Help! Name suggestions needed for Rationality-Inst!

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

The Singularity Institute wants to spin off a separate rationality-related organization.  (If it's not obvious what this would do, it would e.g. develop things like the rationality katas as material for local meetups, high schools and colleges, bootcamps and seminars, have an annual conference and sessions in different cities and so on and so on.)

We can't think of a name for this organization.

We can't think of any names that seem good enough to be audience-tested.

We don't have any ideas good enough that we'd want to mention them in this post.

Help.

Comments (297)

Comment author: Stabilizer 28 January 2012 02:36:24AM 3 points [-]

Update: The Rationality Institute

or maybe "Update yourself" might be a nice byline for whatever name is chosen.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 07:20:11PM *  2 points [-]

I really like "Update yourself" as a byline. Especially in the context of pitching this to tech startups/software developer types. (It's reminiscent of updating your computer). It could combine well with james_edwards' suggestion above of Level Up into:

Level Up
byline: Update yourself

(Or: Update Your Self ? )

Comment author: James_Miller 28 January 2012 02:37:53AM 0 points [-]

Better Decision Making

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 January 2012 03:07:15AM 1 point [-]

Might be an interesting brand for the rationality katas, but does it work as an organizational name?

Comment author: James_Miller 28 January 2012 03:22:04AM *  1 point [-]

There is an organization called BetterInvesting.

Comment author: James_Miller 28 January 2012 07:14:47AM 1 point [-]

The Better Decision Making Academy.

Comment author: steven0461 28 January 2012 07:33:02AM 3 points [-]

I wonder whether it's a significant downside if the organization's name privileges one of epistemic and instrumental rationality over the other.

Comment author: Alicorn 28 January 2012 02:51:31AM 21 points [-]

I got a positive reception for "Waterline" in my comment here.

Comment author: RobertLumley 28 January 2012 02:58:55AM 4 points [-]

I think it would need to have a byline to at least give outsiders some idea of what it was about. But that is a really good name.

Comment author: Alicorn 28 January 2012 03:03:38AM 3 points [-]

"Practice Sanity"? "Expect the Likely"?

Comment author: RobertLumley 28 January 2012 03:05:32AM 1 point [-]

I like the former. Not really the latter.

Comment author: atorm 28 January 2012 11:20:08PM 3 points [-]

I like the latter as a tagline for something.

Comment author: siodine 28 January 2012 03:12:40AM 0 points [-]

The Waterline Institute for the Study and Practice of Critical Thinking

Comment author: RobertLumley 28 January 2012 03:14:58AM *  11 points [-]

The Waterline Institute for the Study and Practice of Rationality, or WISPR.

Comment author: atorm 28 January 2012 11:19:47PM 1 point [-]

Someone mentioned Bond villains? I can't tell if it's too silly/menacing, or if it's ridiculously awesome.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 January 2012 03:06:52AM 14 points [-]

The name should be meaningful or at least not confusing to the general population.

Comment author: Alicorn 28 January 2012 03:19:44AM 3 points [-]

Why?

Comment author: RobertLumley 28 January 2012 03:20:23AM 5 points [-]

If the goal is to promote rationality, it seems counterproductive to have an offputting name...

Comment author: Alicorn 28 January 2012 03:24:15AM 15 points [-]

"Waterline" isn't off-putting, just opaque. So are things like "Oxfam".

Comment author: RobertLumley 28 January 2012 03:27:00AM *  0 points [-]

I expect it to be slightly off-putting. I could be wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKk8w7HRyMg

Comment author: steven0461 28 January 2012 03:39:56AM 9 points [-]

Waterline makes me think of Landmark, seasteading, and Bond villains trying to drown the planet.

Comment author: erratio 28 January 2012 04:20:04AM 10 points [-]

Don't forget Sea Org!

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 08:06:40AM 6 points [-]

It isn't even the bad kind of opaque; it's the curiosity-generating kind.

Anyway, better to be interestingly opaque than boringly transparent (not that those are the only choices).

Comment author: lessdazed 28 January 2012 03:46:19AM 12 points [-]

One friend of mine said that it was confusing not just because he didn't know why it was relevant, but because the word "Waterline" has no strong positive connotations.

Comment author: Anubhav 28 January 2012 03:31:50AM 9 points [-]

That really sounds like an unnecessary constraint. It's not as if the only thing people are going to hear about the organisation is the name; presumably they'd also hear something about what it does.

Comment author: james_edwards 28 January 2012 10:55:45PM 2 points [-]

How about "Groundswell"?

It refers to a kind of wave, as well as a change in people's views or behaviour (usually viewed positively). "Grounds" also has a relevant meaning as in "grounds to believe", without being a blatantly distasteful pun.

Comment author: Anubhav 28 January 2012 02:52:14AM 13 points [-]

Having "Rationality" in the name would probably be a bad thing. (Straw Vulcan stereotypes and all that.) "Bayesian" is a much better choice IMO.

Why not call it something like BayesWay?

Or how about that old Japanese cliche... "Better than Yesterday"? That would go well with Stabilizer's "Update Yourself" byline.

Comment author: Viliam_Bur 28 January 2012 10:07:40AM 8 points [-]

On the other hand, "Bayes" could make people say: "It is about some advanced statistics, that's not for me."

I guess the goal is to provide rationality to everyone who cares, not to appear like something for-specialists-only.

Comment author: MileyCyrus 28 January 2012 02:55:02AM *  6 points [-]

I predict this thread will turn into a bike shed brawl.

Comment author: Kevin 28 January 2012 03:12:58AM 6 points [-]

Totally obvious, but less likely with this preemptive comment.

