My hope is that the upcoming deluge of publications will answer this objection, but for the moment, I am unclear as to the justification for the level of resources being given to SIAI researchers.
Additionally, I alone have a dozen papers in development, for which I am directing every step of research and writing, and will write the final draft, but am collaborating with remote researchers so as to put in only 5%-20% of the total hours required myself.
This level of freedom is the dream of every researcher on the planet. Yet, it’s unclear why these resources should be devoted to your projects. While I strongly believe that the current academic system is broken, you are asking for a level of support granted to top researchers prior to have made any original breakthroughs yourself.
If you can convince people to give you that money, wonderful. But until you have made at least some serious advancement to demonstrate your case, donating seems like an act of faith.
It’s impressive that you all have found a way to hack the system and get paid to develop yourselves as researchers outside of the academic system and I will be delighted to see that development bear fruit over the coming years. But, at present, I don’t see evidence that the work being done justifies or requires that support.
This level of freedom is the dream of every researcher on the planet. Yet, it’s unclear why these resources should be devoted to your projects.
Because some people like my earlierpapers and think I’m writing papers on the most important topic in the world?
It’s impressive that you all have found a way to hack the system and get paid to develop yourselves as researchers outside of the academic system...
Note that this isn’t uncommon. SI is far from the only think tank with researchers who publish in academic journals. Researchers at private companies do the same.
First, let me say that, after re-reading, I think that my previous post came off as condescending/confrontational which was not my intent. I apologize.
Second, after thinking about this for a few minutes, I realized that some of the reason your papers seem so fluffy to me is that they argue what I consider to be obvious points. In my mind, of course we are likely “to develop human-level AI before 2100.” Because of that, I may have tended to classify your work as outreach more than research.
But outreach is valuable. And, so that we can factor out the question of the independent contribution of your research, having people associated with SIAI with the publications/credibility to be treated as experts has gigantic benefits in terms of media multipliers (being the people who get called on for interviews, panels, etc). So, given that, I can see a strong argument for publication support being valuable to the overall organization goals regardless of any assessment of the value of the research.
Note that this isn’t uncommon. SI is far from the only think tank with researchers who publish in academic journals. Researchers at private companies do the same.
My only point was that, in those situations, usually researchers are brought in with prior recognized achievements (or, unfortunately all too often, simply paper credentials). SIAI is bringing in people who are intelligent but unproven and giving them the resources reserved for top talent in academia or industry. As you’ve pointed out, one of the differences with SIAI is the lack of hoops to jump through.
Edit: I see you commented below that you view your own work as summarization of existing research and we agree on the value of that. Sorry that my slow typing speed left me behind the flow of the thread.
It’s true at my company, at least. There are quite a few papers out there authored by the researchers at the company where I work. There are several good business reasons for a company to invest time into publishing a paper; positive PR is one of them.
Because some people like my earlier papers and think I’m writing papers on the most important topic in the world?
But then you put your intellect at issue, and I think I’m entitled to opine that you lack the qualities of intellect that would make such recommendation credible. You’re a budding scholar; a textbook writer at heart. You lack any of the originality of a thinker.
You confirm the lead poster’s allegations that SIA staff are insular and conceited.
Of course you are. And, you may not be one of the people who “like my earlier papers.”
You confirm the lead poster’s allegations that SIA staff are insular and conceited.
Really? How? I commented earlier on LW (can’t find it now) about how the kind of papers I write barely count as “original research” because for the most part they merely summarize and clarify the ideas of others. But as Beckstead says, there is a strong need for that right now.
For insights in decision theory and FAI theory, I suspect we’ll have to look to somebody besides Luke Muehlhauser. We keep trying to hire such people but they keep saying “No.” (I got two more “no”s just in the last 3 weeks.) Part of that may be due to the past and current state of the organization — and luckily, fixing that kind of thing is something I seem to have some skills with.
My hope is that the upcoming deluge of publications will answer this objection, but for the moment, I am unclear as to the justification for the level of resources being given to SIAI researchers.
This level of freedom is the dream of every researcher on the planet. Yet, it’s unclear why these resources should be devoted to your projects. While I strongly believe that the current academic system is broken, you are asking for a level of support granted to top researchers prior to have made any original breakthroughs yourself.
If you can convince people to give you that money, wonderful. But until you have made at least some serious advancement to demonstrate your case, donating seems like an act of faith.
It’s impressive that you all have found a way to hack the system and get paid to develop yourselves as researchers outside of the academic system and I will be delighted to see that development bear fruit over the coming years. But, at present, I don’t see evidence that the work being done justifies or requires that support.
Because some people like my earlier papers and think I’m writing papers on the most important topic in the world?
Note that this isn’t uncommon. SI is far from the only think tank with researchers who publish in academic journals. Researchers at private companies do the same.
First, let me say that, after re-reading, I think that my previous post came off as condescending/confrontational which was not my intent. I apologize.
Second, after thinking about this for a few minutes, I realized that some of the reason your papers seem so fluffy to me is that they argue what I consider to be obvious points. In my mind, of course we are likely “to develop human-level AI before 2100.” Because of that, I may have tended to classify your work as outreach more than research.
But outreach is valuable. And, so that we can factor out the question of the independent contribution of your research, having people associated with SIAI with the publications/credibility to be treated as experts has gigantic benefits in terms of media multipliers (being the people who get called on for interviews, panels, etc). So, given that, I can see a strong argument for publication support being valuable to the overall organization goals regardless of any assessment of the value of the research.
My only point was that, in those situations, usually researchers are brought in with prior recognized achievements (or, unfortunately all too often, simply paper credentials). SIAI is bringing in people who are intelligent but unproven and giving them the resources reserved for top talent in academia or industry. As you’ve pointed out, one of the differences with SIAI is the lack of hoops to jump through.
Edit: I see you commented below that you view your own work as summarization of existing research and we agree on the value of that. Sorry that my slow typing speed left me behind the flow of the thread.
It’s true at my company, at least. There are quite a few papers out there authored by the researchers at the company where I work. There are several good business reasons for a company to invest time into publishing a paper; positive PR is one of them.
But then you put your intellect at issue, and I think I’m entitled to opine that you lack the qualities of intellect that would make such recommendation credible. You’re a budding scholar; a textbook writer at heart. You lack any of the originality of a thinker.
You confirm the lead poster’s allegations that SIA staff are insular and conceited.
Of course you are. And, you may not be one of the people who “like my earlier papers.”
Really? How? I commented earlier on LW (can’t find it now) about how the kind of papers I write barely count as “original research” because for the most part they merely summarize and clarify the ideas of others. But as Beckstead says, there is a strong need for that right now.
For insights in decision theory and FAI theory, I suspect we’ll have to look to somebody besides Luke Muehlhauser. We keep trying to hire such people but they keep saying “No.” (I got two more “no”s just in the last 3 weeks.) Part of that may be due to the past and current state of the organization — and luckily, fixing that kind of thing is something I seem to have some skills with.
True, dat.