Haven’t finished reading this, but I just want to say how glad I am that LW 2.0 and everything related to it (lightcone, etc) happened. I came across lw at a time when it seemed “the diaspora” was just going to get more and more disperse; that “the scene” had ended. I feel disappointed/guilty with how little I did to help this resurgence, like watching on the sidelines as a good thing almost died but then saved itself.
How I felt at the time of seemingly peak “diaspora” actually somewhat reminds me of how I feel about CFAR now (but to a much lesser extent than LW); I think there is still some activity but it seems mostly dead; a valiant attempt at a worthwhile problem; but there are many Problems and many Good Things in the world, but limited time, and am I really going to invest time figuring out if this particular Thing is truly dead? Or start up my own rationality-training-adjacent effort? Or some other high leverage Good Thing? Generic EA? A giving pledge? The result is I carry on trying to do what I thought was most valuable, perversely hoping some weird mix of “that Good Thing was actually dead or close to it; it’s good you didn’t jump in as you’d be swimming against the tide” vs “even if not dead; it wasn’t/isn’t a good lever in the end” vs “your chosen alternative project/lever is a good enough guess at doing good; you aren’t responsible for the survival of all Good Things”.
And tbh I’m a little murky on the forces that led to the LW resurgence, even if we can point to single clear boosts like ey’s recent posts. But I’ll finish reading the post to see if my understanding changes.
Haven’t finished reading this, but I just want to say how glad I am that LW 2.0 and everything related to it (lightcone, etc) happened. I came across lw at a time when it seemed “the diaspora” was just going to get more and more disperse; that “the scene” had ended. I feel disappointed/guilty with how little I did to help this resurgence, like watching on the sidelines as a good thing almost died but then saved itself.
How I felt at the time of seemingly peak “diaspora” actually somewhat reminds me of how I feel about CFAR now (but to a much lesser extent than LW); I think there is still some activity but it seems mostly dead; a valiant attempt at a worthwhile problem; but there are many Problems and many Good Things in the world, but limited time, and am I really going to invest time figuring out if this particular Thing is truly dead? Or start up my own rationality-training-adjacent effort? Or some other high leverage Good Thing? Generic EA? A giving pledge? The result is I carry on trying to do what I thought was most valuable, perversely hoping some weird mix of “that Good Thing was actually dead or close to it; it’s good you didn’t jump in as you’d be swimming against the tide” vs “even if not dead; it wasn’t/isn’t a good lever in the end” vs “your chosen alternative project/lever is a good enough guess at doing good; you aren’t responsible for the survival of all Good Things”.
And tbh I’m a little murky on the forces that led to the LW resurgence, even if we can point to single clear boosts like ey’s recent posts. But I’ll finish reading the post to see if my understanding changes.