From 2011-2017, there was an annual LessWrong census/survey. Much like a national census, this provided a valuable lens into the demographics and beliefs of LessWrongers. Unfortunately, this tradition appears to have stopped in recent years, with the exception of a mini-revival in 2020. (Scott Alexander appears to have moved the census to SlateStarCodex.)
From what I've read, this is mainly due to of a lack of will/time among those in the community to run this project, and not a general judgement against the census.
If this is the case, I'd like to start a new version of the census this year, with a greater emphasis on alignment research/beliefs about AI and timelines.
Is this a good idea?
I don't agree that targeting 100 IQ individuals is an effective strategy for slowing down AI development, because 100 IQ people generally don't decide policy. Public opinion tends to matter very little in politics, especially in areas like AI policy that have little relation to everyday life.
Convincing a few dozen influential people in tech, politics, and media is likely to have a vastly larger impact than winning over hundreds of millions of ordinary people. This blog post might help outline why: https://www.cremieux.xyz/p/the-cultural-power-of-high-skilled?utm_source=publication-search