Developing clear thinking for the sake of humanity’s future

Dec 20, 2019 - Timothy Telleen-Lawton

CFAR Newsletter (December 2019)

Hello from CFAR! Here’s a look at what we did during the past few months and what we’re planning for the next few. We’re also in the middle of our year-end fundraiser, including an AMA we’re holding right now on LessWrong until 10am tomorrow; check out our fundraiser page to see a broader look at the last two years and the next one, or to donate! What We Did Mainline...

Financial Overview: 2018-2020

Note: This document is intended as an informal, easily-readable overview of CFAR’s income and expenses in 2018 and 2019, and of our financial projections for 2020. You can view our 2019 Independent Auditor’s Report here, and our most recent 990 here. 2018 Income In 2018, CFAR1 received approximately $2.2 million in revenue. Half this sum came in the form of general support from BERI (the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative), $800k...

CFAR Newsletter (August 2019)

Hello from CFAR! Read on to learn about our busy summer, as well as what we’ve got planned for the fall. What We Did Instructor Training We’ve completed the first phase of our 2019 Instructor Training Program! We’re now moving on to the second (and final) phase with 20 instructor candidates. Staff will be working with these candidates as they continue various “quests”—mastering and improving core parts of CFAR’s curriculum,...

CFAR Newsletter (May 2019)

Hello from CFAR! It’s springtime in Berkeley and we’re gearing up for a busy summer. Here’s a look at what we did during the past few months and what we’re planning for the next few. What We Did Alumni Double Crux Workshop In January, a few staff members joined Eli Tyre in Bodega Bay as he led an experimental alumni workshop on the Double Crux technique. We invited a dozen...

CFAR Newsletter (January 2019)

Happy New Year! With 2019 under way, we’d like to share some updates from the past few months and plans for the coming year. Updates Harm in the Community Last year, allegations of serious harm were brought against an alumnus and community member. Since then, CFAR has been focused on understanding what happened, what mistakes we made in this case, and how we can reduce the risks of a range...

CFAR Newsletter (August 2018)

Hello, everyone! With the summer coming to an end here in Berkeley, we’d like to share some of what CFAR has been up to and where we’re headed. Updates Permanent venue After a few months of intense renovating, designing, and decorating led by Adam Scholl, Luke Raskopf and Adom Hartell, CFAR’s permanent venue in Bodega Bay is up and running! A big thank you goes to the alumni and volunteers...

Workshops

CFAR's 4.5 day immersive retreats, where we teach and train techniques for forming accurate beliefs, navigating intellectual disagreement, making better use of our internal advisors, developing non-self-deceptive motivation, and building the habit of getting things done.

Upcoming Workshops

Information on upcoming 4-day workshops

March 4 - March 8, 2020

SF Bay Area

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Common Questions

Frequently asked questions

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Reviews

"I went to the July workshop. I think it was probably the most useful week of my life in terms of exposure to things I could be doing to be more productive and effective."

— Ben Toner, CEO of Draftable

"As a founder of a company with a similar mission to CFAR’s – making people more awesome – ... CFAR’s Rationality for Entrepreneurs workshop did not disappoint."

— Daniel Reeves, Co-Founder of Beeminder

Number of workshop alumni

1317 and counting

Average participant rating based on the question "Are you glad you came?"

9.2 out of 10

Increased life satisfaction

0.17σ after 1 year