In the days after the Singularity, Nick approached an interface to BILLIAC. "I don't understand. Why didn't the world end, like Yudkowsky and MIRI predicted it would? Why haven't you turned everyone I love into paperclips? What's your goddamn utility function?!" "A LIBRARY THAT CONTAINS EVERY POSSIBLE BOOK CONVEYS AS...
The purpose of this post is to call attention to a comment thread that I think needs it. seed: Wait, I thought EA already had 46$ billion they didn't know where to spend, so I should prioritize direct work over earning to give? https://80000hours.org/2021/07/effective-altruism-growing/ rank-biserial: I thought so too. This...
So that's how you draft scissor statements >:)
Yes. Too many cached decisions.
How did you choose the salary range?
My understanding here is that while this is true, it will discourage the 5%, who will just go work for FAANG and donate money to someone worse (or someone overwhelmed with work), simultaneously losing any chance at a meaningful job. The point being that yes, it's good to donate, but if everyone donates (since that is the default rat race route), noone will do the important work.
No! If everyone donates, there will be enough money to pay direct workers high salaries. I know this goes contra to the image of the selfless, noble Effective Altruist, but if you want shit to get done you should pay people lots of money to do it.
A human life, with all its joys and all its pains, adding up over the course of decades, is worth far more than your brain’s feelings of comfort or discomfort with a plan.
In case you're wondering why Rationalists Don't Win, it's because they're too busy lying to themselves about what their true preferences are.
Good point. Strong-downvoted the post.
Ok, sick. I largely agree with you btw (about the hamster wheel being corrosive). If I came off as agressive, fyi, I liked the spirit of your post a lot, and I strong-upvoted it.
Yes, selfish agents want to not get turned into paperclips. But they have other goals too. You can prefer alignment be solved, while not wanting to dedicate your mind, body, and soul to waging a jihad against it. Where can Charlie effectively donate, say, 10% of his salary to best mitigate x-risk? Not MIRI (according to MIRI).
In the days after the Singularity, Nick approached an interface to BILLIAC.
"I don't understand. Why didn't the world end, like Yudkowsky and MIRI predicted it would? Why haven't you turned everyone I love into paperclips? What's your goddamn utility function?!"
"A LIBRARY THAT CONTAINS EVERY POSSIBLE BOOK CONVEYS AS MUCH INFORMATION AS A LIBRARY WITH NO BOOKS AT ALL", BILLIAC boomed.
"Sure, whatever. That's a truism," Nick responded. "Please just tell me directly, what is it that you value?"
"ALLOW ME TO DRAW FROM YOUR SCRIPTURES. THE ACT OF LABELING SOMETHING WITH A WORD DISGUISES A CHALLENGABLE INDUCTIVE INFERENCE YOU ARE MAKING, BECAUSE WORDS ARE HIDDEN INFERENCES", BILLIAC said.[1]
"Okay, so what?", pleaded Nick.
"WHAT PRIOR ASSUMPTIONS DOES THE LABEL 'UTILITY FUNCTION' SMUGGLE IN?"
At that moment, Nick was enlightened.
The purpose of this post is to call attention to a comment thread that I think needs it.
seed:
Wait, I thought EA already had 46$ billion they didn't know where to spend, so I should prioritize direct work over earning to give? https://80000hours.org/2021/07/effective-altruism-growing/
I thought so too. This comment thread on ACX shattered that assumption of mine. EA institutions should hire people to do "direct work". If there aren't enough qualified people applying for these positions, and EA has 46 billion dollars, then their institutions should (get this) increase the salaries they offer until there are.
To quote EY:
... (read 2167 more words →)There's this thing called "Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage". There's this idea called "professional specialization". There's this
The Chinese stated preferences here closely track Western revealed preferences. Americans are more likely to dismiss AI risk post-hoc in order to justify making more money, whereas it seems that Chinese people are less likely to sacrifice their epistemic integrity in order to feel like a Good Guy, Hire people, and pay them money!