Comment author: siodine 28 January 2012 03:25:00AM *  0 points [-]

The Illuminated Reason Institute

The Development of Reason and Rationality (DORR) Institute (it's pleonastic but it sounds nice; could just use one of the Rs)

The Course Corrective Institute

The Moreright Institute

The Better Life Institute

(It'd be so much easier if it could have a German name.)

Comment author: Anubhav 28 January 2012 03:35:57AM 0 points [-]

Too long-winded and pompous.

Comment author: siodine 28 January 2012 03:39:39AM *  0 points [-]

Which one? All of them?

Edit: Shouldn't be any worries about having a long name where you can used an acronym. E.g., SETI (Search for extraterrestrial intelligence) institute.

Comment author: Anubhav 28 January 2012 03:57:27AM *  0 points [-]

The "The Whatever Institute" structure in general.

Comment author: siodine 28 January 2012 03:59:35AM *  0 points [-]

I got that structure from googling <* institute>... There's also The Institute for * structure

Comment author: beoShaffer 28 January 2012 03:40:17AM 0 points [-]

(It'd be so much easier if it could have a German name.)

What would you name it if you could use German.

Comment author: siodine 28 January 2012 03:47:51AM *  2 points [-]

I didn't have any specific examples in mind, I was just referring to how easily and meaningfully you can combine words in German to form a new word. See Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz.

Comment author: beoShaffer 28 January 2012 03:38:29AM *  20 points [-]

Less Wrong

The Modern Rationality Institute.

The institute for Bayesian Reasoning

Center for applied rationality.

The Applied Rationality Institute

Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 28 January 2012 11:12:51AM 8 points [-]

Upvoted for "Center for Applied Rationality".

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 04:07:02PM 20 points [-]

"The Eliezer Yudkowsky Center for Kids Who Can't Think Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too"

Comment author: cousin_it 28 January 2012 05:59:27PM *  5 points [-]

"The Eliezer Yudkowsky center for promoting rationality" actually sounds like a nice and honest name to me.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 08:39:41PM *  -1 points [-]

I hereby rescind my earlier comment.

If only it made a better acronym!

Comment author: beoShaffer 28 January 2012 03:48:55AM *  14 points [-]

It would help if we knew more about what the point of the name is. Most importantly what do you want the name to signal about the organization? Hip and edgy or dignified and respectible? Hardcore or something anyone could be apart of? That sort of thing. Also do you want to embrace or shy away from the fact that you are technically in the self help business.

Comment author: Viliam_Bur 28 January 2012 10:19:50AM *  6 points [-]

I think that a good name should be somewhat arbitrary; it should not be a description of what organization does. It is easier to google, and also does lead to quick judgement "yeah, I totally can imagine what exactly they do; I don't need any more information".

It should be user friendly, not sound like some government institution or something very advanced scientifically or technically. It should not evoke "this is not for me" response.

Easy to remember and pronounce.

No strong associations. Bad associations are obviously bad, but also associations that are good for some people, are probably bad for some other people.

Also do you want to embrace or shy away from the fact that you are technically in the self help business.

It's not just self-help, it's also other-help, like an educational institution.

Comment author: Dr_Manhattan 28 January 2012 03:49:49AM 2 points [-]

Are we going for something academic-sounding or something self-improvement sounding?

Comment author: Kevin 28 January 2012 03:50:56AM *  2 points [-]

Mostly we're just trying to brainstorm such that the more names the better, whether those are academic or self-improvement sounding.

Comment author: Xece 28 January 2012 03:49:55AM 5 points [-]

The Center for Better Reasoning

Comment author: CharlesR 28 January 2012 09:23:25AM 1 point [-]

The Center for Better Thinking

Comment author: orthonormal 28 January 2012 03:53:04AM 17 points [-]

Best I've come up with so far:

The Institute for Advanced Sanity

Comment author: Aleksei_Riikonen 28 January 2012 03:57:59AM 3 points [-]

I like this. Or more generally, I like having "Advanced Sanity" in the name.

Comment author: orthonormal 28 January 2012 04:03:14AM 3 points [-]

Of course, I then wondered if anyone else was using the phrase "Advanced Sanity" (and if I'd taken it from somewhere). The first few hits were all Eliezer on LW, and other people only seem to put together those words accidentally.

Comment author: Kevin 28 January 2012 04:38:25AM 15 points [-]

I like that name in the abstract but worry about associations with mental health.

Comment author: Risto_Saarelma 28 January 2012 05:14:41AM 10 points [-]

Even actual mental health gets "who are they to tell us what's sane and what isn't" reactions every now and then. An organization that doesn't start out with a massive positive reputation might fare worse.

Comment author: lessdazed 28 January 2012 07:36:57PM 2 points [-]

"Advanced Sanity" matches a strong comparative qualifier to a basic trait. While "sanity" has problems, as mentioned below, I think the phrase derives much of its power from its underlying pattern, which can be used in other suggestions.

Comment author: Manfred 28 January 2012 05:52:34AM 1 point [-]

I like the bonus for people who know their Princeton. Maybe not as effective with average audiences, though - slightly weird, several syllables.

Comment author: endoself 28 January 2012 05:54:06PM *  3 points [-]

I think that's a problem actually. We don't want to imply affiliation with them when that isn't the case.

Comment author: Dr_Manhattan 28 January 2012 03:36:54PM 6 points [-]

too cute IMO

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 02:06:41PM *  3 points [-]

Don't know if the pun is intended, but I suspect that some people - not familiar with LW - will take it for a sanitation initiative.

