and now you seem to be saying "Oh, I wasn't talking about you guys."
I wasn't talking about you guys personally. But do you believe that you are radically different from all those people who were saving the world before?
Look, trying to maximise good is a fine aim.
That really depends on what do you consider good and what are you willing to sacrifice for that.
I have a feeling there is some typical-mind thinking going on here.
Let's say Alice appears and says "I want to to do good and save the world!" How are you going to respond? Are you going to encourage Alice, give her positive feedback? You are assuming that Alice is like you and shares the important chunks of your value system. But what if she does not? She is entirely sincere, it's just that what she thinks of as "good" does not match your ideas.
The world at large does not necessarily share your values. I feel it's an important point that gets overlooked in the sheltered and cloistered LW world. Some guy's idea of doing good might be slitting the throats of everyone from the enemy tribe.
That also works in reverse -- you say you want to do good, but why should I blindly trust you? Was the Unabomber trying to save the word from the perils of high technology? Would you save the world by bombing an AI lab on the verge of an uncontrolled breakthrough? X-D
You just seem to be talking past us. I think there are a lot of shared values on this forum and furthermore, we're not celebrating the abstract goal but the particular acts, which means we're open to discussion on the specifics of what we're doing. Your talk about the Unabomber is just inappropriate on this thread.
How are you saving the world? Please, let us know!
Whether it is solving the problem of death or teaching rationality, one of the correlated phenomena of being less wrong is making things better. Given the value many of us place on altruism, this extends beyond just ourselves and into that question of, “How can I make The Rest better?” The rest of my community. The rest of my country. The rest of my species. The rest of my world. To word it in a less other-optimizing way: How can I save the world?
So, tell us how you are saving the world. Not how you want to save the world. Not how you plan to. How you are, actively, saving the world. It doesn’t have to be “I invented a friendly AI,” or “I reformed a nation’s gender politics” or “I perfected a cryonics reviving process.” It can be a simple goal (“I taught a child how to recognize when they use ad hominen” or "I stopped using as much water to shower") or a simple action as part of a larger plan (such as “I helped with a breakthrough on reducing gas emissions in cars by five percent”).
If we accept this challenge of saving the world, then let us be open and honest with our progress. Let us put our successes on display and our shortcomings as well, so that both can be recognized, recommended, and, if need be, repaired.
If you are not doing anything to save the world, even something as simple as “learning about global risks” or “encouraging others to research a topic before deciding on it”? Then find something. Find a goal and work for it. Find an act that needs doing and do it.
Then tell us about it.