The Forecasting Revolution
Just as Philip Tetlock discovered dramatic differences in forecasting ability that transformed political prediction, we believe exceptional research forecasters exist in machine learning. These researchers can predict not just whether a hypothesized solution will work, but how well it will perform—potentially revolutionizing how we conduct research by filtering promising ideas before costly implementation.
Core Research Questions
Expert Identification
Are there researchers in machine learning whose skill in predicting experiment effectiveness and generating solutions enables a fundamentally different research process?
Idea Filtration
Can high-quality forecasters dramatically reduce time to progress by predicting which experiment ideas are likely to perform well before implementation?
Risk Assessment
How do we balance filtering out predictably weak ideas while preserving breakthrough discoveries that conflict with expert intuitions?
Forecasting Methodology
Our approach builds on Tetlock's superforecasting principles, adapted for research prediction:
Training Protocol
Duration: 1-2 hour forecasting course
Method: Randomized control trial with trained vs. untrained researchers
Prediction Targets
Benchmark progress, specific experiment outcomes, and research trend forecasting using recent published results with unknown outcomes.
Implementation Roadmap
Forecasting Tournament
Kaggle-style competition with leaderboards tracking the most effective research predictors, with potential financial incentives and market mechanisms.
Expert Collaboration
Partnership opportunities with Philip Tetlock for forecasting methodology and Ray Kurzweil for long-term AI prediction expertise.
Market Applications
Infrastructure for selling predictions to VCs and feeding technological forecasts into stock trading algorithms for breakthrough technologies.
Join the Research
Take the Prediction Quiz
Test your current forecasting abilities by predicting research outcomes on recent ML papers with established benchmarks.
Complete Forecasting Training
Participate in our 1-2 hour superforecasting course covering reference class comparison, decomposition, and calibration techniques.
Join Prediction Tournament
Compete in ongoing forecasting challenges to identify the most skilled research predictors and validate forecasting effectiveness.
Apply to Real Research
High-performing forecasters can begin making predictions on unimplemented experiment ideas to accelerate research progress.
The Vision
Just as medicine transformed from ignorance and confidence in the 1800s to evidence-based practice, research prediction can evolve from intuition to systematic forecasting. We're building the infrastructure to identify exceptional research forecasters and revolutionize how scientific progress is made.