Comment author: steven0461 28 January 2012 03:56:47AM 8 points [-]

These aren't very good:

Alliance for Accuracy. Be Right Club. Make No Mistake. Better Believe. Untangle. Second Thought. Judgewell. Sanity Plus.

Comment author: steven0461 28 January 2012 05:09:33AM *  5 points [-]

Map Masters. Sanity Sharpeners. Reality Reflecters. Truth Trackers. Bayesbound.

Comment author: steven0461 28 January 2012 06:51:23AM *  10 points [-]

The Disciples of Laplace. The Bayesheviks. The Accurati. The Order of the Urn. Sanity Streamlining. Sanetuary. Decision Division. Madness Mitigation. Consequence Captains. Consequence Institute. Outcome Institute. Veracity Institute. Cooler Cognition Council. Campus Crusade for Correct Cognition. Answers In Sequences. Church of Probabilitology. (Obviously some of these are unviable. Just brainstorming.)

Comment author: Mitchell_Porter 28 January 2012 12:59:52PM 6 points [-]

Center for Correct Contrarianism. Unbounded Rationality Institute. All Your Bayes Are Belong To Us Foundation, Inc.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 05:13:41PM 2 points [-]

Campus Crusade for Correct Cognition

If any LW meetup groups become university-affiliated organizations, this is what they should be called.

Comment author: Morendil 28 January 2012 09:10:04AM 5 points [-]

The "Fight Club" allusion is good, though. Instant recognition if you can manage to activate that node, and it ties in well with the idea of a rationality dojo.

Combining that with other ideas you'd get "Insight Club".

Comment author: ciphergoth 28 January 2012 10:06:58AM 3 points [-]

"Rationality Dojo" hasn't been suggested.

Comment author: Morendil 28 January 2012 10:10:37AM 3 points [-]

Only in plural. :)

Comment author: Morendil 28 January 2012 09:33:02AM 9 points [-]

Query Huggers. Oops Masters. Belief Rentiers. Belief Landlords. Level Up Artists.

Comment author: Solvent 28 January 2012 09:52:16AM 0 points [-]

Oops Masters

awesome.

Level Up Artists

It took me a second to get that.

Comment author: Normal_Anomaly 28 January 2012 01:47:13PM *  3 points [-]

Oops Masters

awesome.

I beg to differ. Think about what someone who doesn't get the reference will think.

Comment author: Solvent 29 January 2012 04:20:29AM 2 points [-]

Good point.

Comment author: steven0461 28 January 2012 10:18:56PM 1 point [-]

Utilon. The Weirdtopia Group.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 11:25:31PM 1 point [-]

Jugewell sound a lot like Givewell (obviously) but I like it! Sanity plus sounds a bit like franchise of Humanity Plus but that might be a good thing (?).

Comment author: lessdazed 28 January 2012 03:58:20AM *  4 points [-]

Practical Anticipation (Institute/Project/Center/etc.)

Comment author: katydee 28 January 2012 03:59:10AM 24 points [-]

The Human Rationality Project.

Comment author: Multiheaded 28 January 2012 03:41:52PM *  7 points [-]

Connotations:

11: The AI dissolves the physical and psychological borders that separate people from one another and sucks up all their souls into a gigantic swirly red sphere in low Earth orbit.

-from the Friendly AI Critical Failure Table

More like it dissolves the question of identity in this case, amirite?

Comment author: katydee 28 January 2012 05:19:14PM 2 points [-]

Snerk. I hadn't even thought of that connotation. I can't decide if I like the name more or less now!

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 02:42:26PM 0 points [-]

Definitely more for me, and its a good name anyway.

Comment author: Multiheaded 29 January 2012 06:48:54PM 7 points [-]

"Fuck, this doesn't look good for our species..."

Comment author: markette 28 January 2012 04:06:48AM *  26 points [-]

One obvious question: when is the name most important? When first heard; Introductions.

Some common names take the form of "[identifier] [word for a group]" or similar, eg: [Rationality] [Institute]

Use online thesauruses to find synonyms for good words, make long lists of words to combine. http://thesaurus.com

Google how to come up with good names, skim chapters in marketing textbooks for meta-ideas.

Don't react fast/naturally (eg: "the name Waterline is a clever meaningful in-group signal and sounds pretty."), ask yourself how your target will react (eg: "what's that, whale environmentalists?").

Who are your targets? Intelligent ambitious young men or their uninterested 45 year old mothers? Academics? From which field? etc.

Common reaction to mention of the group will be to assume their arrogance (suggesting they can teach smartness, that they have smartness), behaving guarded but curious.

Suggestions: Insight House/ Bayesian House

Reaction: "what does bayesian mean?" it's the math (credibility+++) of how to decide (arrogance-) etc. Bring evidence into discussion if target identifies as being "logical" (young smart men).

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 04:38:43AM *  3 points [-]

Suggestions: Insight House

I like "Insight". It alludes to "Incite", which is an exciting word that is related to the organization (definition- to give rise to, to urge into action, to stir up, etc). And it also can be broken into "in sight", which can be related to having your goals in sight, striving to reach for an attainable goal, etc.

So it's one word, with 3 positive connotations (Insight, Incite, and In Sight)

How about:

Sanity Insight
Rationality Insight
<Insert Postive Word Here> Insight
Insight Institute

Edited: Changed all "InSight" suggestions to "Insight", because I agree with markette's critique below.

Comment author: markette 28 January 2012 04:45:16AM *  8 points [-]

Forget cleverness for its own sake, optimize for the consequences.

someone reads "InSight", their brain says "oh, I get it, they combined insight and in sight. Their name is a pun." imagines suited marketing man. Where do you want to go for lunch?

