Thank you so much for doing this. It makes a very big difference.
Some comments:
Strategy #1, Point 2e seems to cover things that should be either in point 3 or 4. Also points 3 and 4 seem to bleed into each other
If the Rationality training is being spun off to allow Singinst to focus on FAI, why isn't the same done with the Singularity summit? The slightly-bad faith interpretation for the lack of explanation would be that retaining the training arm has internal opposition while the summit does not. If this is not an inference you like, this should be addressed.
The level 2 plan includes " Offer large financial prizes for solving important problems related to our core mission". I remember cousin_it mentioning that he's had very good success asking for answers in communities like MathOverflow, but the main cost was in formalizing the problems. It seems intuitive that geeks are not too much motivated by cash, but are very much motivated by a delicious open problem (and the status solving it brings). Before resorting to 'large financial prizes', shouldn't level 1 include 'formalize open problems and publicise them'?.
Thank you again for publishing a document so that this discussion can be had.
This spin-off makes sense: The SIAI's goal is not improving human rationality. The SIAI's goal is to try to make sure that if a Singularity occurs that it is one that doesn't destroy humanity or change us into something completely counter to what we want.
This is not the same thing as improving human rationality. The vast majority of humans will do absolutely nothing connected to AI research. Improving their rationality is a great goal, and probably has a high pay-off. But it is not the goal of the SIAI. When people give money to the SIAI they expect that ...
Thanks to the hard work and cooperation of Singularity Institute staff and volunteers, especially Louie Helm and Luke Muehlhauser (lukeprog), we now have a Strategic Plan, which outlines the near-term goals and vision of the Institute, and concrete actions we can take to fulfill those goals.
http://singinst.org/blog/2011/08/26/singularity-institute-strategic-plan-2011/
We welcome your feedback. You can send any comments to institute@intelligence.org.
The release of this Strategic Plan is part of an overall effort to increase transparency at Singularity Institute.