Join the Special Relocation Task Force!

[jsalvatier]

(Andrew is a pseudonym because he is a little worried about showing up in an internet search; please respect that and do not use his real name when posting below).

Andrew is an established and valuable member (link to highest voted post) of the LessWrong community. Sadly, he is without a tribe; he lives in a relatively small city where he has not found a tribe to belong to despite considerable effort. Being part of a tribe would improve Andrew’s life considerably. Andrew is not attached to the area and quite willing to leave, doesn’t know how to taskify getting himself a tribe.

Big decisions like moving are often easier and better executed when made with outside input. Therefore, I am putting together a Special Relocation Task Force to aid his efforts.

Besides helping Andrew, I am also interested in answering the question ‘will rationalists be good at this?’. They should be; rationalists should win. If they are not, something is wrong and I want to know about it. This experiment seems like a good way of answering that question.

Here are some basic facts about Andrew:

• He currently works in aerospace

• He has a mechanical engineering degree

• He currently lives in Texas

• He would prefer a job that more fully uses his intellectual skills and pushes him to his limits

The Special Relocation Task Force will consist of 5 or fewer people (including Andrew and myself), and will attempt to help him figure out how to find a tribe that fits him well and figure out how to get him there. Andrew does not expect this help to be handed to him on a silver platter, he expects to be the most involved member of the task force and to do most any hard work involved.

The Special Relocation Task Force will need to answer questions such as the following:

• Should Andrew move?

• If so where?

• How does one go about finding a good job near a satisfactory tribe?

• What kind of job should he get?

Here is my initial plan for the task force:

1. Select 5 or fewer people (including Andrew and I) for the task force.

2. Choose how to coordinate task force. Forum+skype, email-list+video chat, etc. ?

3. Initial meeting

   1. Discuss the details of Andrews issue

   2. Discuss the contours of the issue (hold off on proposing solutions)

   3. Propose broad directions

   4. Select overall direction(s)

   5. Break up mission into tasks

   6. Assign tasks to people

4. Work on assigned tasks

5. Meeting

   1. Share results of tasks

   2. Further taskification

6. Return to step 6 unless done.

Now is your chance to help Andrew win! If you would like to volunteer to be on the taskforce, please say so below. If you have relevant experience, mention that. What skills/​experience/​knowledge is useful? Two things that come to mind are 1) having moved a lot 2) knowing about finding engineering jobs.

If you have advice but do not want to volunteer that is also welcome.

If you have questions about Andrew, feel free to ask those as well.

EDIT: I tentatively intend to select the task force Tuesday evening (PST).

I expect participants will find this fun.