Community Builder at Effective Altruism Switzerland (EACH), based in Zürich. I previously graduated in physics and am very much into AI safety. Really like HPMOR.
Thanks a lot for your thoughts! I think I agree that using the name of a national organization might reduce the traction for an international network. I think the point I was trying to make was that starting an international network from nothing could be very hard. In that sense, it would be easier to grow the network as an already established national organization, even under a misleading name.
I definitely agree with you that branching out the international network from a national organization might be the best solution to both problems. You could give the new organization a new name but use the connections and resources that the national organization has built.
I think one example of successful scaling into an international organization could be to continuously increase the radius of connected AI Safety organizations. If not connected to them already, approach neighbouring organizations and, for example, coordinate monthly check-in calls with them. Once that exists, publish it, streamline the onboarding process, and reach out directly to any known AI Safety field-building organization. Then use those calls to coordinate on an international strategy and ideally grow from there.
So in the beginning, it might be a national organization that uses its reputation to reach out to people, but with the emergence of an independent website and collaborators from several groups, this might branch out relatively quickly as its own collaborative thing. It could start with every individual organization only using a small part of their resources for this project and evolve into a dedicated person becoming the main community coordinator. A dedicated name for this network would, of course, be helpful to publicize it.
Thanks a lot for your thoughts! I think I agree that using the name of a national organization might reduce the traction for an international network. I think the point I was trying to make was that starting an international network from nothing could be very hard. In that sense, it would be easier to grow the network as an already established national organization, even under a misleading name.
I definitely agree with you that branching out the international network from a national organization might be the best solution to both problems. You could give the new organization a new name but use the connections and resources that the national organization has built.
I think one example of successful scaling into an international organization could be to continuously increase the radius of connected AI Safety organizations. If not connected to them already, approach neighbouring organizations and, for example, coordinate monthly check-in calls with them. Once that exists, publish it, streamline the onboarding process, and reach out directly to any known AI Safety field-building organization. Then use those calls to coordinate on an international strategy and ideally grow from there.
So in the beginning, it might be a national organization that uses its reputation to reach out to people, but with the emergence of an independent website and collaborators from several groups, this might branch out relatively quickly as its own collaborative thing. It could start with every individual organization only using a small part of their resources for this project and evolve into a dedicated person becoming the main community coordinator. A dedicated name for this network would, of course, be helpful to publicize it.