1,714
edits
Changes
→Full timeline
| 2012 || {{dts|July 21}}–28 || || A rationality minicamp takes place.<ref name="salamon-2012-03-29-minicamps" />
|-
| 2012 || {{dts|August 6}}–13 || SPARC || SPARC 2012 takes place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c1874h1028489_new_free_summer_camp_on_math_and_rationality |title=Art of Problem Solving Blog : New Free Summer Camp On Math and Rationality |date=April 20, 2012 |author=rrusczyk |quote=SPARC will be held at UC Berkeley from August 6th to 13th and is open to high school students, including rising freshmen and graduating seniors.|accessdate=July 13, 2017}}</ref> This is the first SPARC.
|-
| 2013 || {{dts|August 5}}–17 || SPARC || SPARC 2013 takes place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131027161355/http://rationality.org/sparc/ |title=SPARC {{!}} CFAR |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2013 || {{dts|December 28}} || || Annual fundraising post is published on LessWrong making the case for why one should donate to CFAR.<ref name="why-cfar">{{cite web |url=http://lesswrong.com/lw/jej/why_cfar/ |title=Why CFAR? |accessdate=July 12, 2017 |publisher=[[wikipedia:LessWrong|LessWrong]]}}</ref>
|-
| 2014 || {{dts|August 4}}–16 || SPARC || SPARC 2014 takes place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305084515/http://sparc-camp.org:80/ |title=SPARC {{!}} Summer Program in Applied Rationality and Cognition |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2014 || {{dts|October 25}}–26 || || As an experimental "beta test", a lower-cost, 1.5-day workshop takes place in the Bay Area.<ref name="salamon-lower-cost-and-europe" />
| 2015 (?) || || || The 2015 longitudinal study is published, covering workshops from February 2014 to April 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rationality.org/studies/2015-longitudinal-study |title=2015 Longitudinal Study |publisher=Center for Applied Rationality |accessdate=July 13, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2015 || {{dts|July 1}} || Financial || CFAR is included among the Future of Life Institute's Grant Recommendations for its first round of AI safety grants. The amount recommended is $111,757, for a specialized workshop for "45 of the most promising AI students".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://futureoflife.org/ai-researcher-anna-salamon/ |title=AI Researcher Anna Salamon - Future of Life Institute |publisher=Future of Life Institute |accessdate=July 13, 2017}}</ref> The grant would be disbursed on September 1.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://futureoflife.org/grants-timeline/ |title=Grants Timeline - Future of Life Institute |publisher=Future of Life Institute |accessdate=July 13, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://futureoflife.org/2015selection/ |title=New International Grants Program Jump-Starts Research to Ensure AI Remains Beneficial: Press release for FLI grant awardees. - Future of Life Institute |publisher=Future of Life Institute |accessdate=July 13, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://futureoflife.org/ai-safety-research/ |title=AI Safety Research - Future of Life Institute |publisher=Future of Life Institute |accessdate=July 13, 2017}}</ref> (Is this the same as the MIRI Summer Fellows program or some other workshop with a name? The FLI grant pages do not say.)
|-
| 2015 || {{dts|July 7}}–26 || || The CFAR-run MIRI Summer Fellows program 2015 takes place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717025843/http://rationality.org/miri-summer-fellows-2015 |title=MIRI Summer Fellows 2015 |publisher=CFAR |date=June 21, 2015 |accessdate=July 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lesswrong.com/lw/m3h/cfarrun_miri_summer_fellows_program_july_726/ |title=CFAR-run MIRI Summer Fellows program: July 7-26 |author=Anna Salamon |date=April 28, 2015 |accessdate=July 11, 2017 |publisher=[[wikipedia:LessWrong|LessWrong]]}}</ref> This program is apparently "relatively successful at recruiting staff for MIRI".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-general-support |title=Center for Applied Rationality — General Support |publisher=Open Philanthropy Project |accessdate=July 8, 2017 |quote=We have some doubts about CFAR's management and operations, and we see CFAR as having made only limited improvements over the last two years, with the possible exception of running the MIRI Summer Fellows Program in 2015, which we understand to have been relatively successful at recruiting staff for MIRI.}}</ref>
|-
| 2015 || {{dts|August 4}}–16 || SPARC || SPARC 2015 takes place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mensa.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/SPARC%20Summer%20School%202015%20Flyer.pdf |title=SPARC Summer School 2015 |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2015 || {{dts|December 23}} || || The annual fundraising and review is posted to LessWrong.<ref name="why-cfar-view-from-2015">{{cite web |url=http://lesswrong.com/lw/n39/why_cfar_the_view_from_2015/ |title=Why CFAR? The view from 2015 |author=Pete Michaud |date=December 23, 2015 |accessdate=July 12, 2017 |publisher=[[wikipedia:LessWrong|LessWrong]]}}</ref>
| 2016 || {{dts|January 2}} || || Anna Salamon posts on LessWrong talking about CFAR's mission in a Q&A.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lesswrong.com/lw/n4e/why_cfars_mission/ |title=Why CFAR's Mission? |accessdate=July 13, 2017 |publisher=[[wikipedia:LessWrong|LessWrong]]}}</ref>
|-
