Research
Research
$`100,000
Target
Why Support Leverage Research?
For many years, Leverage Research brought together thinkers, researchers, and entrepreneurs to create a multifaceted intellectual and cultural environment. Our belief was that by creating the conditions for open inquiry, challenged and supported by others doing the same, we could maximize research progress on a number of key questions in the social sciences.
The result was both a huge stockpile of research and the lasting conviction that through design, planning, and care, it is possible to figure out new things about the world.
We’ve started publishing and speaking about our previous research in a variety of forms, and we’re looking forward to sharing more. At the same time, we now have exciting new programs devoted to answering further important questions and applying the results of our past work.
By donating to Leverage Research today, you can support people who help to make new endeavors possible, and contribute to a world where the responsible development of science and technology leads to flourishing and prosperity for all.
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For many years, Leverage Research brought together thinkers, researchers, and entrepreneurs to create a multifaceted intellectual and cultural environment. Our belief was that by creating the conditions for open inquiry, challenged and supported by others doing the same, we could maximize research progress on a number of key questions in the social sciences.
The result was both a huge stockpile of research and the lasting conviction that through design, planning, and care, it is possible to figure out new things about the world.
We’ve started publishing and speaking about our previous research in a variety of forms, and we’re looking forward to sharing more. At the same time, we now have exciting new programs devoted to answering further important questions and applying the results of our past work.
By donating to Leverage Research today, you can support people who help to make new endeavors possible, and contribute to a world where the responsible development of science and technology leads to flourishing and prosperity for all.
Our Programs
History of Science
Many people have raised concerns about scientific stagnation, and some have proposed that we study science itself as a solution. We think the best way to study science is through the history of successful sciences, i.e., the history of discovery. Through in-depth case studies on major discoveries in the history of successful sciences, we believe it is possible to make it easier to learn how to make new breakthroughs today.
Exploratory Psychology
Much of the institute’s earlier work was in psychology, studying and mapping out parts of the human mind. The tools and practices we developed were adequate for a team of 15-20 researchers to engage in a far-reaching exploration of the structure of both the conscious and unconscious mind. Now we’ve released open-source versions of the tools we developed and are building an external community of researchers to test our hypotheses and run new experiments of their own.
Bottlenecks in Science and Technology
Over the past decade, we’ve heard competing narratives about scientific and technological progress from singularity to stagnation. Through our Bottlenecks in Science and Technology initiative, we work with others to answer questions about how much progress is really being made and see how we can make progress faster. We examine how fields are built, and what the social, institutional, and technical bottlenecks are and how to break them.
2022 Winter Fundraiser
Leverage Research is running another public fundraiser!
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Our work supports responsible scientific advance, particularly building fields which are in the early stages of scientific development, by:
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Studying how successful fields developed in the past, particularly in the early stages, through our History of Science Program,
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Seeking to build new fields ourselves such as our work exploratory psychology introspection research over the last decade and,
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Supporting external efforts to build fields and break bottlenecks in science and technology through our Bottlenecks Program​.
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We want to ensure that we are incentivized to develop a broad base of support for the institute, our work, and any scientific advances we encourage. And so, as part of our commitment to responsible scientific development and public engagement, we have a self-imposed limit on the donations we receive from the majority of donors ($10,000 per individual or $50,000 per organization).
Following the success of our 2021 Winter Fundraiser, this year we have raised our fundraising target to $150,000.
We greatly appreciate any support you can offer, including small donations, and messages of support by email. or on social media.
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If you value our approach, our vision, or our work consider donating today.
Below you will find further information on our programs and our work in 2022. We will continue to add information to this page as the fundraiser progresses. If you have any questions about our fundraisers or our work please get in touch.
Our Work in 2022
2022 has been an exciting year for the institute. We've had papers accepted for publication in history of science journals, released our open-source introspection tools, and organized a Bottlenecks event on field building in Iceland.