Capturing that first thought and directing it somewhere useful is crucial

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 05:11:50AM *  2 points [-]

I think you're right.

Good word, bad capital "S".

I edited my suggestions to fix it.

Comment author: ArisKatsaris 28 January 2012 05:06:36AM *  6 points [-]

I like "Insight" too, but probably not "InSight" as part of the name, feels a bit gimmicky, as markette says.

"Insight Institute" has nice alliteration.
"Applied Insight" has good connotations for caring about effectiveness, as opposed to mere philosophizing. It also has the same initials as "Artificial Intelligence" which I'm not sure if it's a minus or a plus.

Comment author: markette 28 January 2012 05:18:50AM 3 points [-]

"Applied Insight" [...] has the same initials as "Artificial Intelligence" which I'm not sure if it's a minus or a plus.

Can you imagine anyone's opinion being altered by such a thing? Its value rounds to zero (It's nonzero, but the smallest credit the human mind could give it is, I suspect, too much).

Comment author: ArisKatsaris 28 January 2012 02:09:59PM *  4 points [-]

I get your point -- but still: If something's initials mean something different, this means it effectively can't be referenced or googled by those initials.

Yeah, this is a minor point if the name is just two words, but still something to consider if someone has name ideas that include "Figuring Better Ideas", "Cognitive Insight Applications" or for that matter "Neural Augmentation and Methodical Bettering of Life Alliance" . :-)

Comment author: Larks 28 January 2012 02:56:37PM 3 points [-]

Then they could use old "SIAI" headed notepaper to refer to the union of SI and AI!

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 05:30:47AM 1 point [-]

Inciting Insight Inside is In Sight!

(Sorry, couldn't help myself...)

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 11:36:30AM 0 points [-]

"Insight" reminds me first of Consensus Buddhism. I'd think of anyone speaking of insight in general as selling some form of vipassana. See for example the very influential Insight Meditation Society.

Comment author: ArisKatsaris 28 January 2012 05:18:49AM 34 points [-]

Don't react naturally (eg: "Waterline is a clever meaningful in-group signal and sounds pretty"), ask yourself how your target will react (eg: "Oh, are they whale environmentalists?").

I think that consideration may be highly overestimated in the discussion here. Facebook isn't about faces, Twitter isn't about songbirds, google has little to do with the number "googol", The Apple Corporation isn't selling fruit... etc, etc.

A short pretty name to remember and be able to look up if you need to may be just as good as marketing. Something like "Waterline Institute" needs be clarified one ("they're talking about raising a metaphorical 'sanity waterline in the human population"), then it's a memorable enough name and visual alike.

But something like "Bayesian House" can only be clarified by making a long explanation about mathematical formulas... And it's not immediately memorable afterwards, because frankly it's just 'Bayes' is just a name, called after Thomas Bayes.

But honestly, I've never studied marketing or anything like that, so I may just be talking out of my ass here...

Comment author: markette 28 January 2012 05:26:47AM *  3 points [-]

Can't assume google/facebook/twitter were successful because of a master plan that hinged on their name; their success doesn't strongly imply they were named well. Anecdotally, facebook was originally "The Facebook", google was originally "Googol", Twitter was once "twttr", and Apple was named on a whim when nothing could be decided on.

Bayesian is an alien word, I still remember wondering what it was when I first saw it. Repeating a word/name aloud is the recommended way to remember them on first impression, and memorability matters, but encouraging that kind of memorability is a small factor anyway, just for the record.

Edit: Whether or not my ideas are good, I disagree that the importance of immediate reaction is overrated. It's hard to say precisely how it has been "rated" in the conversation, but I think it matters a lot in framing the ensuing seconds of conversation.

Comment author: Morendil 28 January 2012 09:07:42AM 9 points [-]

Another useful question is: which existing organizations do you want to differentiate yourself from?

For instance there are already companies out there monetizing the "train your brain" promise, such as Lumosity (a name which has some accidental Less Wrong annotations), Mind Sparke, etc.

Comment author: AnnaSalamon 28 January 2012 04:13:05AM 7 points [-]

Rationality Dojos

Comment author: Dr_Manhattan 28 January 2012 04:25:54AM 2 points [-]

ThinkRight

Comment author: Incorrect 28 January 2012 04:28:59AM 0 points [-]

I like the concept of "to be rather than to seem" but am having trouble thinking of a name to convey it.

With reservation, here's some suggestions:

Applied Coherence
Tangible Actualization

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 January 2012 05:09:45AM 12 points [-]

BTW our best current suggestion came from these comments, so keep it up!

Comment author: markette 28 January 2012 05:40:13AM 0 points [-]

PM me if you want my opinion without revealing the name in public.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 05:10:29AM 6 points [-]

You could name it after a statistician. Laplace is taken, but Bayes, Jaynes, Jeffreys, and others are free.

Comment author: lessdazed 28 January 2012 06:16:58AM 0 points [-]
Comment author: beoShaffer 28 January 2012 05:25:48AM *  0 points [-]

Truthseekers United

People for Clear thought

Practical Rationality

Comment author: Normal_Anomaly 28 January 2012 01:43:19PM *  0 points [-]

<pedant mode> Its Truthseekers United, no apostrophe. You're suggesting names for an organization, and I like that one, so spelling it right is important.</pedant>

Comment author: beoShaffer 28 January 2012 02:15:20PM 0 points [-]

Fixed

Comment author: moridinamael 28 January 2012 05:26:23AM 0 points [-]

Clarity.

Say it out loud.

Cla-ri-tee.

Comment author: Anubhav 28 January 2012 07:06:07AM 13 points [-]

Non-googleability is a minus.

