adamisom comments on Help! Name suggestions needed for Rationality-Inst! - Less Wrong

20 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 January 2012 02:24AM

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Comment author: adamisom 31 January 2012 02:50:52AM *  3 points [-]

If we take this--"One obvious question: when is the name most important? When first heard; Introductions."--seriously, then the simpler the better.

Hence, more descriptive names with a higher syllable count, like "deliberative thought foundation" or "foundation for improved decision-making" are inferior to names like "the better decisions foundation".

Another consideration: don't pick something obviously pretentious, like "the primate debugging group", nor something less obviously pretentious, like "the careful thinking foundation"---so what, that implies that I, let's say I'm an outsider, am not a careful thinker? On the other hand, "the better decisions foundation" isn't as pretentious. Or if it is, it's more acceptable because businesses are interested in better decisions (it's specific enough that the first thought isn't merely indignation).

Therefore, I upvoted for "The Better Decisions Foundation"

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 31 January 2012 07:08:37AM 0 points [-]

"The Better Decisions Foundation" is my favorite of the names I suggested as well; that was why I put it first. I put the others mostly to give an idea of the possibilities that were out there, especially if someone wanted to do further brainstorming along the lines I did.