What am I doing? Trying to write a few thousand words on legal reasoning about people's dispositions.

Why? To finish my dissertation, and graduate with an Honours degree in law.

Why am I doing that? To increase my status and career opportunities, but also due to inertia. I've almost finished this degree, and a few more weeks of work for this result seem worthwhile. Also, doing otherwise would make me look weird and potentially cut off valuable opportunities.

Why does that matter? Much intellectually interesting and well paid work seems to require signalling a certain level of competence, as well as a willingness to follow social norms.

And why does that matter? I want to have access to interesting work, as well as sufficient skills, money, and influence to usefully assist my favoured causes. This means the SIAI!

At the same time, I'm not sure how well-reasoned my career decisionmaking is. JRMayne's diagnosis may be on point:

One particular example is high-powered law students joining big firms for just a little while until they end up doing [thing they like/thing they think is good for society].

I could try and become a corporate lawyer within the next few years, which would help me to gain wealth, and thereby contribute financially to SIAI. The downside would be long working hours, and a high-pressure, potentially conservative work environment. I worry that working in such an evironment, my attitudes would change dramatically.

Why does that matter? I like my attitudes the way they are! I also enjoy working with people who share an interest in being rational. This is a terminal value, or close to it.

The main use of these questions might be to imply a further one:

Could you be doing something more worthwhile?

It seems likely. Perhaps I should find out whether my skills are directly useful for the SIAI. Knowledge either way would be useful.