Comment author: fiddlemath 28 January 2012 05:42:58AM 2 points [-]

Here's a lightly-edited brainstorm:

  • Institute for Clearer Thinking
  • Foundation for Better Thinking
  • Better Thinking Buereau
  • Foundation for Critical Thought
  • Rationality Foundation
  • Center for Sharper Thought
  • Center for Reason and its Applications
  • Center for Applied Reason
  • Guild of Reason
  • Center for Reason
Comment author: Grognor 28 January 2012 05:52:08AM *  1 point [-]

My best tries:

Simple but boring

  • Mostly Rational
  • Decision Training
  • Minding Mind
  • Methods that Actually Work (MAW)

Too fancy

  • Technical Thinking Institute
  • Practical Problem Solving
  • Mental Floss / Mental Sharpener
  • Whatever Is Necessary (WIN)
  • Epistemic Voracity Dance
  • The Unfettered, Unwavering Path to Glorious Triumph!
Comment author: Multiheaded 28 January 2012 03:58:44PM -1 points [-]

Whatever Is Necessary (WIN)

Could trigger the knee-jerk reaction to "The ends always justify the means, stupid rabbit, durr!" and all such Rand-like screed that's even now floating around in contrarian circles.

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 06:31:06PM 1 point [-]

How you came up with "The ends always justify the means" as being "Rand-like" is beyond me.

Comment author: Multiheaded 28 January 2012 06:54:54PM 0 points [-]

It's a stereotype of her thinking in America, no?

Comment author: TimS 28 January 2012 06:58:39PM 2 points [-]

Selfishness (which is the American stereotype) != ends justify means.

Comment author: Multiheaded 28 January 2012 07:19:00PM 0 points [-]

Oh. Got it.

Comment author: Cyan 28 January 2012 06:02:43AM *  1 point [-]
  • Shut Up and Multiply (SUM)
  • Society for Methodical Rationality Training (SMRT) (ok, not really)
  • Rationality Praxis Institute
Comment author: ata 28 January 2012 06:33:26AM *  11 points [-]

Shut Up and Multiply (SUM)

Unfortunately that's not even a very good phrase to begin with, let alone as a name for an organization. People hearing it for the first time without context mostly seem to assume that refers to reproduction, presumably by comparison to the phrase "be fruitful and multiply", or at least have that come to mind and are confused about what it has to do with rationality.

Comment author: Grognor 28 January 2012 07:03:38AM *  3 points [-]

Yes, I recall being very confused when I first saw that phrase in Three Worlds Collide. To this day I don't know why people use "multiply" instead of "calculate".

Comment author: shokwave 28 January 2012 07:17:12AM *  9 points [-]

Shut Up and Calculate's Katas would SUCK.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 28 January 2012 11:42:30AM 1 point [-]

I have always assumed it derived from modeling expected-value calculations as the product of likelihood-of-scenario and value-of-scenario.

Comment author: shminux 28 January 2012 06:35:18AM 3 points [-]

Think to win

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 04:18:24PM *  0 points [-]

I was trying to think of a way to put "win" in there. It's too bad "Winning the Future" is already taken.

Comment author: james_edwards 28 January 2012 06:43:04AM 12 points [-]

Wrote a list of 100 ideas, here are the highlights:

  • Insight Out
  • The Upsight Institute
  • Wisdom18
  • Level Up
  • Thinking Plus
  • Reason Out
  • Making Sense
Comment author: james_edwards 28 January 2012 06:50:38AM 6 points [-]

A few more:

  • Good Reason
  • Sight and Mind
  • Tactical Reasoning
  • Wisdom Plus One

I'm on a phone, apologies for terse commenting.

Comment author: ciphergoth 28 January 2012 06:04:00PM 6 points [-]

I quite like Good Reason

Comment author: atorm 28 January 2012 11:17:19PM 2 points [-]

"Tactical Reasoning" sounds cool, but also slightly militaristic. Maybe not the best message to send. Maybe a really cool name for a book or group of rationality katas, though.

Comment author: beoShaffer 29 January 2012 06:12:30AM 1 point [-]

Good Reason

but that unknown enough that something with Good Reason in it, but with a little more, ex. "The Good Reason Group" should work.

Comment author: Nick_Roy 28 January 2012 10:49:15AM 5 points [-]

I upvoted, but I'll clarify why, as this is a list: the only name I like on this list is Level Up, but I strongly like it.

Comment author: james_edwards 28 January 2012 12:12:28PM 0 points [-]

A worthy clarification! I considered making one comment per idea, but I'm not sure they are all up to that level of scrutiny.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 07:12:47PM 3 points [-]

I also REALLY like Level Up. It solidified pretty quickly in my brain. The name expands pretty easily to "Level Up Enterprises" or somesuch, if preferred. And I can easily envision the second prong on the letter "U" being an up-arrow.

I originally liked Insight Out, but when I reflected on it, I think I am being influenced by consistency bias, because I already threw my hat in with the word "Insight" earlier. I still think it's a really good one, I just like Level Up better!

Comment author: GuySrinivasan 28 January 2012 06:47:21AM *  24 points [-]

Google has these things to say about naming organizations:

what makes a good organization name, how to name a business: short, sweet, easily pronounced, legal, alliterative if long, not prone to abbreviation, flexible, timeless, fits with other branding, not already in the dictionary with the same definition, contains a sticky consonant, surprising, seldom directly descriptive, melodious, "cool", distinct, fun to say, trademarkable, not redundant, not criminal or shady-sounding, not lurid, at most two words, not desperate, medieval, Spanish-sounding. visual element, positive connotation, associated with what you actually do, not numbered, not named for a person, not geographic, looks good printed, rememberable, no bad connotations, spellable, description of what you do in tagline rather than name, harder consonants.

