FAQ

Who is the camp for?
We seek to improve our thinking and translate that into better ‘doing’. We welcome students curious about decision-making and modeling the world, and figuring out how to better test their beliefs against reality. If you're passionate about mathematics, logic, cognitive science, philosophy, economics, or history, we'll probably love to have you! 

What do participants actually do?
We run sessions that teach concrete subjects like information theory, cryptography, psychology, and game theory, as well as more experiential learning about how to better understand yourself, communicate with others, and make judgments under uncertainty.

One of the major themes of the camp is learning how to actually do things that are important to us. This means taking ideas like “we can change ourselves/the world” seriously, figuring out what we think we know and why we think we know it, and actually going out and trying things with an experimental frame of mind. We empower our students with the tools to make progress on difficult issues, whether personal or global.

Which means we also encourage and help participants design and run their own content! Things students have done in past years includes successfully inviting Stephen Wolfram to give a talk to the camp, student lectures on everything from art theory to nuclear physics, and professional tutorials on Go or ultra-fast language learning.

We sometimes have talks by intellectuals from a variety of fields. Past speakers have included renowned theoretical scientist Scott Aaronson and futurist researcher Anders Sandberg.

Who is eligible to apply?
Students from the whole world who will be 16 - 19 years old at the start of the camp are eligible to apply, we expect that the event will accept students from all (habitable) continents. For programming and logistical reasons, the primary audience for this camp are students from Asia and Oceania. However, if you find the curriculum interesting and would like to attend a camp in Asia, you should apply.

How do I apply?
Check out the Apply page.

How much does ASPR cost to attend?
We fully cover tuition, meals, and lodging. Travel scholarships are available.

I’m really interested but can’t make these dates

We are going to run more events in Summer 2025. To be notified of future programs by the FABRIC team, subscribe for updates at the bottom of this page.

I’m not 16 yet. Can I still apply?
Unfortunately, we can’t accept anyone younger than 16 years old at the start of the camp due to venue restrictions.

I’m older than 19 but still interested in attending the camp!
If you are 20, you can apply, but the bar for acceptance is higher.

What’s the relationship between ASPR, ESPR, FABRIC and SPARC?
In the beginning, there were two projects: Summer Program for Applied Rationality and Cognition (SPARC) which runs camps in the USA, and later the European Summer Program on Rationality (ESPR), which runs in the UK. In the last few year, the activities of the ESPR team expanded outside Europe and in 2023 they were united under a new brand called FABRIC. ASPR is a project by the FABRIC team.

Who is funding this?
This FABRIC event is supported by a generous grant from the Open Philanthropy Project.