This has similarly been my approach. As best I can tell writing papers for academic publication is nice but, especially in the AI safety space, is not really the best way to convey and discuss ideas. Much more important seems to be being part of the conversation about technical ideas, learning from it, and adding to it so others can do the same. I put some small amount of effort into things outside FP mostly because I believe it’s a good idea for reputation effects and spreading ideas outside the forum bubble, but not because I think it’s the best way to make intellectual progress.
It’s also nice because the feedback loops are shorter. I can comment on a post or write my own, have a discussion, and then within weeks see the ripples of that discussion influencing other discussions. It helps me feel the impact I’m having, and motivates me to keep going.
Probably the only thing superior in my mind is doing practical work, e.g. building systems that test out ideas. Unfortunately many of the ideas we talk about in safety are currently ahead of the tech so we don’t know how to build things yet (and for safety sake I think it’s fine to not push on that too hard since I expect it will come on its own anyway), so until we are closer to AGI forum participation is likely one of the high impact activities one can engage in (I’m similarly positive about doing the face-to-face equivalent of talking at conferences and having conversations with interested folks).
This has similarly been my approach. As best I can tell writing papers for academic publication is nice but, especially in the AI safety space, is not really the best way to convey and discuss ideas. Much more important seems to be being part of the conversation about technical ideas, learning from it, and adding to it so others can do the same. I put some small amount of effort into things outside FP mostly because I believe it’s a good idea for reputation effects and spreading ideas outside the forum bubble, but not because I think it’s the best way to make intellectual progress.
It’s also nice because the feedback loops are shorter. I can comment on a post or write my own, have a discussion, and then within weeks see the ripples of that discussion influencing other discussions. It helps me feel the impact I’m having, and motivates me to keep going.
Probably the only thing superior in my mind is doing practical work, e.g. building systems that test out ideas. Unfortunately many of the ideas we talk about in safety are currently ahead of the tech so we don’t know how to build things yet (and for safety sake I think it’s fine to not push on that too hard since I expect it will come on its own anyway), so until we are closer to AGI forum participation is likely one of the high impact activities one can engage in (I’m similarly positive about doing the face-to-face equivalent of talking at conferences and having conversations with interested folks).