OnStartups: How To Pick A Company Name:

Customer Survey

Once we narrowed the names to around 10, we did a formal customer survey to give our users the final say. Our customers were a great help with choosing the name. We wanted the survey to be fast and simple.

The questions we asked were:

  1. For the proposed company, rate the following names from 1 to 5 (where 1 is 'Hate it' and 5 is 'Love it') (we then listed the finalist names)

  2. Without going back to the previous page, please list as many of the names that you just rated as you can remember. (This question was intended to help us measure recall and spelling ease of each name)

  3. What do you think of when you see each of the following names? (We wanted candid thought - and we got them!! We also tallied up positive, negative, on topic and off topic answers. We wanted to find a name that people did not think of negatively and that also made them think of helping small businesses manage documents.)

  4. If you can think of any names that would be great for us let us know!

Comment author: Manfred 28 January 2012 06:54:17AM *  18 points [-]

What do current notable-ish think tanks, seminar runners, and organized social groups call themselves? (Following markette's notation)

Think tanks:

[name of notable public figure or thinker] [word for group]
Hoover Institution
Cato Institute

[positive word with coded meaning] [word for group, can come first]
Center for American Progress
Heritage Foundation

[acronym] [not even a whole word]
RAND Corp

[word for group] [thing you do]
Council on Foreign Relations
Center for Strategic and International Studies

Seminar runner names:

[modifier, optional] [thing you do] [word for a group]
National Seminars Group

[related word or phrase, spelling optional]
Career Potential
Construx

[broader group description] [word for group]
American Management Association

Organized social stuff:

[descriptive word or phrase]
Toastmasters

[who you are] [word for a group]
Atheist Foundation

[nice-sounding word, relatedness optional] [word for a group, optional]
Mensa
Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary, etc. Club

[in-group signalling word or phrase]
Penny Arcade

-

If we go for a name template that has a lot of overlap between the three groups, I think the clear favorite is the prosaic [thing you do] [word for a group], bonus points if [thing you do] sounds like [who you are]. If direct description of rationality doesn't test well, a less literal alternative that still has good overlap is [nice-sounding word, relatedness open or coded] [word for a group].

Some top [word for a group] entries: Institute, Association, Foundation, Center, Group, Council.

Comment author: drethelin 28 January 2012 07:15:18AM 0 points [-]

Smarten Up

Train Your Brain

Think Smarter

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 07:57:52AM 1 point [-]

Either Waterline or turn the Less Wrong name into a brand. There isn't another suggestion in this thread that comes remotely close to being as good.

Comment author: Morendil 28 January 2012 09:00:46AM 1 point [-]

Other suggestions in the opaque-but-meaningful-to-the-ingroup category might include "Tsuyoku Naritai" and "Algernon".

Any name optimized for ingroup recognition is likely to suffer the same issues as "Waterline" or "Less Wrong", i.e. won't mean much to outsiders.

Comment author: shokwave 28 January 2012 08:14:44AM 8 points [-]

Derive something from Latin? You've got callidus for clever, sapio for wise, subtilis for precise, veri for truth...

So maybe the Callida Council, or Veri Institute, or the Verus Foundation.

The Less Wrong Institution, for the refinement of human rationality.

Sapiet House.

Fuck it, go with BayesCamp.

Comment author: steven0461 28 January 2012 08:24:42AM *  1 point [-]

Derive something from Latin? You've got callidus for clever, sapio for wise, subtilis for precise, veri for truth...

And "ratio", which also turns up in "likelihood ratio". If we're going ugly corporate neologism, we could do Accuratio (ETA: which turns out to be a company in Latvia).

Fuck it, go with BayesCamp.

The Bayes Factor?

Comment author: hamnox 28 January 2012 09:57:38PM -2 points [-]

BayesCamp would be just one thing that the [insert rationality inst name] provides, I think.

Speaking of which, I wonder what possibilities could arise of coordinating BayesCamp Kids with Camp Quest...

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 08:24:52AM 1 point [-]

Practical Epistemics Institute.

Comment author: shokwave 28 January 2012 08:36:33AM 1 point [-]

Either Clarity Workshops (we offer them) or Clarity Workshop (we work on clarity instead of cars). Depends on how much you want to focus on running things-you-can-call-workshops (ie seminars, lectures, group training sessions, and so on).

Comment author: steven0461 28 January 2012 08:40:27AM *  6 points [-]

I'm slightly worried about this association: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_(Scientology)

Comment author: shokwave 29 January 2012 04:17:21AM 1 point [-]

That did not occur to me. Good point.

Comment author: CharlesR 28 January 2012 08:48:33AM 0 points [-]

The Thomas Bayes Institute for Human Thought

Short: The Bayes Institute for Human Thought

Shorter: The Bayes Institute

Comment author: CharlesR 28 January 2012 09:26:56AM *  0 points [-]

The Bayes Center for the Advancement of Human Reason

Comment author: CharlesR 28 January 2012 09:30:54AM *  0 points [-]

The Center for Improving Human Thought

Comment author: Morendil 28 January 2012 09:27:58AM 9 points [-]

"Grey Belt" - combines the "we are all aspiring rationalists" notion (white belt, also activates the dojo node) with a significant color word - grey matter.

"Possible Minds" - because that's an Eliezer catchphrase, but also a succinct statement of the intent: to explore the space of possible minds, although only in a tiny region to start with. (You may view the link with SI - exploring the same space much farther out - as a bonus or as a problem.)

