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Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

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Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#71

Post by NationalPark »

nerdponx wrote: post #21
NationalPark wrote: post #11

Having worked with academics before, the biggest problem you will face is not having enough prestige to attract "great minds". You're probably off on the money too - academics will expect to be able to buy a comfortable house and support a family on your stipend, not live on ramen like a startup. They're a fickle bunch, but very rewarding to work with!

I don't think it's fickle to want to make a decent living from your hard-earned and valuable skills.

Of course! I only meant that (in my experience) academics tend to be headstrong and idiosyncratic, they don't always respond to incentives the way you might expect.

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#72

Post by azhenley »

barry-cotter wrote: post #19
NationalPark wrote: post #11

Having worked with academics before, the biggest problem you will face is not having enough prestige to attract "great minds". You're probably off on the money too - academics will expect to be able to buy a comfortable house and support a family on your stipend, not live on ramen like a startup. They're a fickle bunch, but very rewarding to work with!

You’re describing academics who have already made it, people who got tenure. There are plenty of really minted PhDs who would be quite happy to move to the arse of nowhere for a postdoc with no teaching duties. The competition for academic posts is intense in every field I’m aware of and the outside options are not great except in fields where a Bachelor’s is an excellent choice already. You could afford at least fiv…

In the US, it is hard to recruit postdocs unless you are at a top 10 school (I tried several times). Potential postdocs are largely incentivized by: (1) name recognition of their mentor since their letter and networking will get them their next job and (2) the likelihood of getting top-tier publications. Also, they get a decent salary and health insurance in engineering fields.

A brand new research institute does none of these things for them. I don't see why a fresh PhD would choose this over either FAANG or a university.

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#73

Post by villasv »

kordlessagain wrote: post #68

> End goal as of now: assemble a few great minds, give them the space to work rent-free in a region with good academic infrastructure, ideally let them collaborate, watch the beauty of it. My advice is not to expect others to do the work for rent and a “stipend”. This isn’t a game. AI done wrong will be the end of us.

It's not like we will carelessly stumble upon world-ending technology. This is not a sci-fi movie.

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#74

Post by _gsgc »

tlb wrote: post #2

I'm interested in doing something like this too, with a research focus on robotics, simulation, and programming languages. The big dichotomy in research orgs is whether you need resources beyond researcher stipends. Robotics usually does, and programming language research usually doesn't. OpenAI does -- both computing resources and infrastructure team salaries. Make sure you know which kind you're starting. Another d…

I do not see your email in your profile. (Not OP, but really interested to talk about starting a research institute)

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#75

Post by boringg »

_gsgc wrote: post #44

Hi. I went through this journey myself. I have a CS master degree, and always wanted to transition into AI research (focus on probabilistic programming, deep learning and self-play, but also simulation, learning-to-learn, bayesian inference, genetic algorithms). The initial plan was to self-learn machine learning, deep learning and statistics. I did that for 1 year, with the hope of joining on of the big AI labs afte…

2500x returns in 14 months - that averages to an astounding 178x returns monthly.

* If this is true * - it sounds like maybe the best return the markets have ever seen which I would imagine would be the luck of investing at the base of the pandemic and enjoying the inflation since then.

[edit]: manners were missing: * if this is true * - congrats on your run and hopefully those research dollars develop some interesting finds.

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#76

Post by hooande »

nerdponx wrote: post #21
NationalPark wrote: post #11

Having worked with academics before, the biggest problem you will face is not having enough prestige to attract "great minds". You're probably off on the money too - academics will expect to be able to buy a comfortable house and support a family on your stipend, not live on ramen like a startup. They're a fickle bunch, but very rewarding to work with!

I don't think it's fickle to want to make a decent living from your hard-earned and valuable skills.

It often makes sense to delay gratification. Like working with someone who is very well known in the field for little pay, knowing that their backing will give you many more opportunities in the future than a job that pays more now. Same is true of many startups. You make less than you would working for a FAANG company, but the experience and social connections can be worth far more in the future. It's definitely a personal decision

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#77

Post by tlb »

boringg wrote: post #75
_gsgc wrote: post #44

Hi. I went through this journey myself. I have a CS master degree, and always wanted to transition into AI research (focus on probabilistic programming, deep learning and self-play, but also simulation, learning-to-learn, bayesian inference, genetic algorithms). The initial plan was to self-learn machine learning, deep learning and statistics. I did that for 1 year, with the hope of joining on of the big AI labs afte…

2500x returns in 14 months - that averages to an astounding 178x returns monthly. * If this is true * - it sounds like maybe the best return the markets have ever seen which I would imagine would be the luck of investing at the base of the pandemic and enjoying the inflation since then. [edit]: manners were missing: * if this is true * - congrats on your run and hopefully those research dollars develop some interesti…

It's actually 1.75x monthly. 1.75^14 == 2500.

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#78

Post by moritonal »

_gsgc wrote: post #44

Hi. I went through this journey myself. I have a CS master degree, and always wanted to transition into AI research (focus on probabilistic programming, deep learning and self-play, but also simulation, learning-to-learn, bayesian inference, genetic algorithms). The initial plan was to self-learn machine learning, deep learning and statistics. I did that for 1 year, with the hope of joining on of the big AI labs afte…

Very impressive and congratulations for playing the game right, but the idea that 3% of all crypto use is from 5 people in SF ratifies a lot of my negative beliefs about the crypto world.

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#79

Post by codekilla »

_gsgc wrote: post #44

Hi. I went through this journey myself. I have a CS master degree, and always wanted to transition into AI research (focus on probabilistic programming, deep learning and self-play, but also simulation, learning-to-learn, bayesian inference, genetic algorithms). The initial plan was to self-learn machine learning, deep learning and statistics. I did that for 1 year, with the hope of joining on of the big AI labs afte…

I also have tried starting a research institute (eonias.org), and am a member of ronininstitute.org. I’d be happy to have conversations with anyone interested in setting up an institute: grant@eonias.org (my name).

Re: Ask HN: Anybody Started a Research Institute?

#80

Post by boringg »

tlb wrote: post #77
boringg wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2500x returns in 14 months - that averages to an astounding 178x returns monthly. * If this is true * - it sounds like maybe the best return the markets have ever seen which I would imagine would be the luck of investing at the base of the pandemic and enjoying the inflation since then. [edit]: manners were missing: * if this is true * - congrats on your run and hopefully those research dollars develop some interesti…

It's actually 1.75x monthly. 1.75^14 == 2500.

Was doing a flat average not compounding.
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