It seems to me that the role Berkeley plays in the US rationalist community is mostly a consequence of there having already been lots of rationalists and rationalist-friendly people in and near Berkeley. I’m not sure this is the kind of thing you can build without that initial critical mass.
In that case, it might be more informative to look at where people are already located.
The wiki list of European meetup groups, filtered by “at least once in a month” (mentioned explicitly in the group description), gives us the list of possible candidates:
Vienna, Austria
Brussels, Belgium
Prague, Czech Republic
Berlin, Germany
Hamburg, Germany
Munich, Germany
Kraków, Poland
Poznan, Poland
Moscow, Russia
St. Petersburg, Russia
London, UK
Note that some of the information may be out of date, the wiki page does not mention the average number of people attending the meetups, etc. (Also, it’s not just the number of members that matter, but how seriously they take the topic, etc.) So we can use this as an “upper bound” on places where enough active European LW-ers live.
As the next step I would recommend looking at what the local groups have already done, using the “past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior” heuristic. Berlin seems like an obvious winner; they organized the 2014 and 2015 European LW Community Weekends.
I have no special insider knowledge. My impression, which I will gladly have corrected by those who know more, is that
MIRI (formerly SIAI) was founded in Berkeley because that’s where Eliezer was.
Most of the rationalists in Berkeley are not MIRI employees.
Most of the rationalists in Berkeley did not move to Berkeley because of MIRI or Eliezer or other rationalists.
But, again, this is vague impressions and guesswork and assumptions rather than actual knowledge. So let’s assume for a moment that I’m entirely wrong and the Berkeley rationalist community is a consequence of MIRI. MIRI was founded about 16 years ago, and I think it’s only in the last few years that the Berkeley rationalist community has been a big thing. That would suggest that the “build a rationalist community by starting an institution there” strategy takes 10 years or so to work.
If so, then good places to consider might be places that already have kinda-MIRI-like institutions. Perhaps Oxford (home of the Future of Humanity Institute, and also of Giving What We Can if you’re the EA sort of rationalist) and to a lesser extent Cambridge (home of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk). I think the FHI and the CSER are the nearest non-MIRI things to MIRI.
Nope. SIAI was founded in Georgia, because that’s where Eliezer was, then moved to Silicon Valley soon afterwards, and moved again to Berkeley just a few years ago (around the time it changed its name to MIRI iirc).
If I remember correctly, the Berkeley rationalist community was largely seeded by members of the Silicon Valley rationalist community moving to Berkeley, which began shortly before MIRI moved, but mostly happened when and after MIRI moved.
I believe Eliezer was one of the last SIAI employees to move to Berkeley. My guess is SIAI originally moved from Santa Clara to Berkeley because some SIAI employees had rationalist community friends in Berkeley, and when visiting those friends, they noticed they liked Berkeley better than Santa Clara. (I’ve lived in both places—IMO Santa Clara is dystopian and suburban, but Berkeley is lively and interesting.)
I don’t believe there was significant community buildup in Santa Clara before the move. So maybe the takeaway is to make your HQ a place where people want to live for reasons other than just being part of your community?
It seems to me that the role Berkeley plays in the US rationalist community is mostly a consequence of there having already been lots of rationalists and rationalist-friendly people in and near Berkeley. I’m not sure this is the kind of thing you can build without that initial critical mass.
In that case, it might be more informative to look at where people are already located.
The wiki list of European meetup groups, filtered by “at least once in a month” (mentioned explicitly in the group description), gives us the list of possible candidates:
Vienna, Austria
Brussels, Belgium
Prague, Czech Republic
Berlin, Germany
Hamburg, Germany
Munich, Germany
Kraków, Poland
Poznan, Poland
Moscow, Russia
St. Petersburg, Russia
London, UK
Note that some of the information may be out of date, the wiki page does not mention the average number of people attending the meetups, etc. (Also, it’s not just the number of members that matter, but how seriously they take the topic, etc.) So we can use this as an “upper bound” on places where enough active European LW-ers live.
As the next step I would recommend looking at what the local groups have already done, using the “past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior” heuristic. Berlin seems like an obvious winner; they organized the 2014 and 2015 European LW Community Weekends.
Map: https://i.imgsafe.org/5d29e52950.png
The image I have is that Berkeley just happened to be where Eliezer was, and he gradually built the whole thing. Is it wrong?
I have no special insider knowledge. My impression, which I will gladly have corrected by those who know more, is that
MIRI (formerly SIAI) was founded in Berkeley because that’s where Eliezer was.
Most of the rationalists in Berkeley are not MIRI employees.
Most of the rationalists in Berkeley did not move to Berkeley because of MIRI or Eliezer or other rationalists.
But, again, this is vague impressions and guesswork and assumptions rather than actual knowledge. So let’s assume for a moment that I’m entirely wrong and the Berkeley rationalist community is a consequence of MIRI. MIRI was founded about 16 years ago, and I think it’s only in the last few years that the Berkeley rationalist community has been a big thing. That would suggest that the “build a rationalist community by starting an institution there” strategy takes 10 years or so to work.
If so, then good places to consider might be places that already have kinda-MIRI-like institutions. Perhaps Oxford (home of the Future of Humanity Institute, and also of Giving What We Can if you’re the EA sort of rationalist) and to a lesser extent Cambridge (home of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk). I think the FHI and the CSER are the nearest non-MIRI things to MIRI.
Nope. SIAI was founded in Georgia, because that’s where Eliezer was, then moved to Silicon Valley soon afterwards, and moved again to Berkeley just a few years ago (around the time it changed its name to MIRI iirc).
Ah, interesting. Do you know how that timeline interacts with the growth of the rationalist community in Berkeley?
If I remember correctly, the Berkeley rationalist community was largely seeded by members of the Silicon Valley rationalist community moving to Berkeley, which began shortly before MIRI moved, but mostly happened when and after MIRI moved.
I believe Eliezer was one of the last SIAI employees to move to Berkeley. My guess is SIAI originally moved from Santa Clara to Berkeley because some SIAI employees had rationalist community friends in Berkeley, and when visiting those friends, they noticed they liked Berkeley better than Santa Clara. (I’ve lived in both places—IMO Santa Clara is dystopian and suburban, but Berkeley is lively and interesting.)
I don’t believe there was significant community buildup in Santa Clara before the move. So maybe the takeaway is to make your HQ a place where people want to live for reasons other than just being part of your community?