Asymmetric institution

An asymmetric institution is an institution or mechanism which gives influence asymmetrically based on some property.

Examples of asymmetric institutions

• science: gives status/influence to researchers who generate hypotheses that third parties can replicate; this means that most people's pet theories do not be promoted by science
• betting:
• debate (of the civil/rational kind, not a shouting match):
• charity evaluation based on some strict criteria: GiveWell gains influence by evaluating charities, but it cannot promote any charity it wishes; it can only promote e.g. charities whose interventions perform well under a randomized controlled trial

Examples of symmetric institutions

Symmetric institutions/weapons have the property that the effectiveness does not depend on who is using it (although there are things like offense vs defense issues).

• violence
• shouting match
• spreading viral content
• persuasion tactics
• info warfare

Concerns

Even asymmetric institutions aren't that good. Some thoughts here:

• lots of low hanging fruit remain unpicked / inability to resolve coordination failures (e.g. look at all of the criticisms of science in recent years)
• even asymmetric institutions can be corrupted
• halo effect to areas where these institutions don't have expertise

External links

• Comment by Carl Shulman on "Improving the future by influencing actors' benevolence, intelligence, and power"
• https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/24/guided-by-the-beauty-of-our-weapons/