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: John_Maxwell_IV 30 January 2012 01:15:15AM 4 points [-]

Based on my research, "foundation", "Institute" and "center" are the most common nouns that are used in the names of nonprofits in approximately that order. "Center" might be inappropriate because the organization in question will probably not be based out of a single building.

In my view, the most important things are that the name should clearly communicate what the organization does, should not sound cultish, and should sound good in the same sentence as "the singularity Institute". (This may rule out "Institute" as well.)

Here are some names of mine. Many suggest the emphasis of System 2 over System 1. Others suggest improvements to the process of thinking itself, as opposed to being more correct than others about something.

  • The Better Decisions Foundation
  • The Deliberative Thought Foundation
  • The Foundation for Improved Decision-Making
  • The Foundation for Reflective Thought
  • The Foundation for Better Reasoning
  • The Careful Thinking Foundation
  • The Foundation for Everyday Rationality

And some clever and probably bad names:

  • The Slow Thinking Foundation
  • The Primate Debugging Group
  • Think Carefully
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.