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Notes -
I Got Into Inkhaven (And Now I'm Panicking)
I received a frightening email, and in my line of work, you kinda expect them. But this one was different: Inkhaven accepted my application.
If you haven't heard of it, Inkhaven is this writing residency thing run by Lightcone Infrastructure. Yes, that's the LessWrong people, except now they're doing physical world stuff instead of just posting online. Scott mentioned it on his blog, which is how I found out about it. He's going to be mentoring there, which honestly might be the main reason I applied. Other names of note include Scott Aaronson, and Gwern.
The premise is beautifully simple and terrifying: show up, get housing at cost, write one blog post per day. Miss a day? You're out. It's like a writing bootcamp designed by someone who really, really wants you to develop a daily habit. Of course, in my particular case, it's like convincing someone popping oxy every day that they can save money by switching to fent. Do I look like I need additional incentive to write?
When I submitted my application, I figured my chances were decent. Self-described member of the rationalist community, popular posts on LW and /r/SSC, psychiatry resident who sneaks in references to Bayesian priors whenever he thinks he can get away with it. I included links to six pieces I'm proud of* and wrote the standard "here's who I am" introduction. But I had one major problem: I can't do the full month of November. My job gives me 14 days of leave every six months, and they don't let you combine them. Not exactly conducive to month-long writing retreats. Lightcone noted that those who couldn't make that commitment would be down weighted in favor those who could.
I applied anyway. What's the worst that could happen, right?
Apparently the worst that could happen is they say yes.
Now I'm staring at this acceptance email having what I can only describe as a controlled panic attack. Getting a US visa is going to be a nightmare. Try explaining to an immigration officer that you're visiting America to... write blog posts... at a place run by... internet rationalists? I'm imagining that conversation and it doesn't end well.
The timing is also spectacularly bad. I have a professional exam smack in the middle of November. A close friend is getting married in Texas in December, and I'm not sure I can swing both trips. My leave schedule is already stretched thinner than phyllo dough.
But here's the thing: this is exactly the kind of "good problem to have" that people talk about. I want to go. I want to meet Scott and all these people I've only known as usernames and Twitter handles. I want to see if I can actually write something decent every day for however long I can manage.
So if anyone has brilliant ideas about US visa applications, creative leave arrangements, or general life optimization, I'm all ears.
Plans so far:
Figure out how to stretch the leave. Fly out as soon as the exam is over, and then make strategic usage of weekends to eke out a longer stay. I'm aiming for 10 days plus weekends for Inkhaven, and 3 days plus hopefully another weekend for the wedding. I had really meant to use this as an opportunity to visit the many Mottizens who had invited me over to shoot guns (I think I need a spreadsheet for that alone), but I hope they can forgive me if the itinerary doesn't allow for it. Well, the first offers came in almost two years back, and I haven't heard anyone rescind them since. You guys seem like an understanding bunch.
Book visa appointments ASAP, and figure out how to phrase this in an ICE-friendly manner.
*If memory serves, one of them was a moderation comment I'd written on The Motte. Don't say I don't look out for us whenever I can!
I'd start by reaching out to Inkhaven. If they had this open internationally, they should already have considered visa issues. Hopefully a whole bunch of influential rationalists should already have considered how they could do this. If you're not getting paid I would think a tourist visa would do. It's essentially a writing holiday. But if you are getting paid for for your blog posts that makes it considerably more complicated I should think. There are visas for artist residencies, so I wouldn't be too concerned about the writing thing being weird as being the problem, but those generally would require the sponsor (Lightcone presumably in this case) to be engaging with being an official sponsor through the US government. Also the timing is likely tight for November. J-1 or B-1 Visas might be a possibility depending on the exact details. Unfortunately India is not part of the Visa Waiver program or you might have been ok with just an ESTA as you can travel for 90 days for business.
"You may be eligible for a B-1 visa if you will be participating in business activities of a commercial or professional nature in the United States, including, but not limited to:
Consulting with business associates Traveling for a scientific, educational, professional or business convention, or a conference on specific dates Settling an estate Negotiating a contract Participating in short-term training"
The United States visa system is fraught with problems, especially during Trump's second term. The path of least resistance is to only focus on American-based writers or those who don't require any kind of visa paperwork.
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Thank you! I'm not getting paid by the piece, it's more that I'll quickly have to figure out a hotel if I don't keep producing them.
I intend to write back to Lightcone, but they've left me till the end of the month. I need to figure out exact dates and visa considerations, and I wanted to get the easy questions out of the way before pestering them.
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