Thanks for writing this, I generally agree with most of the points. Detailed commentary below:
Additionally, mentors noted that reading is undervalued. People have written up how they think about things.
It also consistently surprises me how little people in the SERI MATS cohorts read. E.g. I used to read 1-2 papers a day in decent detail as a grad student, and even now still read 3-5 a week. (I probably spent 1+ hour a day reading on average.) Would recommend doing a lot more of it, especially in adjacent fields.
In addition to gaining more knowledge, reading widely also helps a lot with research communication skills.
One mentor said they have read “everything on Paul’s blog, which was super valuable.”
I don’t think I’m the mentor listed, but I have read everything on all three of Paul’s blogs (ai alignment, sideways view, and rational altruist) and did find it pretty valuable.
That being said, I wouldn’t recommend reading ~all of the three blogs. I think there’s quite strong diminishing marginal returns after the first one or two dozen posts. My guess is reading more of the academic coursework or mainline results for areas people are interested in is far more valuable at that point.
I think many of these are highly malleable and all of these are at least somewhat malleable.
I agree that these are pretty malleable. For example, about ~1 year ago, I was probably two standard deviations less relentless and motivated in research topics, and probably a standard deviation on hustle/resourcefulness.
(That being said, if you asked me a year ago what my main problem is, I’d probably have said low motivation/executive function, and not “I’m not smart enough”.)
I agree that these are pretty malleable. For example, about ~1 year ago, I was probably two standard deviations less relentless and motivated in research topics, and probably a standard deviation on hustle/resourcefulness.
Interesting! Would be very curious to hear if there were specific things you think caused the change.
I don’t think I’m the mentor listed, but I have read everything on all three of Paul’s blogs (ai alignment, sideways view, and rational altruist) and did find it pretty valuable.
That being said, I wouldn’t recommend reading ~all of the three blogs. I think there’s quite strong diminishing marginal returns after the first one or two dozen posts.
If I read 1-2 papers in a day in detail, I wouldn’t do much else. I guess people get better at this to some extent. I’m wondering if this is something I just need to carry on doing and eventually I’ll get better at it or there are some other ways to make this process more efficient.
Thanks for writing this, I generally agree with most of the points. Detailed commentary below:
It also consistently surprises me how little people in the SERI MATS cohorts read. E.g. I used to read 1-2 papers a day in decent detail as a grad student, and even now still read 3-5 a week. (I probably spent 1+ hour a day reading on average.) Would recommend doing a lot more of it, especially in adjacent fields.
In addition to gaining more knowledge, reading widely also helps a lot with research communication skills.
I don’t think I’m the mentor listed, but I have read everything on all three of Paul’s blogs (ai alignment, sideways view, and rational altruist) and did find it pretty valuable.
That being said, I wouldn’t recommend reading ~all of the three blogs. I think there’s quite strong diminishing marginal returns after the first one or two dozen posts. My guess is reading more of the academic coursework or mainline results for areas people are interested in is far more valuable at that point.
I agree that these are pretty malleable. For example, about ~1 year ago, I was probably two standard deviations less relentless and motivated in research topics, and probably a standard deviation on hustle/resourcefulness.
(That being said, if you asked me a year ago what my main problem is, I’d probably have said low motivation/executive function, and not “I’m not smart enough”.)
Interesting! Would be very curious to hear if there were specific things you think caused the change.
I’m pretty sure I’m the person being quoted here, and I was only referring to https://ai-alignment.com/.
If I read 1-2 papers in a day in detail, I wouldn’t do much else. I guess people get better at this to some extent. I’m wondering if this is something I just need to carry on doing and eventually I’ll get better at it or there are some other ways to make this process more efficient.