I donated last year, but with a little reluctance. I’ve certainly received lots of value from LessWrong, but the uncharitable take was that my money was funding a discussion forum and a conference center, which are not typical market failures. My dissonance surfaced here:
I don’t understand. LessWrong is a discussion forum, there are many discussion forums. LightHaven is a conference center, there are many conference centers. There are lots of similar projects. I’m confident that Lightcone provides value, and plan to donate, but I don’t understand this frame.
I’m feeling less conflicted about donating now. There are more concrete wins on display. Petrov Day 2025 was less wrong. I continue to receive value from reading. Overall, I think the case for Lightcone as an effective convener is strong this year.
I don’t understand. LessWrong is a discussion forum, there are many discussion forums.
One difference is that LessWrong is a major discussion forum that isn’t ad supported, and doesn’t have the bad incentives that come from ads. This is directly connected to their need for donations.
I donated last year, but with a little reluctance. I’ve certainly received lots of value from LessWrong, but the uncharitable take was that my money was funding a discussion forum and a conference center, which are not typical market failures. My dissonance surfaced here:
I’m feeling less conflicted about donating now. There are more concrete wins on display. Petrov Day 2025 was less wrong. I continue to receive value from reading. Overall, I think the case for Lightcone as an effective convener is strong this year.
One difference is that LessWrong is a major discussion forum that isn’t ad supported, and doesn’t have the bad incentives that come from ads. This is directly connected to their need for donations.
Thank you! And am glad to hear the trend of the amount of cognitive dissonance involved in donating to us is going down!