Quick thought: I expect that the most effective donation would be to organizations funding independent researchers, notably the LTFF.
Note that I’m an independent researcher funded by the LTFF (and Beth Barnes), but even if you told me that the money would never go to me, I would still think that.
Grants by organizations like that have a good track record for producing valuable research, as at least two people I think are among the most interesting thinkers on the topic (John S. Wentworth and Steve Byrnes) have gotten grants from sources like that (Steve is technically funded by Beth Barnes with money from the donor lottery), and others I’m really excited about (like Alex Turner) were helped by LTFF grants.
Such grants allow researchers to both bootstrap their careers, and also explore less incentivized subjects related to alignment at the start of their career.
They are cheaper than funding a hire for somewhere like MIRI, ARC or CHAI.
Thank you. Can you link to some of the better publications by Wentworth, Turner, and yourself? I’ve found mentions of each of you online but I’m not finding a canonical source for the recommended items.
Quick thought: I expect that the most effective donation would be to organizations funding independent researchers, notably the LTFF.
Note that I’m an independent researcher funded by the LTFF (and Beth Barnes), but even if you told me that the money would never go to me, I would still think that.
Grants by organizations like that have a good track record for producing valuable research, as at least two people I think are among the most interesting thinkers on the topic (John S. Wentworth and Steve Byrnes) have gotten grants from sources like that (Steve is technically funded by Beth Barnes with money from the donor lottery), and others I’m really excited about (like Alex Turner) were helped by LTFF grants.
Such grants allow researchers to both bootstrap their careers, and also explore less incentivized subjects related to alignment at the start of their career.
They are cheaper than funding a hire for somewhere like MIRI, ARC or CHAI.
Thank you. Can you link to some of the better publications by Wentworth, Turner, and yourself? I’ve found mentions of each of you online but I’m not finding a canonical source for the recommended items.
I found this about Steve Byrnes
This about Beth Barnes
Sure.
For Alex Turner, his main sequence is the place to start.
For John Wentworth, he has a sequence on abstraction, and a lot of great content around it.
For Steve Byrnes, most of his work is on brain-based (or brain-inspired) AGI; see here, here and here for example
Personally, I feel like my best work is stuff I’m working on right now, but you can look at my sequence on goal-directedness and my sequence of distillations.
For a bit more funding information:
John’s LTFF grants: here and here.
Alex’s LTFF grants: here, here and here.
Steve post on his funding: here.
Reference to my funding: here and here.