"Hedgefox". Not 100% original, but combines a prediction reference (cover of Tetlock's book), references to thinking styles, and the notion of cognitive diversity.

Comment author: Solvent 28 January 2012 09:39:26AM 16 points [-]

Why not just call it Less Wrong, or some variation on that?

Comment author: curiousepic 29 January 2012 12:48:06AM 5 points [-]

Have we heard a reason not to do so? It would help to piggyback off the SEO already done.

Comment author: CharlesR 28 January 2012 09:43:26AM 1 point [-]

The Center for the Advancement of Human Thought

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 10:13:57AM *  1 point [-]
  • Human Rationality Institute
  • Human Reasoning Institute
Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 04:14:13PM *  0 points [-]

Improving Rationality Institute.

Better Reasoning Institute.

Comment author: lessdazed 28 January 2012 10:56:53AM -2 points [-]

The Anti-Zombie Conspiracy

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 28 January 2012 01:06:03PM 1 point [-]

The Bayesian Conspiracy!

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 06:28:07PM 2 points [-]

We will need better robes.

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 28 January 2012 06:53:15PM 0 points [-]

That is my favorite name so far.

It is an advantage for a name to include a word that has "juicy" connotations, in contrast with words like rationality, institute, decision, making, water, line, study, practical, critical, insight.

Comment author: hamnox 28 January 2012 09:53:00PM 7 points [-]

I noticed that I almost upvoted your post because it was an in-group thing to say and not because of its actual merit in this conversation. Having the word 'conspiracy' anywhere near the name of this organization would be a downright awful idea in practice. I'd as soon suggest changing the official LessWrong slogan to "We're Not A Cult!".

Comment author: ArisKatsaris 28 January 2012 11:06:28AM *  1 point [-]

Thoughtfront.
The Thought Academy.
The Thought Institute.
The Outthink Center.

Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 28 January 2012 11:18:46AM *  0 points [-]
  1. The Society for Enhanced Reasoning

  2. The Institute for Enhanced Reasoning

Comment author: james_edwards 28 January 2012 01:09:11PM *  3 points [-]

More ideas below. Incidentally, I am not really aiming to win the thread here. I just learned the cool technique of writing lists of 100 ideas, the idea being that quantity leads to quality. Apparently it's most effective to have some people generate ideas, and others critique them. By now I'm firmly in the first camp on this task.

The latest ideas:

  • Groundswell (as in logical grounds)
  • Enhance Mental
  • Inferential Iteration
  • Phronesis (or Fronesis)
  • Logical Operators
  • Mentat Mentors
  • Sharp Ratio (a pun on this)

Edit: Fixed links.

Comment author: james_edwards 28 January 2012 01:15:34PM 0 points [-]
  • Lucidity
  • Reflexively Rational
  • Powergame Reality
  • Power Level Life
Comment author: hamnox 29 January 2012 01:58:51AM *  2 points [-]

Tangent on the 100 idea list: I think this may be one of the most useful little tidbits I've ever come across. It's a perfectly natural complement to the -think about it for five minutes- and -hold off on proposing solutions- ideas, spectacular for solo problem solving. It's so obvious I feel dumb for not having tried it earlier.

Why we're spending our time speculating on stuff like directed marijuana highs (Not that I don't like that post. I do.) when we've barely even got our basic katas down I'll never understand. Unless everyone here is secretly halfway to beisutsukai mastery already and I've been left out of the loop. Wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened.

Comment author: Normal_Anomaly 28 January 2012 01:36:43PM *  0 points [-]

How broad of a market are we aiming for? Is this intended to appeal mostly to people who know about and like "traditional rationality," or to random corporations?

Suggestions:

Project Sanity

Center/Institute/Foundation for Applied Epistemology

Center/Institute/Foundation for Applied Sanity

Center/Institute/Foundation for Applied Thinking

Center/Institute/Foundation for Applied Thought

Meta-suggestion: I would really like if the word "Applied" was in there somewhere.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 28 January 2012 02:27:20PM *  11 points [-]

Center for Excellence in Thinking and Deciding
Less Wrong Foundation
Institute for the Advancement of Human Rationality

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 02:25:30PM 5 points [-]

Less Wrong Foundation

Yes. The addition of "Foundation" really nails it.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 29 January 2012 04:33:55PM *  3 points [-]

Not really, "foundations" are usually funds that redirect money to other worthy causes, while the organization in question will be generating its own content and services. On the other hand, there is Wikimedia Foundation, which was the example that established the analogy for me.

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 05:24:00PM 1 point [-]

I just mean it sounds cooler than the other examples of Less Wrong __.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 02:44:24PM *  4 points [-]

Maybe it would be wise to make sure people do not confuse rationality with Hollywood rationality or rationalism?

Wise Decision Institute.

Thorough Thought.

Thorough Thinking

EDIT: I guess one could add Foundation.

Comment author: orthonormal 28 January 2012 04:04:34PM 0 points [-]

Next idea: take some phrases, translate them into Greek/Latin/both, fiddle around until we find something that sounds good as (all or part of) a name.

It could be worthwhile trying out the matrix of possibilities across languages given by pairing two nouns from the set {art, rationality, virtue, science, knowledge, practice, thinking, etc.}

Poor examples:

  • The Sophognosis Institute- "the knowledge of knowledge"
  • The Cognopraxis Institute- "the practice of thinking"
Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 04:09:04PM 5 points [-]

Thinkwell

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 04:10:14PM 0 points [-]

Damn, it's taken!

www.thinkwell.com - Effective online videos and online courses for high school and college students in math, science, and social science. Achieve success where traditional ...

