Like you seemed to be looking toward in your post, I’m focusing on making as much money as possible right now. For me, the best path in that direction is probably in the field of tech startups.
This has the added benefit of probably being the right choice even if I decide for some reason that SIAI isn’t the most important cause. Pretty much any set of preferences seems to me like it will be best served by making a lot of money (even something like “live a simple and humble life and focus only on your own happiness” is probably easier if you can just retire early and then have the freedom to do whatever you want).
Edited to add: It’s worth noting that making as much money as possible via a tech startup is also good for me personally because I actually do have a fair amount of motivation and interest in that area (if I never heard of FAI, tech entrepreneurship would still be appealing to me, although I probably wouldn’t dive into it as much as I did once I decided I wanted to work toward FAI). So I don’t necessarily think the best thing for everyone who wants to contribute to FAI is to try to make as much money as possible (and certainly not necessarily via a tech startup), but for me personally it seems like the best path.
I’ve had pretty much the exact same experience. Some random thoughts (despite the surface similarities, I’m describing myself not you here so usual caveats apply).
For me the trigger was deciding that I wanted to be a utilitarian. At that point the Intelligence Explosion hypothesis (and also GiveWell’s message that some charities are orders of magnitude more effective than others) went from being niggling concerns to urgently important concerns. Unlike you, I do have a visceral negative feeling associated with the end of the world. Or rather I did—now it just feels like the new normal (but I’d still put a lot of effort into reducing its probability very slightly).
It’s entirely nonobvious to me that FAI is the marginally most important thing for humanity to be working on right now. That depends factors such as whether the approach can be made safe and viable, how different x-risks compare with each other, and some icky stuff to do with social dynamics and information hazards. In other words, it’s a question that I have no hope of correctly answering as an individual. But this doesn’t suggest that inaction is the best strategy, but rather that I should be supporting smarter people who are trying to answer that kind of question.
The most important thing for humanity to be doing right now is probably very different from the most important thing for me to be doing. It depends on where my comparative advantage is. Current top priority for me is actually just sorting my own life out.
Other commenters here have made the analogy with religious conversion and/or brainwashing. I think that the analogy is valid in as far as something similar may have been happening in my brain; on the other hand, I don’t really know what to do with this information. It doesn’t mean I’m wrong. I’m still on the lookout for any really good skeptical arguments that address the main issues.
I’ve really been suffering due to a lack of a community of like-minded people. (At least face-to-face—there are people on the Internet obviously, but I have trouble getting much from that either because they’re too busy or because I’m just not good at staying in touch that way). Obviously if I surround myself only with people with the exact same worldview it increases the risk of epistemic closure; on the other hand, having no-one around who shares my goals is very frustrating. Incidentally I’ve generally got on well with people from Giving What We Can when I have the opportunity to meet them.
I’ve been suffering depression-like symptoms—they are very likely connected to this whole thing somehow, but I don’t know the exact reason. Hypothesis 1 is the lack-of-community thing. Hypothesis 2 is that like you I felt I could do anything, and then discovered that actually no I couldn’t.
The “conversion” experience felt very much like “beliefs fully propagating” but I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate—I think it was just a few (important) beliefs that propagated. Like you, I felt like my belief map was wiped clean, but actually most of my old beliefs still seem to be valid and useful. It seems to be mainly just information relevant to the safety of far people that I’d kept compartmentalized.
You know, it should be more non-obvious for me that FAI is the right thing to do, too. It’s just that the idea clicks with me very well, but I would still prefer to collect more evidence for it.
I agree with you on doing what you can do best (and for many of us that will probably be some kind of support role). I agree with the “yeah, it’s kind of like brainwashing, but I’m open to counter-arguments.”
Not having like-minded in-person friends is really bad. Wherever you are, I would urge you to relocate. I only recently moved to the Bay Area, and it’s just so much nicer here (I’ve lived in small towns in Midwest before). This goes double if your career is in technology.
I also suffer depression-like symptoms. My head feels like it’s about to explode half the time, and every so often I just want to scream. I also often want to just lie down and not do anything. I take all these feelings, and I say: “Yeah, it’s normal to feel this. I’m going through a lot right now. It’s going to be okay.”
Interesting! I’m also happy to hear I’m not the only one. :) Where did you shift your efforts to?
