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Center for Applied Rationality

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Center for Applied Rationality
Formation2012; 13 years ago (2012)
TypeNonprofit research institute
Legal status501(c)(3) tax exempt charity[1]
PurposeResearch and training in cognitive science, and de-biasing, to alleviate existential risk from artificial general intelligence[2]
Location
Anna Salamon[1]
Websiterationality.org

The Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) is a nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, California, that hosts workshops on rationality and cognitive bias. It was founded in 2012 by Julia Galef, Anna Salamon, Michael Smith and Andrew Critch,[3] to improve participants' rationality using "a set of techniques from math and decision theory for forming your beliefs about the world as accurately as possible".[4] Its president since 2021 is Anna Salamon.[1]

CFAR's training draws upon fields such as psychology and behavioral economics in an effort to improve people's mental habits. Jennifer Kahn visited the group and described its strengths and flaws in the New York Times.[5] CFAR has conducted a survey of participants which indicates that workshops reduce neuroticism and increase perceived efficacy.[6]

CFAR is part of the rationality movement surrounding Eliezer Yudkowsky's web site LessWrong, from which CFAR originated.[7] Paul Slovic and Keith Stanovich have served as advisors.[8]

The group taught classes for Facebook and the Thiel Fellowship.[5]

A scholarship funded by the founder of Skype, Jaan Tallinn, has been used to send selected Estonian students to workshops held by the Center for Applied Rationality.[9]

"Zizians" and Sonoma County incident

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On November 15, 2019, four people dressed in Guy Fawkes masks were arrested for allegedly barricading off a wooded retreat where CFAR was holding an event. According to police, the suspects were not cooperative and said things about their views on rationalism that the officers could not understand.[10] The protesters, members of a splinter group of the rationalism movement that became known as the "Zizians", had accused CFAR and MIRI of anti-trans discrimination, using donor money to pay off a former staffer who had accused MIRI leaders of statutory rape and a coverup, and ignoring the welfare of animals in the pursuit of friendly artificial intelligence.[11] People associated with the Zizians later become the suspects or persons of interest in an attempted murder in November 2022 and four murders in 2022 and 2025, including the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol officer in a shootout.[12] Two of the alleged Zizians also died violently in these incidents.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Center for Applied Rationality". Guidestar. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  2. ^ Salamon, Anna (December 3, 2016). "CFAR's new focus, and AI Safety". Less Wrong.
  3. ^ Segran, Elizabeth (October 21, 2014). "Inside the Rationality Movement That Has Silicon Valley Buzzing With Positive Thinking". Fast Company. Mansueto Ventures, LLC. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
    - Frank, Sam (January 2015). "Come With Us If You Want to Live: Among the apocalyptic libertarians of Silicon Valley". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  4. ^ Dvorsky, George (February 11, 2012). "Why you're probably not as rational as you think you are — and what you can do about it". io9. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Kahn, Jennifer (January 14, 2016). "The Happiness Code". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on January 15, 2016. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  6. ^ Matsakis, Louise (May 17, 2016). "The 'Rationality' Workshop That Teaches People to Think More Like Computers". Vice. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  7. ^ Chen, Angela (January 1, 2014). "More Rational Resolutions". The Wall Street Journal.
    - Jackson, Carl (September 8, 2012). "Why are smart people often so stupid?". Nerve Magazine (2): 18-23. Retrieved March 31, 2015 – via Issuu.
  8. ^ Schubert, Stefan (2014). "The Center for Applied Rationality: practical techniques for overcoming biases". The Reasoner (12): 134-135. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  9. ^ "Skype founder donates 54,000 euros to Tartu University". The Baltic Times. January 14, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
  10. ^ Gafni, Mattias (November 18, 2019). "Mystery in Sonoma County after arrests of protesters in Guy Fawkes masks and robes". San Francisco Chronicle.
  11. ^ Ratliff, Evan (February 21, 2025). "The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians". Wired. Archived from the original on February 26, 2025. Retrieved February 26, 2025. They alleged that MIRI had "paid out blackmail (using donor funds)" to quash sexual misconduct accusations and that CFAR's leader "discriminates against trans women."...expressed outrage that MIRI's efforts to create human-friendly AI didn't seem to include other animals in the equation.
  12. ^ Mandoli, Ava (January 31, 2025). "Maps and timeline clarify confusing 'Ziz' case linked to death of Bay Area landlord, five others". San Francisco Chronicle.
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