a platform for connecting thoughts
“think tank” distinction
from: Think Tank reality versus Expectation
Me
What is a think tank?
ChatGPT
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economy, science and technology, and defense. They aim to influence public policy and decision-making through their research and analysis. Think tanks can be affiliated with governments, political groups, or private corporations, and they often publish reports, host conferences, and provide expert commentary on current events. Their goal is typically to serve as a bridge between academic research and policy-making, ensuring that policies are informed by sound research and analysis.
Me
When I imagine the concept of a “think tank” it’s quite a bit different than this. I imagine a group of great thinkers who follow a careful and purposeful (in some cases) method of disecting and exploring an idea and associated ideas. How is this different than what you described and what most people mean when they use the term?
ChatGPT
The concept you’re describing is more aligned with an ideal or philosophical vision of a think tank, focusing on deep, intellectual exploration free from immediate political or commercial pressures. This vision emphasizes rigorous, open-ended inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge and understanding for their own sake, or to achieve broader societal goals, rather than the direct application to policy or advocacy.
In contrast, the common usage of “think tank” refers to organizations that, while they often engage in research and intellectual exploration, are more directly focused on policy analysis and advocacy. These organizations typically aim to apply their findings in a more immediate and practical manner, influencing public policy, legislation, and public opinion. They may still follow methodical approaches to research and idea exploration, but their work is often oriented towards specific, actionable outcomes within the existing political, economic, and social frameworks.
Your vision leans more towards a purist or academic concept of intellectual inquiry, akin to what might be found in certain university departments, research institutes, or philosophical circles, where the pursuit of knowledge is not necessarily tied to immediate practical applications. The distinction lies in the primary objectives and the contexts within which these groups operate: the former being more about influence and application in current systems, and the latter about exploration, understanding, and potentially questioning or reimagining those very systems.
current state of the art
LLM’s
in effect, large bodies of thought are vectorized and “stored” to be queried via natural language
facebook/social media
all interactions on platform are available to platform owner
Mechanical Turk
crowd-source various tasks
“the web”
a giant graph of data
an investment model for the movie industry
what if we knew what kind of movies should be made by querying a graph of people who expressed their movie interests?
what if those who made movies were funded by those who wanted to see them made?
how can this be modelled in a way that helps us understand the outcome while we are theorizing about it?