposing more people to them.
I think receiving a grant would make me more likely to aggressively pursue options to professionally edit, publish, and publicize the work. That feels kind of selfish and makes me self-conscious, but also wouldn’t require a very large grant. It’s hard for me to unwrap my feelings about this vs. the actual public good, so I’m asking here first.
I am reasonably excited about fiction (and am on the Long Term Future Fund). I have written previously about my thoughts on fiction here:
The track record of fiction
In a general sense, I think that fiction has a pretty strong track record of both being successful at conveying important ideas, and being a good attractor of talent and other resources. I also think that good fiction is often necessary to establish shared norms and shared language.
Here are some examples of communities and institutions that I think used fiction very centrally in their function. Note that after the first example, I am making no claim that the effect was good, I’m just establishing the magnitude of the potential effect size.
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (HPMOR) was instrumental in the growth and development of both the EA and Rationality communities. It is very likely the single most important recruitment mechanism for productive AI alignment researchers, and has also drawn many other people to work on the broader aims of the EA and Rationality communities.
Fiction was a core part of the strategy of the neoliberal movement; fiction writers were among the groups referred to by Hayek as “secondhand dealers in ideas.” An example of someone whose fiction played both a large role in the rise of neoliberalism and in its eventual spread would be Ayn Rand.
Almost every major religion, culture and nation-state is built on shared myths and stories, usually fictional (though the stories are often held to be true by the groups in question, making this data point a bit more confusing).
Francis Bacon’s (unfinished) utopian novel “The New Atlantis” is often cited as the primary inspiration for the founding of the Royal Society, which may have been the single institution with the greatest influence on the progress of the scientific revolution.
On a more conceptual level, I think fiction tends to be particularly good at achieving the following aims (compared to non-fiction writing):
Teaching low-level cognitive patterns by displaying characters that follow those patterns, allowing the reader to learn from very concrete examples set in a fictional world. (Compare Aesop’s Fables to some nonfiction book of moral precepts — it can be much easier to remember good habits when we attach them to characters.)
Establishing norms, by having stories that display the consequences of not following certain norms, and the rewards of following them in the right way
Establishing a common language, by not only explaining concepts, but also showing concepts as they are used, and how they are brought up in conversational context
Establishing common goals, by creating concrete utopian visions of possible futures that motivate people to work towards them together
Reaching a broader audience, since we naturally find stories more exciting than abstract descriptions of concepts
I’ve got some partial outlines for what I think are interesting sci-fi that I’ve wanted to pay to have ghostwritten or turned into a short film. Is this the right place for that?
Maybe, but really depends on whether you have a good track record or there is some other reason why it seems like a good idea to fund from an altruistic perspective.
I largely agree with Habryka’s perspective. I personally (not speaking on behalf of the EA Infrastructure Fund) would be particularly interested in such a grant if you had a track record of successful writing, as this would make it more likely you’d actually reach a large audience. E.g., Eliezer did not just write HPMoR but was a successful blogger on Overcoming Bias and wrote the sequences.
I am currently writing fiction that features protagonists that are EAs.
This seems at least related to the infrastructure fund goal of presenting EA principles and exposing more people to them.
I think receiving a grant would make me more likely to aggressively pursue options to professionally edit, publish, and publicize the work. That feels kind of selfish and makes me self-conscious, but also wouldn’t require a very large grant. It’s hard for me to unwrap my feelings about this vs. the actual public good, so I’m asking here first.
Does this sounds like a good grant use?
I am reasonably excited about fiction (and am on the Long Term Future Fund). I have written previously about my thoughts on fiction here:
I’ve got some partial outlines for what I think are interesting sci-fi that I’ve wanted to pay to have ghostwritten or turned into a short film. Is this the right place for that?
Maybe, but really depends on whether you have a good track record or there is some other reason why it seems like a good idea to fund from an altruistic perspective.
I largely agree with Habryka’s perspective. I personally (not speaking on behalf of the EA Infrastructure Fund) would be particularly interested in such a grant if you had a track record of successful writing, as this would make it more likely you’d actually reach a large audience. E.g., Eliezer did not just write HPMoR but was a successful blogger on Overcoming Bias and wrote the sequences.