Yes and yes to both points. Seems like everyone is giving the same advice. Must be important.
Like you seemed to be looking toward in your post, I’m focusing on making as much money as possible right now. For me, the best path in that direction is probably in the field of tech startups.
This has the added benefit of probably being the right choice even if I decide for some reason that SIAI isn’t the most important cause. Pretty much any set of preferences seems to me like it will be best served by making a lot of money (even something like “live a simple and humble life and focus only on your own happiness” is probably easier if you can just retire early and then have the freedom to do whatever you want).
Edited to add: It’s worth noting that making as much money as possible via a tech startup is also good for me personally because I actually do have a fair amount of motivation and interest in that area (if I never heard of FAI, tech entrepreneurship would still be appealing to me, although I probably wouldn’t dive into it as much as I did once I decided I wanted to work toward FAI). So I don’t necessarily think the best thing for everyone who wants to contribute to FAI is to try to make as much money as possible (and certainly not necessarily via a tech startup), but for me personally it seems like the best path.
I’ve had pretty much the exact same experience. Some random thoughts (despite the surface similarities, I’m describing myself not you here so usual caveats apply).
For me the trigger was deciding that I wanted to be a utilitarian. At that point the Intelligence Explosion hypothesis (and also GiveWell’s message that some charities are orders of magnitude more effective than others) went from being niggling concerns to urgently important concerns. Unlike you, I do have a visceral negative feeling associated with the end of the world. Or rather I did—now it just feels like the new normal (but I’d still put a lot of effort into reducing its probability very slightly).
It’s entirely nonobvious to me that FAI is the marginally most important thing for humanity to be working on right now. That depends factors such as whether the approach can be made safe and viable, how different x-risks compare with each other, and some icky stuff to do with social dynamics and information hazards. In other words, it’s a question that I have no hope of correctly answering as an individual. But this doesn’t suggest that inaction is the best strategy, but rather that I should be supporting smarter people who are trying to answer that kind of question.
The most important thing for humanity to be doing right now is probably very different from the most important thing for me to be doing. It depends on where my comparative advantage is. Current top priority for me is actually just sorting my own life out.
Other commenters here have made the analogy with religious conversion and/or brainwashing. I think that the analogy is valid in as far as something similar may have been happening in my brain; on the other hand, I don’t really know what to do with this information. It doesn’t mean I’m wrong. I’m still on the lookout for any really good skeptical arguments that address the main issues.
I’ve really been suffering due to a lack of a community of like-minded people. (At least face-to-face—there are people on the Internet obviously, but I have trouble getting much from that either because they’re too busy or because I’m just not good at staying in touch that way). Obviously if I surround myself only with people with the exact same worldview it increases the risk of epistemic closure; on the other hand, having no-one around who shares my goals is very frustrating. Incidentally I’ve generally got on well with people from Giving What We Can when I have the opportunity to meet them.
I’ve been suffering depression-like symptoms—they are very likely connected to this whole thing somehow, but I don’t know the exact reason. Hypothesis 1 is the lack-of-community thing. Hypothesis 2 is that like you I felt I could do anything, and then discovered that actually no I couldn’t.
The “conversion” experience felt very much like “beliefs fully propagating” but I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate—I think it was just a few (important) beliefs that propagated. Like you, I felt like my belief map was wiped clean, but actually most of my old beliefs still seem to be valid and useful. It seems to be mainly just information relevant to the safety of far people that I’d kept compartmentalized.
You know, it should be more non-obvious for me that FAI is the right thing to do, too. It’s just that the idea clicks with me very well, but I would still prefer to collect more evidence for it.
I agree with you on doing what you can do best (and for many of us that will probably be some kind of support role). I agree with the “yeah, it’s kind of like brainwashing, but I’m open to counter-arguments.”
Not having like-minded in-person friends is really bad. Wherever you are, I would urge you to relocate. I only recently moved to the Bay Area, and it’s just so much nicer here (I’ve lived in small towns in Midwest before). This goes double if your career is in technology.
I also suffer depression-like symptoms. My head feels like it’s about to explode half the time, and every so often I just want to scream. I also often want to just lie down and not do anything. I take all these feelings, and I say: “Yeah, it’s normal to feel this. I’m going through a lot right now. It’s going to be okay.”
Do not take the frequentist approach!