| 2016 || {{dts|May}} || Financial || The Open Philanthropy Project awards a grant of $304,000 over two years to CFAR's Summer Program on Applied Rationality and Cognition (SPARC).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-sparc |title=Center for Applied Rationality — SPARC |publisher=Open Philanthropy Project |accessdate=July 11, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2016 || {{dts|July}} || Financial || The Open Philanthropy Project awards a grant of $1,035,000 over two years to CFAR.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-general-support |title=Center for Applied Rationality — General Support |publisher=Open Philanthropy Project |accessdate=July 11, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2016 || {{dts|August 2}}–14 || SPARC || SPARC 2016 takes place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409054420/https://sparc-camp.org/ |title=What is SPARC? {{!}} SPARC on WordPress.com |publisher=SPARC |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2016 || {{dts|December 3}}, 12 || || A couple of posts are published on LessWrong by Anna Salamon. The posts discuss CFAR's new focus on AI safety.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lesswrong.com/lw/o7o/cfars_new_focus_and_ai_safety/ |title=CFAR's new focus, and AI Safety - Less Wrong |accessdate=July 13, 2017 |publisher=[[wikipedia:LessWrong|LessWrong]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lesswrong.com/lw/o9h/further_discussion_of_cfars_focus_on_ai_safety/ |title=Further discussion of CFAR's focus on AI safety, and the good things folks wanted from "cause neutrality" - Less Wrong |accessdate=July 13, 2017 |publisher=[[wikipedia:LessWrong|LessWrong]]}}</ref>
| 2016 || {{dts|December 14}} || || A Wayback Machine snapshot from this day shows that Julia Galef is listed under the "Convergence project".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20161214012819/http://rationality.org/about/team |title=CFAR Team |publisher=Center for Applied Rationality |accessdate=July 28, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2016 || End of the year || Leadership || {{w|Julia Galef}} steps down as CFAR president; Anna Salamon takes her place and Pete Michaud takes Salamon's place as executive director. In the same post, Galef announces that she is working on the Update Project, a project whose goal is "to help decisionmakers improve the accuracy of their models, especially as they relate to strategies for having a large positive impact on the world".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/julia.galef/posts/10103010525130302 |title=Julia Galef - I'm overdue for a career update! Lots of you who... |author=Julia Galef |date=February 28, 2017 |accessdate=July 28, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://juliagalef.com/update-project/ |title=The Update Project |author=Julia Galef |date=March 1, 2017 |publisher=Julia Galef |accessdate=July 28, 2017}}</ref> The Update Project is the new name for the Convergence project.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/julia.galef/posts/10103010525130302?comment_id=10103348592605372&reply_comment_id=10103348604940652&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D |quote=The new name for the convergence project (though the focus has shifted a bit since then, as well) |author=Julia Galef |title=Comment in reply to Vipul Naik |date=July 28, 2017 |accessdate=July 28, 2017}}</ref> The Update Project receives funding from the Open Philanthropy Project.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://issarice.com/open-philanthropy-project-non-grant-funding |author=Issa Rice |date=April 2, 2017 |title=Open Philanthropy Project non-grant funding |publisher=Issa Rice |accessdate=July 28, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2017 || {{dts|January}} || || CFAR publishes case studies on its impact on existential risk. The report covers Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), Future of Life Institute (FLI), and Arbital (an online discussion platform).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rationality.org/studies/2016-case-studies |title=Case Studies Highlighting CFAR's Impact on Existential Risk |publisher=Center for Applied Rationality |accessdate=July 12, 2017}}</ref>
|-
| 2017 || {{dts|May}} || Financial || The Open Philanthropy Project awards a grant of $340,000 to CFAR to "support the European Summer Program on Rationality" (ESPR).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-european-summer-program-rationality |publisher=Open Philanthropy Project |title=Center for Applied Rationality — European Summer Program on Rationality |date=December 15, 2017 |accessdate=February 25, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| 2017 || {{Dts|May 29}} || || The Rationalist House Games domain, <code>rationalistgames.org</code>, is registered.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://whois.icann.org/en/lookUP?name=rationalistgames.org |title=Showing results for: RATIONALISTGAMES.ORG |publisher=ICANN WHOIS |accessdate=February 25, 2018 |quote=Creation Date: 2017-05-29T19:25:39Z}}</ref> The Rationalist House Games is a website that hosts competitions between rationality community group houses. The website is apparently run by CFAR (the website itself does not mention CFAR).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rationality.org/resources/updates/2017/fourth-quarter-cfar-newsletter |title=Fourth Quarter CFAR Newsletter |accessdate=February 25, 2018 |quote=Rationalist House Games - Elizabeth Garrett spearheaded a competition between rationalist houses |publisher=[[wikipedia:Center for Applied Rationality|Center for Applied Rationality]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://rationality.org/resources/updates/2017/second-quarter-cfar-newsletter |title=Second Quarter CFAR Newsletter |accessdate=February 25, 2018 |publisher=[[wikipedia:Center for Applied Rationality|Center for Applied Rationality]]}}</ref>
