My opinion is that the vast majority of smart people in rich countries can do the most good for the world by "earning to give" and seeking to earn a high salary and giving some of it to carefully chosen charities. If you have the math skills to become a physicist you might be an exception, especially if you can be of direct use to MIRI. My impression is that outside of academia some physicists earn high incomes, so you might want to consider that path.
This thread is for asking any questions that might seem obvious, tangential, silly or what-have-you. Don't be shy, everyone has holes in their knowledge, though the fewer and the smaller we can make them, the better.
Please be respectful of other people's admitting ignorance and don't mock them for it, as they're doing a noble thing.
To any future monthly posters of SQ threads, please remember to add the "stupid_questions" tag.