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 28 January 2012 06:28:17PM -1 points [-]

Better Knowing.

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 04:12:16PM 1 point [-]

Thinkbetter

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 04:16:46PM *  1 point [-]

and for the sake of completeness:

Thinkbest

Comment author: Yvain 28 January 2012 04:20:12PM *  3 points [-]

PhronEasy, with the tagline "Making practical wisdom simple". No, wait, that's terrible.

My brother does some work for a professional naming company. Their prices are high, but they sound very professional (some of the stuff he talks about is a lot like what was mentioned here. If everything else fails, do be aware that such people exist.

Comment author: Yvain 28 January 2012 04:22:07PM 6 points [-]

Also, how about "Cogito"? Sounds related to thinking, but otherwise vague and non-threatening.

Comment author: beoShaffer 28 January 2012 04:55:50PM 0 points [-]

Reality Seekers

Looking for Reality

Fountains of Light

The Optimizers

Wisdom

Comment author: betterthanwell 28 January 2012 05:15:25PM 0 points [-]

The Sanity Institute for Human Intelligence? (Haha, I'm joking.)

"Bayesian Illuminati" would likely pique my interest.

Comment author: betterthanwell 28 January 2012 05:26:29PM 0 points [-]

Noojo. (from nous + dojo)

Comment author: beoShaffer 28 January 2012 07:12:33PM 0 points [-]

Looks like No Jo.

Comment author: novalis 28 January 2012 05:27:09PM -1 points [-]

Decision Making Seminars

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 05:59:27PM 0 points [-]

Mind The Mind

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 06:23:43PM 3 points [-]

Calibrating Cognition

Comment author: hankx7787 28 January 2012 06:24:24PM -1 points [-]

The Mental Institute

or

The Eliezer Yudkowsky Mental Institute for Criminally Insane Artificial Intelligence Researchers

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 02:40:28PM 5 points [-]

Funny. But useless. Don't clog the thread with cutesy proposals. To avoid being unfair I'm going to go through the entire thread now and down-vote every single post with a cutesy/non-serious proposal.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 06:52:24PM *  0 points [-]

Edit: Lol, these were all horrible, not just the culty ones. Organization names should be boring, not cute.

Comment author: atorm 28 January 2012 10:59:05PM 8 points [-]

Belief Academy immediately pinged my "cult-dar", although I'm not sure why.

Comment author: dbaupp 29 January 2012 06:29:04AM *  6 points [-]

Belief Academy, Belief Dojo.

Anything with "belief" in it would set up associations with religious beliefs of the "you just need to have faith" category.

Comment author: HonoreDB 28 January 2012 07:28:59PM *  0 points [-]

The Meta Foundation

The Metafoundation

Institute for Applied Meta

Decision Techniques

Comment author: katydee 28 January 2012 07:36:40PM *  5 points [-]

Applied Insight Institute (or just Insight Institute).

Comment author: Craig_Heldreth 28 January 2012 07:49:32PM 4 points [-]

The gold standard of such institutions is The Royal Philosophical Society.

Perhaps some form of The __ Philosophical Society.

What goes in the blank I am drawing a blank on. The California or Silicon Valley P.S. would be fine. The opposite of Royal is Commoner so the Common P. S. might be OK. Or Common Sense P.S. Or Real or Reality P. S. I would not use Bayes as a bunch of physical scientists whose attention you might want to attract are nigh-dogmatic frequentists right now but could presumably be weaned from their dogma.

Comment author: beoShaffer 28 January 2012 09:01:52PM 5 points [-]

Not sure if the're good ideas, but the following appear to be free.

The Practical Philosophical Society

The Modern Philosophical Society

The Empirical Philosophical Society.

If anyone on LW happens to be surprisingly well connected "The Royal Rationality Society" would be great.

Comment author: [deleted] 28 January 2012 11:38:24PM *  3 points [-]

Not saying that a lot of the stuff on Less Wrong is philosophy, but you don't think it's a bit risky going for "Philosoph-" something? A potential improvement would be something more along the lines of Neurophilosphy. (?) New branding that is.

Edit: Oops, suppose to say "[...] is not philosophy [...]"

Comment author: Metus 28 January 2012 11:25:00PM *  0 points [-]

(Thomas) Bayes Institute

More Right Institute

Comment author: beoShaffer 29 January 2012 06:00:10AM 4 points [-]

More Right Institute

Right has political connotation in at least America, and I think most other english speaking countries as well.

Comment author: Metus 29 January 2012 11:58:33AM 0 points [-]

I did not notice that as I thought of "More Right" as the synonym to "Less Wrong". Do you have any viable alternative?

Comment author: beoShaffer 29 January 2012 02:32:21PM 0 points [-]

I considered "More Correct" but that doesn't seem to work.

Comment author: katydee 29 January 2012 08:18:12PM 0 points [-]

Neither "More Right" nor "More Correct" really work with the same connotations as "Less Wrong."

Comment author: Armok_GoB 29 January 2012 01:00:23AM 0 points [-]

"The Bayes-Jitsu Project"

Comment author: Armok_GoB 29 January 2012 07:51:46PM 2 points [-]

Ok so you don't like my name suggestion, but is it really bad enough to downvote in a thread specifically for wildly brainstorming random names?

Comment author: antigonus 29 January 2012 06:47:22AM 2 points [-]

Afterthought

Comment author: [deleted] 29 January 2012 01:47:57PM *  21 points [-]
  • Decision Tree

  • Decision Tree Foundation.

Comment author: Alicorn 29 January 2012 06:36:23PM 2 points [-]

I like these almost as much as like "Waterline".