Apollo, or Apollo Center/Hall/House/etc. God of “archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the sun and light, poetry, and more,” a “protector of the young” (appropriate given the university setting), and of course the namesake of the NASA mission, so a space connection. Maybe “Apollo Harvard Square” or something?
Related: Athenaeum, which leans into the academic setting, the classical references throughout Harvard Square (street named “Appian Way,” classical-inspired architecture in the Yard), and is a common name for libraries/centers of knowledge. Could also be “Harvard Square Athenaeum”
Arete or Agathon, both of which mean some combination of excellence, integrity, and wisdom and are already the names of Harvard EA programs (which I think is good). (For some reason I like stuff that starts with an A; seems lively and high-priority.)
Prospect. Looking-forward, which is nice given the location overlooking Harvard Square, longtermist/futuristic but in a horizon-scanning risk-aware way, and hopeful. “Prospect” as a noun has lots of meanings, all of which seem like good connotations, which is nice.
Paradigm.
Petrov Center, Petrov Hall, Petrov House
Parfit Center, Parfit Hall, Parfit House
Aphelion.
Georgian House. “George” honors Henry George, the brilliant economist and philosopher that I’d consider a proto-EA (and whose adherents are way overrepresented in EA), and Curious George, since the world’s only Curious George store was formerly in the same building (and the building is known as the “Curious George building” among alumni and longtime residents). Also a strong Harvard connection, as Georgian is the architectural style of the Yard and the official font of the university.
The noun “Crossing” seems pretty good, since it’s right in the square. Brattle Crossing, Kennedy Crossing, Apollo/Athena/Prospect/Petrov/Parfit Crossing, etc.
I like Beacon from aL’s comment and Aperture from Linch’s. I would like Supercluster (and Andromeda) but seems too similar to Constellation
Harvard Square Horizon. Sounds a bit like a daycare, but horizons are very apt for what we do
Knowledge Commons, as in “Common Knowledge,” though maybe this is like, too on the nose.
[Name] + [Center/House] might give the impression that the building is dedicated to the study of [Name]’s work.
+1 to crossing as a second word in the name.
Aperture is maybe too close to Aperture Science from Portal? could be ironic (“we do what we must, because we can”)
rip Curious George store, but Georgian is an architectural adjective already so it probably wouldn’t be prioritized in a search for”Georgian house”. Similarly, a lot of good names collide with Cambridge street names (Beacon, Prospect, Athens, etc.) so the search term “[Name] office cambridge” wouldn’t be so nice for us.
Also I don’t think the first point is correct. Does anyone think the Barker Center is dedicated to the study of whoever Barker is? Or William James Hall to William James? Or the various Harvard houses dedicated to the study of their namesakes?
Also “Georgian house” currently returns zero search results in the area.
elaboration on the first point—my initial arg is pretty weak. the more pressing concern is that i think names can sometimes be read as a casual endorsement, continuation of a legacy, or a reward for sponsorship (neither of which makes sense for us).
names attract more side-eyeing. Lowell house is constantly under fire because Abbott Lawrence Lowell was racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic; Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been adopted as a rejection of Columbus; etc. i don’t want to deal w problems because Petrov was a USSR soldier. William James was also a progenitor of all modern psych and a Harvard prof, which doesn’t really parallel well w/ using Parfit in the name for us. Safer route is to not use names, when equally good non-proper nouns exist.
i’m more concerned w/ “georgian house” as a general term; it seems odd because it’s like calling a building “art deco house”.
I’ve heard this street name objection a few times (from Kaleem also) and it doesn’t make sense to me. Locations are named after the same thing extremely frequently!! Google “Kirkland House.” You find Kirkland House. Kirkland Street, about half a mile away, does not come up. Google “Quincy House.” You find Quincy House, not Quincy Street, which is even closer. I have never heard of somebody looking for Kirkland House or Quincy House winding up on Kirkland Street or Quincy Street instead. People do not get confused because Dunster House is not on Dunster Street, nor because Eliot House is not on Eliot Street. Nearby things are named after common namesakes all the time. The Charles Hotel and The Charles River do not mess up each other’s SEO. This seems like very strong evidence that this will not happen if we name it Prospect when there’s also a Prospect Street!
“lightcone ea” → other lightcone groups first, though it does get mentioned (not linked) on first page
“lightcone berkeley” → 3rd option
“lightcone longtermism” → ding ding ding
“lightcone infrastructure” → ding ding ding
and i think lightcone is a great name! so we’ll probably have problems w/ SEO but also if it’s not something that could draw in newbies (“will macaskill”, “ea” (oof, still can’t beat Electronic Arts), or “precipice book”) we probably shouldn’t axe a decent name because of that.
Roughly in order of my preferences:
Apollo, or Apollo Center/Hall/House/etc. God of “archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the sun and light, poetry, and more,” a “protector of the young” (appropriate given the university setting), and of course the namesake of the NASA mission, so a space connection. Maybe “Apollo Harvard Square” or something?
Related: Athenaeum, which leans into the academic setting, the classical references throughout Harvard Square (street named “Appian Way,” classical-inspired architecture in the Yard), and is a common name for libraries/centers of knowledge. Could also be “Harvard Square Athenaeum”
Arete or Agathon, both of which mean some combination of excellence, integrity, and wisdom and are already the names of Harvard EA programs (which I think is good). (For some reason I like stuff that starts with an A; seems lively and high-priority.)
