I think the title is a somewhat obscure pun referencing the old saying that Stanford was the “Harvard of the West”. If one is not familiar with that saying, I guess some of the nuance is lost in the choice of term. (I personally had never heard that saying before recently, and I’m not even quite sure I’m referencing the right “X of the West” pun)
habryka did have a call with Nick Bostrom a few weeks back, to discuss his idea for an “FHI of the West”, and I’m quite confident he referred to it with that phrase on the call, too. Far as I’m aware Nick didn’t particularly react to it with more than a bit humor.
I also think the name is off, but for a different reason. When I hear “the west” with no other context, I assume it means this, which doesn’t make sense here, because the UK and FHI are very solidly part of The West. (I have not heard the “Harvard of the west” phrase and I’m guessing it’s pretty darn obscure, especially to the international audience of LW.)
I would imagine I would also react to it with smile in the context of an informal call. When used as brand / “fill interest form here” I just think it’s not a good name, even if I am sympathetic to proposals to create more places to do big picture thinking about future.
Two notes:
I think the title is a somewhat obscure pun referencing the old saying that Stanford was the “Harvard of the West”. If one is not familiar with that saying, I guess some of the nuance is lost in the choice of term. (I personally had never heard that saying before recently, and I’m not even quite sure I’m referencing the right “X of the West” pun)
habryka did have a call with Nick Bostrom a few weeks back, to discuss his idea for an “FHI of the West”, and I’m quite confident he referred to it with that phrase on the call, too. Far as I’m aware Nick didn’t particularly react to it with more than a bit humor.
I also think the name is off, but for a different reason. When I hear “the west” with no other context, I assume it means this, which doesn’t make sense here, because the UK and FHI are very solidly part of The West. (I have not heard the “Harvard of the west” phrase and I’m guessing it’s pretty darn obscure, especially to the international audience of LW.)
The older nickname was “Cornell of the West.” Stanford was modeled after Cornell.
Wow the joke keeps being older.
I would imagine I would also react to it with smile in the context of an informal call. When used as brand / “fill interest form here” I just think it’s not a good name, even if I am sympathetic to proposals to create more places to do big picture thinking about future.