Should I talk about inferentially close things that makes them likeliest to embrace the policies I’m putting on their desk,
Here are some of my current principles around this issue.
1) It’s fine to contribute to work on policies that you think are good-to-neutral that aren’t your core motivation, just so you can get involved with the thing that is your core motivation.
“I am happy to be here helping the Senator achieve an agreement with foreign country Fiction-land on export taxes. I am not here because I personally care a great deal about export taxes (they seem fine to me), but because I want to build a personally strong relationship with representatives of Fiction-land, and I’m happy to help this appears-good-to-me agreement get made to do so.
2) It’s not okay to contribute to work on policies that you think are harmful for the world, just so you can get involved with the thing that is your core motivation.
“I am here helping coordinate a ban on building houses in San Francisco which I expect will contribute to homelessness and substantially damage the economic growth of the city, because I would like to build a relationship with the city governance.”
3) It’s never okay to misrepresent what you believe.
“I am here primarily because I personally care about this policy a great deal” vs “I am here because the policy seems reasonable to me and my good ally John Smith has asked me to help him get it enacted, who I believe honestly cares about it and thinks it will make people’s lives better.”
4) I think it’s okay to spend time talking about things that aren’t your favorite thing.
“Let’s talk through how we could get this policy passed that is like my 20th favorite thing” or “Let’s spend a few hours figuring out how to achieve this goal that the head of our office wants even though I am not personally invested in it.”
5) But you should answer honestly about your intentions.
“I’m here because I’d like to prevent us all going extinct from AI, but while I’m building up a career and reputation, in the meantime I’m happy to improve the government’s understanding of what’s even happening, or improve its communications with companies, or join in on what we’re all working on here.”
Here are some of my current principles around this issue.
1) It’s fine to contribute to work on policies that you think are good-to-neutral that aren’t your core motivation, just so you can get involved with the thing that is your core motivation.
“I am happy to be here helping the Senator achieve an agreement with foreign country Fiction-land on export taxes. I am not here because I personally care a great deal about export taxes (they seem fine to me), but because I want to build a personally strong relationship with representatives of Fiction-land, and I’m happy to help this appears-good-to-me agreement get made to do so.
2) It’s not okay to contribute to work on policies that you think are harmful for the world, just so you can get involved with the thing that is your core motivation.
“I am here helping coordinate a ban on building houses in San Francisco which I expect will contribute to homelessness and substantially damage the economic growth of the city, because I would like to build a relationship with the city governance.”
3) It’s never okay to misrepresent what you believe.
“I am here primarily because I personally care about this policy a great deal” vs “I am here because the policy seems reasonable to me and my good ally John Smith has asked me to help him get it enacted, who I believe honestly cares about it and thinks it will make people’s lives better.”
4) I think it’s okay to spend time talking about things that aren’t your favorite thing.
“Let’s talk through how we could get this policy passed that is like my 20th favorite thing” or “Let’s spend a few hours figuring out how to achieve this goal that the head of our office wants even though I am not personally invested in it.”
5) But you should answer honestly about your intentions.
“I’m here because I’d like to prevent us all going extinct from AI, but while I’m building up a career and reputation, in the meantime I’m happy to improve the government’s understanding of what’s even happening, or improve its communications with companies, or join in on what we’re all working on here.”