This post was originally published on this site.
This post is about my upcoming paid community tier, a post I’ll pin for future paid subs to read, and where I am laying out what I want the community space at AIs without minds to be. Get comfy and dig in! If you’re interested in an intentionally built intellectual community, on questions of minds and all things AI, this might just be the perfect space for you. ✨
Why a Community?
I’ve talked to my paid subscribers, and others who closely engage with my work and what I have heard most consistently is that folks want a space to think with others, a space to talk to others about all things AIs and minds. So that’s what’s happening.
I am launching a community space as part of the paid tier. I am thinking of this as a broader project, one that I’ll continue working on.
So this is just the first instalment, and I would love to receive feedback and other suggestions from folks who have ideas about what else they would like to see as part of a paid AIs Without Minds community.
The first instalment is a chat for paid subscribers and monthly zooms where we can discuss whatever ideas, thoughts, or arguments are on peoples minds.
Members will be able to start their own conversations/threads about questions related to all things AIs, minds, and everything in between; reply to each other in substantive, respectful, and genuinely curious ways; meet others, and hopefully, through the chat and monthly lives, form substantive friendships around intellectual issues that deeply matter today.
The monthly zooms are deliberately not Substack lives, where only I am visible. They will be held on zoom so folks have the opportunity to talk to not just me, but to engage with and meet others who are interested in similar issues.
What Kind of Community Space Will This Be?
There is a reason I did not open my chat from day one when I started this newsletter. It’s because I knew that if I did ever build a community space here, I would want to do it intentionally, and in a way that would actually be valuable to my subscribers.
As someone who works in academia, I am deeply aware of how important the shared spaces we have to talk about issues are, and I also know that such spaces are rarely accessible to those who do not have the privilege of pursuing higher education or working at universities and similar institutions.
With that in mind, as I choose to build this community, I want to lay some ground rules for how the space operates. Here they are, and I am always happy to update them and welcome feedback:
(1) this is a space for human thinkers: by this, of course I don’t mean that I am here to police your writing style or AI use, rather that AI slop being copy and pasted into a chat won’t be tolerated. We want to learn from fellow humans in this space, and hear what you think, so your thinking can develop. That’s the point of the community.
(2) if you start a thread about a particular idea/argument/question be sure to stick around to engage with those that respond to your thread. This sets up mutual trust and respect that’s needed in engaging in learning together. Please don’t start several threads at once that you cannot / are not willing to consistently return to and engage with. if the chat is flooded with unfinished threads, it wont be a fun space to engage and learn in.
(3) if you link things to the chat, they need to be explained. No linking your own pieces for self-promotion (sorry, but this is not what this chat is about), and no dumping in memes etc, that are not about generating real conversation and learning.
note: the exception of course, is if you’re working on something and want to share it because you’re stuck on an idea, an argument, etc and would appreciate feedback. But even then, do be mindful of giving as much to the community as you receive in terms of time commitment and effort.
(4) be respectful of peoples contributions and don’t screenshot and share things from that chats. I want this to be a welcoming and good-faith space for people to learn, ask questions, and engage. The chat is restricted to paid members partly because I want this to be a smaller, more intentional space for learning than a public feed.
(5) you do not have to agree with my views in the chat, or with anyone else’s. Disagreement is encouraged, so long as it’s respectful and what is being challenged are ideas and arguments, not people.
(6) its okay to come with half formed thoughts and ideas, but don’t dump into the chat incredibly long chunks of writing without yourself first making sure you have been as succinct as you reasonably can.
(7) Please don’t expect this space to be somewhere where I respond to questions on demand. This is somewhere I will occasionally participate and start threads, but the primary benefit is not access to me, its access to a community of thinkers. If you have specific questions for me, the better place for those is in monthly zooms.
If these rules are consistently violated, I may reach out to you and remove you from the chat. this is in the interest of making sure this space is a place where intentional learning happens. For that to happen, we need community cooperation.
The goal of this space is to allow people to learn to how think better, together, and in community. These rules exist to maintain that, and ill update them accordingly if something isnt working.
We launch today! For paid subscribers, you’re already in. If you’d like to upgrade to the paid tier, now’s an excellent time to do that.
Photo by Карина Низаметдинова on Unsplash
