I think a sort-of relevant collection can be found in the answers to this question about theory of change diagrams. And those answers also include other relevant discussion, like the pros and cons of trying to create and diagrammatically represent explicit theories of change. (A theory of change diagram wonât necessarily exactly meet your criteria, in the sense that it may backchain from an instrumental rather than intrinsic goal, but itâs sort-of close.)
I think Leverageâs diagram might be the closest thing I know of to a fairly granular backchaining from oneâs ultimate goals. It also seems to me quite unwieldyâI spent a while trying to read it once, but it felt annoying to navigate and hard to really get the overall gist of. (That was just my personal take, though.)
One could also argue that Toby Ordâs âgrand strategy for humanityâ[1] is a very low-granularity instance of backchaining from oneâs ultimate goals. And it becomes more granular once one connects the first step of the grand strategy to other specific recommendations Ord makes in The Precipice.
(I know you and I have already discussed some of this; this comment was partly for other potential readersâ sake.)
[1] For readers who havenât read The Precipice, Ordâs quick summary of the grand strategy is as follows:
I think that at the highest level we should adopt a strategy proceeding in three phases:
Reaching Existential Security
The Long Reflection
Achieving Our Potential
The book contains many more details on these terms and this strategy, of course.
I think a sort-of relevant collection can be found in the answers to this question about theory of change diagrams. And those answers also include other relevant discussion, like the pros and cons of trying to create and diagrammatically represent explicit theories of change. (A theory of change diagram wonât necessarily exactly meet your criteria, in the sense that it may backchain from an instrumental rather than intrinsic goal, but itâs sort-of close.)
The answers in that post include links to theory of change diagrams from Animal Charity Evaluators (p.15), Convergence Analysis, Happier Lives Institute, Leverage Research, MIRI, and Rethink Priorities. Those are the only 6 research orgs I know of which have theory of change diagrams. (But that question was just about research orgs, and having such diagrams might be somewhat more common among non-research organisations.)
I think Leverageâs diagram might be the closest thing I know of to a fairly granular backchaining from oneâs ultimate goals. It also seems to me quite unwieldyâI spent a while trying to read it once, but it felt annoying to navigate and hard to really get the overall gist of. (That was just my personal take, though.)
One could also argue that Toby Ordâs âgrand strategy for humanityâ[1] is a very low-granularity instance of backchaining from oneâs ultimate goals. And it becomes more granular once one connects the first step of the grand strategy to other specific recommendations Ord makes in The Precipice.
(I know you and I have already discussed some of this; this comment was partly for other potential readersâ sake.)
[1] For readers who havenât read The Precipice, Ordâs quick summary of the grand strategy is as follows:
The book contains many more details on these terms and this strategy, of course.