|-
| 2017 || {{dts|August 6}}–17 || SPARC || SPARC 2017 takes place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sparc-camp.org/ |title=What is SPARC? {{!}} SPARC on WordPress.com |publisher=SPARC |accessdate=February 24, 2018 |quote=SPARC—the Summer Program on Applied Rationality and Cognition—will be hosted in the San Francisco Bay Area from August 6 – 17, with students arriving the evening of the 6th and leaving the morning of the 17th. |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603013601/https://sparc-camp.org/ |archivedate=June 3, 2017 |dead-url=yes}}</ref>
|-
| 2017 || {{dts|December 16}} || || CFAR publishes four documents on its website: its 2017 Impact Report,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rationality.org/resources/updates/2017/cfar-2017-impact-report |title=CFAR 2017 Impact Report |accessdate=February 25, 2018 |publisher=[[wikipedia:Center for Applied Rationality|Center for Applied Rationality]]}}</ref> a 2017 Retrospective,<ref name="retrospective-2017" /> information on its 2017 Fundraiser,<ref name="fundraiser-2017" /> and a venue update.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rationality.org/resources/updates/2017/cfar-2017-venue-update |title=CFAR 2017 Venue Update |accessdate=February 25, 2018 |publisher=[[wikipedia:Center for Applied Rationality|Center for Applied Rationality]]}}</ref>
|-
| 2018 || {{dts|January}} || Financial || The Open Philanthropy Project awards a grant of $560,000 to CFAR to "support SPARC and related activities".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-sparc-2018 |publisher=Open Philanthropy Project |title=Center for Applied Rationality — SPARC (2018) |date=February 6, 2018 |accessdate=February 25, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| 2018 || {{dts|January}} || Financial || The Open Philanthropy Project awards a grant of $1,000,000 over two years to CFAR for general support.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.openphilanthropy.org/giving/grants/center-applied-rationality-general-support-2018 |publisher=Open Philanthropy Project |title=Center for Applied Rationality — General Support (2018) |date=February 28, 2018 |accessdate=March 1, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| 2018 || {{dts|January 10}} || Financial || CFAR announces that it has exceeded its 2017 fundraising target of $740,000 by raising a total of $759,829.<ref name="fundraiser-2017">{{cite web |url=http://rationality.org/resources/updates/2017/cfar-2017-fundraiser |title=CFAR 2017 Fundraiser |accessdate=February 24, 2018 |publisher=[[wikipedia:Center for Applied Rationality|Center for Applied Rationality]]}}</ref>
|-
| 2018 || {{dts|January 19}} || || CFAR instructor Michael "Valentine" Smith begins posting about [[wikipedia:Kenshō|kenshō]] on LessWrong.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lesserwrong.com/posts/tMhEv28KJYWsu6Wdo/kensh |title=Kenshō |author=Michael "Valentine" Smith |date=January 19, 2018 |publisher=LessWrong |accessdate=February 24, 2018}}</ref> He would follow up on the initial post in late February with "The Real-World Omega"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lesserwrong.com/posts/AqbWna2S85pFTsHH4/the-real-world-omega |title=The Real-World Omega |accessdate=February 24, 2018}}</ref> and "Mythic Mode".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lesserwrong.com/posts/HnWN6v4wHQwmYQCLX/mythic-mode |title=Mythic Mode |accessdate=February 24, 2018}}</ref> Kenshō hasn't been discussed officially by CFAR (in particular, Valentine's post seems to be made from a personal capacity), but it seems to be one of the things being discussed in person by CFAR people.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lesserwrong.com/posts/tMhEv28KJYWsu6Wdo/kensh#vDST8wTjsiWKCjZ3y |title=Comment on "Kenshō" |accessdate=February 24, 2018 |author=Qiaochu Yuan |quote=It's seemed to me for awhile now that the stuff that people are actually talking about in person (e.g. at CFAR workshops) has far outstripped the pace of what's publicly available in blog post format and I'm really happy to see progress on that front.}}</ref>
|-
| 2018 || {{dts|February 27}} || Leadership || CFAR announces that it has acquired a permanent venue. In addition, executive director Pete Michaud leaves his position to become an advisor and Timothy Telleen-Lawton becomes the new executive director.<ref name="fundraising-and-leadership">{{cite web |url=http://rationality.org/resources/updates/2018/fundraising-and-leadership-updates |title=Fundraising & Leadership Updates |date=February 27, 2018 |first=Pete |last=Michaud |accessdate=March 1, 2018 |publisher=[[wikipedia:Center for Applied Rationality|Center for Applied Rationality]]}}</ref>
|-
| 2018 || {{dts|June}} or July || || CFAR will have its new permanent venue in possession and will begin hosting workshops there.<ref name="fundraising-and-leadership" />
|-
| 2018 || {{dts|July 22}}{{snd}}{{dts|August 3}} || SPARC || SPARC 2018 is planned to take place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sparc-camp.org/ |title=What is SPARC? {{!}} SPARC on WordPress.com |publisher=SPARC |accessdate=February 24, 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224224518/https://sparc-camp.org/ |archivedate=February 24, 2018 |dead-url=no}}</ref>
|}
