I like this proposal a lot. What are the alternatives?
SI could greatly reduce public engagement, directing funds on research
As I see it, SI has two main ways to spend money: on research, and on public engagement. Obviously it has to spend money on running itself, but it’s best to see that as money indirectly spent on its activities. It could direct nearly all its funding to research.
Pros: SI’s research can directly bring about its central goal. We don’t have all the time in the world.
Cons: Public engagement, in various ways, is what makes the research possible: it brings in the funding and it makes it easier to recruit people. In a self-sustaining non-profit, money spent on public engagement now should mean money to spend on research later. Also, public engagement directly serves the aims of SI by making more people aware of the risk.
SI could stick to presenting its existing case, leaving the gaps unfilled
Pros: That would be cheaper, and allow more to be spent on research.
Cons: given that SI’s case is not intuitively appealing, making it strong seems the best way to win the right people over; as Holden Karnofsky’s commentary demonstrates, leaving the holes unfilled is harming credibility and making public engagement less effective. Further, the earlier problems in this case are discovered, the more effectively future work can be directed.
SI could stick to the academic paper format, or another un-wiki “write, finish, move on” format
Pros: This presents another big cost saving: you only have to write what’s new. Much of the proposed wiki content would come from work SI have already written up; there would be significant costs in adapting that work for the new format, which could be avoided if SI stick to writing new work in new papers. Furthermore, SI pretty much have to write the academic papers anyway; the work involved in writing for one format, then converting to another, can be avoided.
Cons: What you have to read to understand SI’s case grows linearly. An argument made sloppily in one paper is strengthened in a later one; but you have to read both papers, notice the sloppy argument, and then reach the later paper to fix it. Or try to read the later paper, and fail to understand why this point matters, until you read the earlier one and see the context. A wiki-like “here is our whole case” format allows the case to be presented as a coherent whole, with problems with previous revisions largely elided, or relegated to specific wiki pages that need only be read by the curious.
Further, in practice the academic paper format does not free you from the need to cover old ground; in my experience finding new ways to say the same old things in the “Introduction” section of such papers introducing the problem you intend to discuss is dull and tiresome work.
I think there’s lots of discussion to be had about how to get the most out of the wiki and how to minimize the costs, but as you can see, on the “is it a good idea at all” I’m pretty sold.
I like this proposal a lot. What are the alternatives?
SI could greatly reduce public engagement, directing funds on research
As I see it, SI has two main ways to spend money: on research, and on public engagement. Obviously it has to spend money on running itself, but it’s best to see that as money indirectly spent on its activities. It could direct nearly all its funding to research.
Pros: SI’s research can directly bring about its central goal. We don’t have all the time in the world.
Cons: Public engagement, in various ways, is what makes the research possible: it brings in the funding and it makes it easier to recruit people. In a self-sustaining non-profit, money spent on public engagement now should mean money to spend on research later. Also, public engagement directly serves the aims of SI by making more people aware of the risk.
SI could stick to presenting its existing case, leaving the gaps unfilled
Pros: That would be cheaper, and allow more to be spent on research.
Cons: given that SI’s case is not intuitively appealing, making it strong seems the best way to win the right people over; as Holden Karnofsky’s commentary demonstrates, leaving the holes unfilled is harming credibility and making public engagement less effective. Further, the earlier problems in this case are discovered, the more effectively future work can be directed.
SI could stick to the academic paper format, or another un-wiki “write, finish, move on” format
Pros: This presents another big cost saving: you only have to write what’s new. Much of the proposed wiki content would come from work SI have already written up; there would be significant costs in adapting that work for the new format, which could be avoided if SI stick to writing new work in new papers. Furthermore, SI pretty much have to write the academic papers anyway; the work involved in writing for one format, then converting to another, can be avoided.
Cons: What you have to read to understand SI’s case grows linearly. An argument made sloppily in one paper is strengthened in a later one; but you have to read both papers, notice the sloppy argument, and then reach the later paper to fix it. Or try to read the later paper, and fail to understand why this point matters, until you read the earlier one and see the context. A wiki-like “here is our whole case” format allows the case to be presented as a coherent whole, with problems with previous revisions largely elided, or relegated to specific wiki pages that need only be read by the curious.
Further, in practice the academic paper format does not free you from the need to cover old ground; in my experience finding new ways to say the same old things in the “Introduction” section of such papers introducing the problem you intend to discuss is dull and tiresome work.
I think there’s lots of discussion to be had about how to get the most out of the wiki and how to minimize the costs, but as you can see, on the “is it a good idea at all” I’m pretty sold.