I like your thinking, but I believe the entire rationalist subculture stems from global agglomeration effects, as seen in the Bay Area, and cannot really live without them. To give an example, I am currently living in Zurich. There are big Google offices here, many crypto startups, Basel with its big pharma is close enough and so is Geneva with its international organizations and CERN. When people talk about possible “Silicon Valley of Europe” it’s either London or Zurich. That being said, there’s an EA coworking space here. Then there are regular EA and ACX meetups, with 5-15 people attending. And that’s it. Definitely not enough to sustain something like Lighthaven. Elsewhere in Europe, I think, the problems with insufficient agglomeration would be even worse.
I like your thinking, but I believe the entire rationalist subculture stems from global agglomeration effects, as seen in the Bay Area, and cannot really live without them. To give an example, I am currently living in Zurich. There are big Google offices here, many crypto startups, Basel with its big pharma is close enough and so is Geneva with its international organizations and CERN. When people talk about possible “Silicon Valley of Europe” it’s either London or Zurich. That being said, there’s an EA coworking space here. Then there are regular EA and ACX meetups, with 5-15 people attending. And that’s it. Definitely not enough to sustain something like Lighthaven. Elsewhere in Europe, I think, the problems with insufficient agglomeration would be even worse.
Welp.
One problem: people need jobs; most jobs are not full-remote; places with good jobs are expensive.
Another problem: not enough rationalists in general, as a fraction of population.
No easy solution for either.