Prospect. Looking-forward, which is nice given the location overlooking Harvard Square, longtermist/futuristic but in a horizon-scanning risk-aware way, and hopeful. “Prospect” as a noun has lots of meanings, all of which seem like good connotations, which is nice.
Paradigm.
Petrov Center, Petrov Hall, Petrov House
Parfit Center, Parfit Hall, Parfit House
Aphelion.
Georgian House. “George” honors Henry George, the brilliant economist and philosopher that I’d consider a proto-EA (and whose adherents are way overrepresented in EA), and Curious George, since the world’s only Curious George store was formerly in the same building (and the building is known as the “Curious George building” among alumni and longtime residents). Also a strong Harvard connection, as Georgian is the architectural style of the Yard and the official font of the university.
The noun “Crossing” seems pretty good, since it’s right in the square. Brattle Crossing, Kennedy Crossing, Apollo/Athena/Prospect/Petrov/Parfit Crossing, etc.
I like Beacon from aL’s comment and Aperture from Linch’s. I would like Supercluster (and Andromeda) but seems too similar to Constellation
Harvard Square Horizon. Sounds a bit like a daycare, but horizons are very apt for what we do
Knowledge Commons, as in “Common Knowledge,” though maybe this is like, too on the nose.
Maybe not Paradigm...
Oof, good point
[Name] + [Center/House] might give the impression that the building is dedicated to the study of [Name]’s work.
+1 to crossing as a second word in the name.
Aperture is maybe too close to Aperture Science from Portal? could be ironic (“we do what we must, because we can”)
rip Curious George store, but Georgian is an architectural adjective already so it probably wouldn’t be prioritized in a search for”Georgian house”. Similarly, a lot of good names collide with Cambridge street names (Beacon, Prospect, Athens, etc.) so the search term “[Name] office cambridge” wouldn’t be so nice for us.
Also I don’t think the first point is correct. Does anyone think the Barker Center is dedicated to the study of whoever Barker is? Or William James Hall to William James? Or the various Harvard houses dedicated to the study of their namesakes?
Also “Georgian house” currently returns zero search results in the area.
elaboration on the first point—my initial arg is pretty weak. the more pressing concern is that i think names can sometimes be read as a casual endorsement, continuation of a legacy, or a reward for sponsorship (neither of which makes sense for us).
names attract more side-eyeing. Lowell house is constantly under fire because Abbott Lawrence Lowell was racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic; Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been adopted as a rejection of Columbus; etc. i don’t want to deal w problems because Petrov was a USSR soldier. William James was also a progenitor of all modern psych and a Harvard prof, which doesn’t really parallel well w/ using Parfit in the name for us. Safer route is to not use names, when equally good non-proper nouns exist.
i’m more concerned w/ “georgian house” as a general term; it seems odd because it’s like calling a building “art deco house”.
I agree with this point
I’ve heard this street name objection a few times (from Kaleem also) and it doesn’t make sense to me. Locations are named after the same thing extremely frequently!! Google “Kirkland House.” You find Kirkland House. Kirkland Street, about half a mile away, does not come up. Google “Quincy House.” You find Quincy House, not Quincy Street, which is even closer. I have never heard of somebody looking for Kirkland House or Quincy House winding up on Kirkland Street or Quincy Street instead. People do not get confused because Dunster House is not on Dunster Street, nor because Eliot House is not on Eliot Street. Nearby things are named after common namesakes all the time. The Charles Hotel and The Charles River do not mess up each other’s SEO. This seems like very strong evidence that this will not happen if we name it Prospect when there’s also a Prospect Street!
yeah, if there are secondary filter words, seems fine. though harvard houses have the advantage of notoriety
quick non-exhaustive duckduckgoing (less google optimization)
“prospect harvard” → https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/prospect/ and https://psll.bwh.harvard.edu/prospect/
“prospect harvard square” → no strong signal. SEO friendly.
“prospect cambridge” → cambridge dictionary and prospect st stuff.
“prospect office” → location dependent w/ collisions in NYC but not many in Boston (tho some dental offices)
“prospect office cambridge” → dental group, other misc stuff. SEO friendly.
but probably closer to the question of “does it matter” is to do the same searches w/ lightcone
“lightcone” → wiki for light cone, other stuff
“lightcone offices” OR organization OR company → https://lightcone.org/en, https://lightcone.com/, etc. but it does show up! (including this because they seem like likely guesses at a second word)
“lightcone ea” → other lightcone groups first, though it does get mentioned (not linked) on first page
“lightcone berkeley” → 3rd option
“lightcone longtermism” → ding ding ding
“lightcone infrastructure” → ding ding ding
and i think lightcone is a great name! so we’ll probably have problems w/ SEO but also if it’s not something that could draw in newbies (“will macaskill”, “ea” (oof, still can’t beat Electronic Arts), or “precipice book”) we probably shouldn’t axe a decent name because of that.
Yeah, I guess it’s not clear how important SEO is. We can also just tell people the address!
Yeah I think “Bright Horizons” is a well-known daycare chain