Will the project "Better Debates" receive receive any funding from the Clearer Thinking Regranting program run by ClearerThinking.org?

Below, you can find some selected quotes from the public copy of the application. The text beneath each heading was written by the applicant. Alternatively, you can click here to see the entire public portion of their application.

Why the applicant thinks we should fund this project

If you aren’t familiar with Kialo, please watch this 2-minute explainer video before reading on. The intention is to use this as an alternative to the [EA Forum] specifically for authors contributing to key debates with big implications  (e.g. randomista vs systemic change)

Collective rationality is the lifeblood of EA. Kialo facilitates it best. Below are some of EA’s biggest issues, and how Kialo can alleviate them.

1. Important arguments on key debates are scattered about the internet.

   • Kialo groups all contributions to a given debate into a single easily navigable page.
     

2. There is no efficient way of locating counterarguments of interest.

   • Kialo reveals all counterarguments with a single click.

3. The attention posts receive depend on factors that have little to do with the convincingness of the arguments contained within.

   • Kialo ranks points solely by their user-rated convincingness; the best rise to prominence
     

4. Bad points in otherwise good posts and good points in otherwise bad posts are given inappropriate levels of attention

   • Kialo breaks arguments into logically distinct pieces. Weak surroundings cannot drag down strong points, nor can strong surroundings drag up weak points. They rise or fall on their merits alone.
     

5. EAs tend to write verbosely and use excessive jargon. It’s thus costly for readers to extract information.

   • Moderators work with authors to distil their writing to be clear, concise and situated appropriately within the debate’s logical structure

How much funding are they requesting?

$50,000

What would they do with the amount specified?

1. Recruit and train the project manager

2. Recruit moderators who are experienced with Kialo to consult

3. Narrow down our shortlist of theses and select one to use for an MVP

4. Conduct the beta test, survey users, and thoroughly examine the results

5. Iterate systematically until we’re happy with it

6. If all goes to plan, take the debate public 

7. Advertise it on Slack, Discord, the EA forum, and the EA Subreddit 

8. Reach out to high-profile EAs to take part

9. Use the Ten Conditions of Change Framework to systematically address barriers to increased user engagement

10. Survey users and conduct a thorough analysis of our outcome measures

11. If the results are promising, we’ll form a plan for how best to scale and start executing!

Here you can review the entire public portion of the application (which contains a lot more information about the applicant and their project):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pTJwmT4b5kJ5_Nhsha_EpXaLhlfPd8VAL67rTjL56PU/edit#