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Our Programs in 2022
Studying Early Stage Science
History of Science
Over the last year, we have published a case study (with accompanying research highlights) on Franklinian theory making the case that the popularity of Franklin's fluid theory of electricity came from its relative simplicity, immediate applications, and his familiarity with Enlightenment audiences, rather than the theories explanatory power. We are close to completing research into Hauksbee and the experimental characterization of electric light. The degree of continuity between Hauksbee's air pump and his earlier work with medical instruments has been interesting. Like the lens grinders whose work led to the creation of telescopes and microscopes, Hauksbee's designs for cupping instruments paved the way for critical developments in air pump technology. Finally we have had two papers accepted for publication; “The Muscle-Readers, a Historical Sketch” in the journal Seeds of Science and a paper transcribing and translating several previously unpublished letters from the Leyden jar’s creator, Ewald von Kleist in Lias.
Exploratory Psychology
The goal of our Exploratory Psychology Program is to disseminate those research tools to external researchers to conduct their own investigations and test our hypotheses. In 2022, we launched an Introspection Research Community on Discord, open-sourcing our tools, methods, and frameworks and inviting external researchers and explorers to see what they can use our tools to discover. This included an Introduction to Belief Reporting, a report on Chart Logic & Core Mechanics, and a paper on Introspection Safety. Earlier in the year, we published a 37-page introduction to “intention research,” a subject we investigated especially during the last two years of Leverage 1.0 from 2017 - 2019, supplemented a brief piece entitled The Muscle-Readers, a Historical Sketch which covers in greater depth one of the antecedents to intention research we found in the history of psychology.
Bottlenecks in Science and Technology
At our first Bottlenecks event, we convened researchers, funders, and institution builders to ask the question: “What are the bottlenecks to scientific and technological progress, and how can we break them?” This year, we’re going to the ON Power geothermal exhibition outside Reykjavik, Iceland—with a tour of the ClimeWorks carbon capture facility—to examine the question: “How are new fields built?” By looking at the challenges to field-building in multiple different fields, we’ll hope to learn general lessons and find new specific ways forward. The Bottlenecks 2022 workshop will be held on Dec 3-4 so we will have more to share about the event over the coming months. If you have any questions about the event, please contact us at contact@leverageresearch.org.
Institute Development
Strategy, Supporters & More
Community and Public Engagement
As part of our ongoing efforts to help more people understand our work, we published introductory pieces on the Leverage Research Medium account and began sharing a lot more updates on Twitter. More recently we have been working to develop more of a network and content for our supporters by launching the Inside Leverage Substack and a Discord community for our supporters. The substack provides a peek behind the curtain at the ideas and concepts shaping our work and the research we have forthcoming, bringing readers along with us as we continue our work in neglected fields. On our Discord, supporters discuss hidden areas of knowledge, psychology, sociology, introspection, the history of science, the role of science in society, bottlenecks in science and technology, metascience, scientific methodology, and more.
Strategy
Leverage Research makes choices about which projects to run and which areas to study on the basis of its assessment of the strategic landscape, including global conditions and risks, the health of institutions, and research opportunities in different fields. To help our supporters understand our strategy, this year we gave a public talk and released an internal strategy update summarizing the institute’s current approach to improving the world, how it has changed over the last decade, and commentary on the ideas that feed into the areas the institute prioritizes.
Team
Finally, this year we welcomed two new people to the team—Melinda Bradley, our new Events and Operations Manager, and Oliver Carefull one of the original founding members of Leverage Research in 2011 who returns to the institute as a Research Communicator and Head of Culture—and ran our first team retreat in Austin.
What We Need and Ways You Can Help
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We are a small team, just five people at present. We have, as yet, a small budget. But those familiar with history know that great things can come from small beginnings, and people familiar with our history know that we can build up to something powerful, meaningful, and good.
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Following the success of last year's winter fundraiser, this year, we have increased our target to $150,000. We continue our self-imposed limit on maximum donations from individuals ($10,000) and organizations ($50,000) because we want to ensure that we are incentivized to build broad support for the institute, our work, our ethos, and any scientific advances we encourage.
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If you have find our work valuable and would like to support our future efforts, consider donating during our winter fundraiser.
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