Discouraged. Eliezer and Nate feel that their past alignment research efforts failed, and they don't currently know of a new research direction that feels promising enough that they want to focus their own time on advancing it, or make it MIRI's organizational focus.
I do think 'trying to directly solve the alignment problem' is the most useful thing the world can be doing right now, even if it's not Eliezer or Nate's comparative advantage right now. A good way to end up with a research direction EY or Nate are excited by, IMO, is for hundreds of people to ... (read more)
Should I update and be encouraged or discouraged by this?
Discouraged. Eliezer and Nate feel that their past alignment research efforts failed, and they don't currently know of a new research direction that feels promising enough that they want to focus their own time on advancing it, or make it MIRI's organizational focus.
I do think 'trying to directly solve the alignment problem' is the most useful thing the world can be doing right now, even if it's not Eliezer or Nate's comparative advantage right now. A good way to end up with a research direction EY or Nate are excited by, IMO, is for hundreds of people to ... (read more)