LESSWRONG
LW

All of Yi-Yang's Comments + Replies

Common Uses of "Acceptance"
Yi-Yang10

Nice, thanks for pointing out this potential way out!

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Common Uses of "Acceptance"
Yi-Yang*30

I find the image, of this character watching their customer suffer through their mapo tofu and finding a lot of joy from it, extremely hilarious.  

EDIT: typo and making my sentence clearer

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How I apply (so-called) Non-Violent Communication
Yi-Yang10

Thanks for the response! Coincidentally, I did reach out to a nearby NVC community after receiving the same suggestion from a coach. Let's see how it goes. :)

because I find it that during a conflict, I need empathy so my capacity for empathy towards others is limited, so the first step is to give yourself empathy.

Yeah this is still very tough for me too. I remembered ruminating quite a lot when my need for respect wasn't fulfilled in some online forums. After writing this down, I immediately went to reread some parts of the book. I don't think I've internalised this yet, but small steps... :)

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How I apply (so-called) Non-Violent Communication
Yi-Yang10

Hi Velizar, I've just finished reading the book, but I'm hoping to do more practice. However, the workshops on cnvc.org are pretty pricey and the timings aren't great for my time zone. Do you have any suggestions? I might miss other practice opportunities.

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2Velizar
Yeah, I strongly recommend going to a workshop, someone I practice together with has told me about NVC New York: https://www.nycnvc.org/ She went there and she seemed pretty good at it. If you tell them that you are low on money then they might be willing to either offer you a discount or to let you do the workshop for free, I don't remember which one it was. In terms of practice, I tend to take it easy because there are so many things to master. One of the easier things to get better at is to stop making things worse, by applying punitive measures in cases where it's counter-productive. One of the way harder (for me) things is to actually go through the entire observation-feelings-needs-request chain in a conflict, because I find it that during a conflict, I need empathy so my capacity for empathy towards others is limited, so the first step is to give yourself empathy. Don't expect initial good results doing this, the book doesn't warn you how hard it is, you could practice just the first step (observations), and also practice things in your own mind, without sharing them - Marshall Rosenberg says that the most important part of the process is not the words that you use, even if you do all of it silently it would still work well, but if you do it out loud and do it wrong then people might be pissed off at you, it has happened to me sometimes. I've also had good results, and it's unreliable. So this takes a lot of practice. Another great thing to practice is empathic listening.  I find it that coming up with the magical keywords for the correct emotions and needs is not as powerful as we might believe; instead, the powerful part comes when you are fully listening and you are connecting with the other person's feelings and needs. Rereading parts of the book is also worth it. Also watching their workshop videos on Youtube is both inspirational and instrumental. Good luck! Workshops are expected to be totally worth it! 
Non-loss of control AGI-related catastrophes are out of control too
Yi-Yang10

Hey David, thanks for the feedback! 

1. I did look at Openphil’s grant database back in May and found nothing. Could you point where we could find more information about this?

2. Hmm are you saying an AI-engineered pandemic would likely be similar to natural pandemics we’re already defending against? If so, I would probably disagree here. I’m also unsure how AI-engineered pandemics might create highly novel strains, but I think the risk of this happening seems non-trivial.

And wouldn’t AI accelerate such developments as well?

3. Thanks for the info! ... (read more)

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2Davidmanheim
1. The grants are to groups and individuals doing work in this area, so it encompasses much of the grants that are on biorisk in general - as well as several people employed by OpenPhil doing direct work on the topic. 2. I'm saying that defense looks similar - early detection, quarantines, contact tracing, and rapid production of vaccines all help, and it's unclear how non-superhuman AI could do any of the scariest things people have discussed as threats. 3. Public statements to the press already discuss this, as does some research. 4. Yes, and again, I think it's a big deal. And yes, but expert elicitation is harder than lit reviews.
Effective Altruism Virtual Programs Nov-Dec 2021
Yi-Yang10

Hi wunan, yes we run the programs monthly. Unfortunately, we don't have any reviews/testimonies written up for the public, but here's a broad feel of our program.

So far, we’ve had a total of 959 participants from the first half of 2021. We also have 289 participants in the July-to-August round which we are currently running with Stanford EA. Our post-program survey response rates are generally quite low at 30%, but feedback for two prior rounds has been positive: the average likelihood of recommending the program to a friend was 9.15 out of 10. 

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