Haha. Humans.

I laugh at us too GLaDOS. Sometimes, I have to so I don't cry.

My picks, some of which have already been mentioned. I would classify these all as "viewquake" books for someone who hasn't encountered the concepts in them before.

1. Godel, Escher, Bach - gets a huge credit for sending me down the rabbit hole of "what your brain is actually doing", though like others I'm not sure if I would like it as much on a second reading.

2. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Stoicism at its best, I count this as the most motivational book I've ever read.

3. The Sciences of the Artificial by Herbert Simon - retreads topics that are probably already somewhat familiar to LW readers, but still has one of the highest insights/page ratios I've ever seen.

4. 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene - instrumental rationality in the social arena.

And one dis-recommendation:

1. A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander - the concept of "design patterns" which gets quite a bit of mention nowadays got its start here, but this book is a mess. The support Alexander uses to back up his choice of patterns is laughably sparse, often completely wrong and picked to support his somewhat warped sense of eco-morality. Avoid.

I'm interested to hear what you think is more important in terms of making a difference - the money or the job. Some jobs (teacher, social worker) which can have quite an impact can also have low salaries - teaching in particular is under political attack in the United States. Such jobs don't allow for as much donation to charity. On the other hand, there are jobs with high salaries (say, in the business and corporate world) which make a low or potentially negative impact, but have a larger salary which they could donate to charity.

There are of course jobs which fall under both categories - the medical profession in particular can be quite well-paying while making a very positive impact. Unfortunately, not everyone who wants to make a difference can be (or wants to be) a doctor (I believe that enjoying your job is very important for various reasons, but that's a matter for another day).

So what's better - more teachers dedicated to helping their students towards the future, or more Warren Buffetts? If you had to ask each of a million people to donate to only one of your charities, which would you advocate for?

So I read the title and thought you mean the risk of AI having existential crises... which is an interesting question, when you think about it.