bridging inferential gaps to defeat bounded rationality

co-founder of the simon institute for longterm governance. we do frontier ai diplomacy—helping china and the west exchange on ai governance, making frontier developments understood across geopolitical fault-lines.

in practice: we supply diplomats, policymakers and international civil servants to with the technical expertise and diplomatic insight on frontier AI that they need to make better decisions and write better texts. the goal is productive communication between those building the most powerful technology in history and those tasked with governing its impacts—across jurisdictions that don't (yet) believe they have shared goals.

we started in biosecurity policy before covid—organizing side events at the biological weapons convention, designing tabletop exercises, modelling attention dynamics. when covid validated our unique value add, we launched the institute. then chatgpt validated our focus on ai. now a team of 10 operating at the intersection of technical governance and intercultural exchange.

the path here

i discovered ea in 2013 online as i had just gone vegan and was looking for clear thinkers. started ea geneva in 2015, then relaunched ea switzerland in 2017. dropped out of university in 2016 after getting funded for community building. ran 100s of workshops, retreats, interviews and coaching sessions with policymakers and students seeking to understand impact, rationality. co-founded the simon institute in 2021 with max stauffer, who became my flatmate in 2015, too, since we were both too excited about each other to stop talking.

some related writing

building our village in the city

fractalgva is our neighborhood project in geneva's eaux-vives. we are motivating our favorite people to move within walking distance to serendipitously generate scenius. friends move closer, events self-organize, and the city starts to feel like a durable home base.

previously, i dropped out of uni and rebuilt effective altruism switzerland. the strategy here is the same: identify the ambitious outliers, facilitate encounters, and watch what happens.

what we run

selecting, connecting, dancing

i occasionally curate music and weave it together -- from techno to hip hop and jazz -- mostly for myself to enjoy, and sometimes at friends' parties. here are my two favorite recorded sessions. it continues playing in the background as you explore the rest of the page. even 4 years later i'm exceptionally happy with the first one. it has been noted as "characteristically konrad rave energy." i only prepared the first 90 secs and then improvised. the second one is a booty shaker with a bit more mass appeal, according to the play count.

artists & music i love

thinking out loud

ideas that i keep coming back to. i mostly write about them on twitter, and maybe in the future more on substack.

20 books i keep coming back to

corners of the internet i keep returning to

blogs, podcasts, essays, and other things that shaped how i think.

personal lore

the rough arc, then some details.

fun facts

some background on what might have made me me

photo archive

i have no mental imagery and am trying to get better at taking photos and sharing them. this is 10y on instagram (2014–2024), which i abandoned but exported all my data from.