Overall, empathize with concerns about funding, but I wish the narrative included (a) the fact that the field is competitive is not necessarily a bad thing and (b) funding is still much more available than for most other independent research fields.
I didn’t mention this in my comment, but I also agree with this. Apologies if it seemed otherwise. I was mostly expressing a bit of concern about how how funding will be dispursed going forward, from a macro-perspective.
Ah, thanks for the clarifications. I agree with the clarified versions :)
Quick note on getting senior researchers:
It seems like one of the main bottlenecks is “having really good models of alignment.”
It seems plausible to me that investing in junior alignment researchers today means we’ll increase the number of senior alignment researchers (or at least “people who are capable of mentoring new alignment researchers, starting new orgs, leading teams, etc.).
My vibes-level guess is that the top junior alignment researchers are ready to lead teams within about a year or two of doing alignment research on their own. EG I expect some people in this post to be ready to mentor/advise/lead teams in the upcoming year. (And some of them already are).
I didn’t mention this in my comment, but I also agree with this. Apologies if it seemed otherwise. I was mostly expressing a bit of concern about how how funding will be dispursed going forward, from a macro-perspective.
Ah, thanks for the clarifications. I agree with the clarified versions :)
Quick note on getting senior researchers:
It seems like one of the main bottlenecks is “having really good models of alignment.”
It seems plausible to me that investing in junior alignment researchers today means we’ll increase the number of senior alignment researchers (or at least “people who are capable of mentoring new alignment researchers, starting new orgs, leading teams, etc.).
My vibes-level guess is that the top junior alignment researchers are ready to lead teams within about a year or two of doing alignment research on their own. EG I expect some people in this post to be ready to mentor/advise/lead teams in the upcoming year. (And some of them already are).