3 ms·

This is not a technological problem, but a coordination one. Each of the individual researchers, faculty and grant committees are being perfectly rational in su

This is not a technological problem, but a coordination one. Each of the individual researchers, faculty and grant committees are being perfectly rational in supporting status quo, they are just stuck in a suboptimal Nash equilibrium [1]. To quote Yudkowsky for a possible solution to this metaproblem "That’s why we have ... there doesn’t seem to be a word in your language for the timed-collective-action-threshold-conditional-commitment… hold on, this cultural translator isn’t making any sense. “Kickstarter”? You have the key concept, but you use it mainly for making video games?" [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium [2] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/x5ASTMPKPowLKpLpZ/moloch-s-toolbox-1-2 https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/x5ASTMPKPowLKpLpZ/moloch-s-t...

barry-cotter 8y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assurance_contract https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assurance_contract > An assurance contract, also known as a provision point mechanism, or crowdaction[1], is a game theoretic mechanism and a financial technology that facilitates the voluntary creation of public goods and club goods in the face of collective action problems such as the free rider problem. ... > Dominant assurance contracts, created by Alex Tabarrok, involve an extra component, an entrepreneur who profits when the quorum is reached and pays the signors extra if it is not. If the quorum is not formed, the signors do not pay their share and indeed actively profit from having participated since they keep the money the entrepreneur paid them.
- Vinnl 8y ago
  There's actually a publisher in the humanities that operates like this! Knowledge Unlatched funds monographs (i.e. books), then academic libraries pay a fee not to access those books, but to have them made available as Open Acess. It's actually been really successful in obtaining funds for open access publishing while circumventing the problem of people not paying for it because others might be: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Unlatched https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Unlatched
- smaddox 8y ago
  Interesting. So perhaps a non-profit could start a grass-roots crowdaction campaign for all researchers in a field to switch to open-access overnight, and use US contract law to enforce compliance (in the US) if the threshold is reached? There could be some penalty that researchers agree to pay if they renege on the agreement, and that penalty could be contractual. The non-profit could collect donations for marketing, and enforce the transition through legal action (if needed). Any proceeds could go to funding the next research field's crowdaction.
Natanael_L 8y ago
Critical mass, momentum, catalysts, etc?

barry-cotter 8y ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assurance_contract https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assurance_contract > An assurance contract, also known as a provision point mechanism, or crowdaction[1], is a game theoretic mechanism and a financial technology that facilitates the voluntary creation of public goods and club goods in the face of collective action problems such as the free rider problem. ... > Dominant assurance contracts, created by Alex Tabarrok, involve an extra component, an entrepreneur who profits when the quorum is reached and pays the signors extra if it is not. If the quorum is not formed, the signors do not pay their share and indeed actively profit from having participated since they keep the money the entrepreneur paid them.

Vinnl 8y ago
There's actually a publisher in the humanities that operates like this! Knowledge Unlatched funds monographs (i.e. books), then academic libraries pay a fee not to access those books, but to have them made available as Open Acess. It's actually been really successful in obtaining funds for open access publishing while circumventing the problem of people not paying for it because others might be: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Unlatched https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Unlatched
smaddox 8y ago
Interesting. So perhaps a non-profit could start a grass-roots crowdaction campaign for all researchers in a field to switch to open-access overnight, and use US contract law to enforce compliance (in the US) if the threshold is reached? There could be some penalty that researchers agree to pay if they renege on the agreement, and that penalty could be contractual. The non-profit could collect donations for marketing, and enforce the transition through legal action (if needed). Any proceeds could go to funding the next research field's crowdaction.

Natanael_L 8y ago

Critical mass, momentum, catalysts, etc?