This might seem unlikely, but remember that often the root of a new insight does not require competence or knowledge, it merely requires novelty and thinking in a different way and out of he box compared to everyone else, and this kind of thing correlates with mental illness.
I think the history of most intellectual disciplines doesn’t really reflect this; most good new ideas are produced by people with lots of familiarity with their chosen area, and build extensively on ideas that already exist. Usually, ‘ability to think novel thoughts’ is not the limiting factor.
That said, if you want someone to talk about your idea with in private, maybe you should try direct messaging someone who you consider knowledgeable, but doesn’t seem likely to be super busy. e.g. someone with insightful LW posts, but maybe doesn’t work for MIRI. I’d be willing to.
Agreed, about “most intellectual disciplines”, and even more so when it comes to something like art, game design, or startup entrepreneurs. However, I think AI risk is one of the exceptions to this rule, quite strongly.
I think the history of most intellectual disciplines doesn’t really reflect this; most good new ideas are produced by people with lots of familiarity with their chosen area, and build extensively on ideas that already exist. Usually, ‘ability to think novel thoughts’ is not the limiting factor.
That said, if you want someone to talk about your idea with in private, maybe you should try direct messaging someone who you consider knowledgeable, but doesn’t seem likely to be super busy. e.g. someone with insightful LW posts, but maybe doesn’t work for MIRI. I’d be willing to.
Agreed, about “most intellectual disciplines”, and even more so when it comes to something like art, game design, or startup entrepreneurs. However, I think AI risk is one of the exceptions to this rule, quite strongly.