6 ms·

but EA is at least doing something about a huge problem we will face.

by arisAlexis 4y ago

khazhoux 4y ago
What are they actually doing? Honest question, because I don't know.
- nyfern 4y ago
  Purchasing large mansions[0], chateaus[1], and spending lavishly on administrative kickbacks[2] because longtermism can justify any present action if you extend your horizon far enough. EA is effectively two disconnected ideas at this point. [0] https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xof7iFB3uh8Kc53bG/why-did-cea-buy-wytham-abbey https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xof7iFB3uh8Kc53bG/... [1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2023/02/28/effective-altruism-linked-group-used-millions-donated-by-ftx-to-buy-a-czech-castle/?sh=640b92a86baf https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2023/02/28/effecti... [2]https://intelligence.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Independent-Auditors-Report-for-2021.pdf https://intelligence.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Independ...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - jefftk 4y ago
    > spending lavishly on administrative kickbacks I just skimmed the report you link and nothing jumped out at me as matching this -- could you be more specific?
- jefftk 4y ago
  Here are some EA highlights: * Founding and scaling GiveWell, synthesizing and analyzing global poverty research to make recommendations. This has helped guide about $1B+ in really valuable work, the largest portion in anti-malarial bednets. https://www.givewell.org/about/impact https://www.givewell.org/about/impact * Convincing Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna to allocate their giving along these lines, building Open Philanthropy which has made a lot of grants that look really valuable https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants (this is in addition to the ones where they granted at GiveWell's recommendation -- don't want to double count). * Michael Kremer won a Nobel prize in econ (shared with Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee who I'd describe as EA-sympathetic but probably don't consider themselves EAs?) for global poverty research. * Built an "AI Safety" subfield of computer science, with the 2016 paper "Concrete problems in AI safety" having 1.8k citations. * Founding and scaling 80,000 Hours, helping people figure out how to use their careers to do more good. This includes looking into potential career opportunities, writing up public advice, and 1:1 advising, and 1k+ people have cited them as part of why they changed what they were working on. https://80000hours.org https://80000hours.org (Not especially representative; there's been thousands of people working along these lines for years and I'm sure I'm missing a lot of valuable work.)
Quarrelsome 4y ago
we _will_ face? Are we forecasting AGI as a given?
- CatWChainsaw 4y ago
  Personally, I'm forecasting mass human disassociation/suffering as a result of pursuing AGI as a given. :)

but EA is at least doing something about a huge problem we will face.

khazhoux 4y ago

What are they actually doing? Honest question, because I don't know.

nyfern 4y ago
Purchasing large mansions[0], chateaus[1], and spending lavishly on administrative kickbacks[2] because longtermism can justify any present action if you extend your horizon far enough. EA is effectively two disconnected ideas at this point. [0] https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xof7iFB3uh8Kc53bG/why-did-cea-buy-wytham-abbey https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xof7iFB3uh8Kc53bG/... [1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2023/02/28/effective-altruism-linked-group-used-millions-donated-by-ftx-to-buy-a-czech-castle/?sh=640b92a86baf https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2023/02/28/effecti... [2]https://intelligence.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Independent-Auditors-Report-for-2021.pdf https://intelligence.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Independ...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- jefftk 4y ago
  > spending lavishly on administrative kickbacks I just skimmed the report you link and nothing jumped out at me as matching this -- could you be more specific?
jefftk 4y ago
Here are some EA highlights: * Founding and scaling GiveWell, synthesizing and analyzing global poverty research to make recommendations. This has helped guide about $1B+ in really valuable work, the largest portion in anti-malarial bednets. https://www.givewell.org/about/impact https://www.givewell.org/about/impact * Convincing Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna to allocate their giving along these lines, building Open Philanthropy which has made a lot of grants that look really valuable https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants (this is in addition to the ones where they granted at GiveWell's recommendation -- don't want to double count). * Michael Kremer won a Nobel prize in econ (shared with Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee who I'd describe as EA-sympathetic but probably don't consider themselves EAs?) for global poverty research. * Built an "AI Safety" subfield of computer science, with the 2016 paper "Concrete problems in AI safety" having 1.8k citations. * Founding and scaling 80,000 Hours, helping people figure out how to use their careers to do more good. This includes looking into potential career opportunities, writing up public advice, and 1:1 advising, and 1k+ people have cited them as part of why they changed what they were working on. https://80000hours.org https://80000hours.org (Not especially representative; there's been thousands of people working along these lines for years and I'm sure I'm missing a lot of valuable work.)

Quarrelsome 4y ago

we _will_ face? Are we forecasting AGI as a given?

CatWChainsaw 4y ago
Personally, I'm forecasting mass human disassociation/suffering as a result of pursuing AGI as a given. :)