I think a really hardcore rationality monastery would be awesome. Seems less useful on the EA side—EA’s have to interact with Overton window occupying institutions and are probably better off not totalizing too much.
Very much agree on this one, as do many other people that I know of. However, the key counterargument as to why this may be better as an EA project than a rationality one is that “rationality” is vague on what you’re applying it to, while “EA” is at least slightly more clear, and a community like this benefits from having clear goals. Nevertheless, it may make sense to market it as a “rationality” project and just have EA be part of the work it does.
So the question now turns to, how would one go about building it?
My intuition is kind of the opposite—I think EA has a less coherent purpose. It’s actually kind of a large tent for animal welfare, longtermism, and global poverty. I think some of the divergence in priorities between EA’s is about impact assessment / fact finding, and a lot of ink is spilled on this, but some is probably about values too. I think of EA as very outward-facing, coalitional, and ideally a little pragmatic, so I don’t think it’s a good basis for an organized totalizing worldview.
The study of human rationality is a more universal project. It makes sense to have a monastic class that (at least for some years of their life) sets aside politics and refines the craft, perhaps functioning as an impersonal interface when they go out into the world—almost like Bene Gesserit advisors (or a Confessor).
I have thought about building it. The physical building itself would be quite expensive, since the monastery would need to meet many psychological requirements—it would have to be both isolated and starkly beautiful. Also, well-provisioned. So this part would be expensive; and its an expense that EA organizations probably couldn’t justify (that is, larger and more extravagant than buying a castle). Of course, most of the difficulty would be in creating the culture—but I think that building the monastery properly would go a long way (if you build it, they will come).
I think a really hardcore rationality monastery would be awesome. Seems less useful on the EA side—EA’s have to interact with Overton window occupying institutions and are probably better off not totalizing too much.
Very much agree on this one, as do many other people that I know of. However, the key counterargument as to why this may be better as an EA project than a rationality one is that “rationality” is vague on what you’re applying it to, while “EA” is at least slightly more clear, and a community like this benefits from having clear goals. Nevertheless, it may make sense to market it as a “rationality” project and just have EA be part of the work it does.
So the question now turns to, how would one go about building it?
My intuition is kind of the opposite—I think EA has a less coherent purpose. It’s actually kind of a large tent for animal welfare, longtermism, and global poverty. I think some of the divergence in priorities between EA’s is about impact assessment / fact finding, and a lot of ink is spilled on this, but some is probably about values too. I think of EA as very outward-facing, coalitional, and ideally a little pragmatic, so I don’t think it’s a good basis for an organized totalizing worldview.
The study of human rationality is a more universal project. It makes sense to have a monastic class that (at least for some years of their life) sets aside politics and refines the craft, perhaps functioning as an impersonal interface when they go out into the world—almost like Bene Gesserit advisors (or a Confessor).
I have thought about building it. The physical building itself would be quite expensive, since the monastery would need to meet many psychological requirements—it would have to be both isolated and starkly beautiful. Also, well-provisioned. So this part would be expensive; and its an expense that EA organizations probably couldn’t justify (that is, larger and more extravagant than buying a castle). Of course, most of the difficulty would be in creating the culture—but I think that building the monastery properly would go a long way (if you build it, they will come).
OK then, so how would one go about making an organization that is capable of funding and building this? Are there any interested donors yet?
Hmmm, my long term strategy is to build wealth and then do it myself, but I suppose that would require me to leave academia eventually :)
I wonder if MIRI would fund it? Doesn’t seem likely.