What happened to Leverage Research?

post by ChristianKl · 2019-09-02T17:45:45.542Z · LW · GW · 1 comment

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At LWCW I heard rumors that Leverage Research stopped existing. What happened? Does anybody have the backstory?

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answer by Ben Pace (Benito) · 2019-09-02T17:58:13.753Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

As I understand it Leverage used to be 20-50 people, and now is ~5 people with all the other people splitting off into separate groups (Paradigm Academy, Reserve, independent etc) and while I think the groups are mostly still friendly toward each other, their independence has increased substantially (e.g. no longer all live together in Oakland).

Not sure if it was funding related (from looking at their website and googling I think Reserve has made ~$4million so far which is not enough to pay the bills for 20-50 staff for more than a year at most, and BERI was generally only funding them in the $25k and $50k range) or internal friction or something that was planned a long time in advance. But that's only public info, I don't know their private funding situation.

comment by habryka (habryka4) · 2019-09-02T18:36:43.159Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Correction, I think it's around 10 people. 

Edit: By that I mean, there are around 10 people left at "Leverage Proper", or more precisely, there are about 10 people (I think it's around 12) left at Leverage + Paradigm Academy, which are now a bunch closer to being separate organizations (i.e. no shared meetings), but are both still under Geoff's direct leadership, and are still located in a bunch of shared buildings. 

Replies from: ChristianKl
comment by ChristianKl · 2019-09-02T18:48:39.677Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Do you mean there are now 10 left in Leverage proper?

Replies from: habryka4
comment by habryka (habryka4) · 2019-09-02T18:54:27.866Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

See edit.

Replies from: elityre
comment by Eli Tyre (elityre) · 2019-09-10T14:32:09.733Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I belive there are 4 members of Leverage (including Geoff), and something like 7 members of Paradigm (including Geoff). Paradigm and Leverage are somewhat more distinct now, than they were over previous years, but are both still headed by Geoff, unlike the other groups, which are meaningfully spun-off.


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comment by Mitchell_Porter · 2019-09-03T10:21:10.562Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I was surprised to see Leverage mentioned, in the recent article "Leaked Emails Show How White Nationalists Have Infiltrated Conservative Media". This is one of those exposés that gets 15 minutes of fame on political Twitter. If I am reading it correctly, one of the protagonists starts at Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller, then founds a neoreactionary webzine, and later joins Leverage.