Design principle: conditional kickstarters

tl;dr: You can pledge to join a big protest to ban AGI research at ifanyonebuildsit.com/march, which only triggers if 100,000 people sign up.

The If Anyone Builds It website includes a March page, wherein you can pledge to march in Washington DC, demanding an international treaty to stop AGI research if 100,000 people in total also pledge.

I designed the March page (although am not otherwise involved with March decisionmaking), and want to pitch people on signing up for the "March Kickstarter."

It's not obvious that small protests do anything, or are worth the effort. But, I think 100,000 people marching in DC would be quite valuable because it showcases "AI x-risk is not a fringe concern. If you speak out about it, you are not being a lonely dissident, you are representing a substantial mass of people."

The current version of the March page is designed around the principle that "conditional kickstarters are cheap." MIRI might later decide to push hard on the March, and maybe then someone will bid for people to come who are on the fence.

For now, I mostly wanted to say: if you're the sort of person who would fairly obviously come to [...]

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Outline:

(01:54) Probably expect a design/slogan reroll

(03:10) FAQ

(03:13) Whats the goal of the Dont Build It march?

(03:24) Why?

(03:55) Why do you think that?

(04:22) Why does the pledge only take effect if 100,000 people pledge to march?

(04:56) What do you mean by international treaty?

(06:00) How much notice will there be for the actual march?

(06:14) What if I dont want to commit to marching in D.C. yet?

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First published:
February 2nd, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/HnwDWxRPzRrBfJSBD/conditional-kickstarter-for-the-don-t-build-it-march

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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