This is good and interesting. Various things to address, but I only have time for a couple at random.
I disagree with the idea that true things necessarily have explanations that are both convincing and short. In my experience you can give a short explanation that doesn’t address everyone’s reasonable objections, or a very long one that does, or something in between. If you understand some specific point about cutting edge research, you should be able to properly explain it to a lay person, but by the time you’re done they won’t be a lay person any more! If you restrict your explanation to “things you can cover before the person you’re explaining to decides this isn’t worth their time and goes away”, many concepts simply cannot ever be explained to most people, because they don’t really want to know.
So the core challenge is staying interesting enough for long enough to actually get across all of the required concepts. On that point, have you seen any of my videos, and do you have thoughts on them? You can search “AI Safety” on YouTube.
Quick note on AISafety.info: I just stumbled on it and it’s a great initiative.
I remember pitching an idea for an AI Safety FAQ (which I’m currently working on) to a friend at MIRI and him telling me “We don’t have anything like this, it’s a great idea, go for it!”; my reaction at the time was “Well I’m glad for the validation and also very scared that nobody has had the idea yet”, so I’m glad to have been wrong about that.
I’ll keep working on my article, though, because I think the FAQ you’re writing is too vast and maybe won’t quite have enough punch, it won’t be compelling enough for most people.
Would love to chat with you about it at some point.
I disagree with the idea that true things necessarily have explanations that are both convincing and short.
I don’t think it’s necessary for something to be true (there’s no short, convincing explanation of eg quantum mechanics), but I think accurate forecasts tend to have such explanations (Tetlock’s work strongly argues for this).
I agree there is a balance to be struck between losing your audience and being exhaustive, just that the vast majority of material I’ve read is on one side of this.
On that point, have you seen any of my videos, and do you have thoughts on them? You can search “AI Safety” on YouTube.
I don’t prefer video format for learning in general, but I will take a look!
I hadn’t seen this. I think it’s a good resource as sort of a FAQ, but isn’t zeroed in on “here is the problem we are trying to solve, and here’s why you should care about it” in layman’s terms. I guess the best example of what I’m looking for is Benjamin Hilton’s article for 80,000 hours, which I wish were a more popular share.
This is good and interesting. Various things to address, but I only have time for a couple at random.
I disagree with the idea that true things necessarily have explanations that are both convincing and short. In my experience you can give a short explanation that doesn’t address everyone’s reasonable objections, or a very long one that does, or something in between. If you understand some specific point about cutting edge research, you should be able to properly explain it to a lay person, but by the time you’re done they won’t be a lay person any more! If you restrict your explanation to “things you can cover before the person you’re explaining to decides this isn’t worth their time and goes away”, many concepts simply cannot ever be explained to most people, because they don’t really want to know.
So the core challenge is staying interesting enough for long enough to actually get across all of the required concepts. On that point, have you seen any of my videos, and do you have thoughts on them? You can search “AI Safety” on YouTube.
Similarly, do you thoughts on AISafety.info ?
Quick note on AISafety.info: I just stumbled on it and it’s a great initiative.
I remember pitching an idea for an AI Safety FAQ (which I’m currently working on) to a friend at MIRI and him telling me “We don’t have anything like this, it’s a great idea, go for it!”; my reaction at the time was “Well I’m glad for the validation and also very scared that nobody has had the idea yet”, so I’m glad to have been wrong about that.
I’ll keep working on my article, though, because I think the FAQ you’re writing is too vast and maybe won’t quite have enough punch, it won’t be compelling enough for most people.
Would love to chat with you about it at some point.
I don’t think it’s necessary for something to be true (there’s no short, convincing explanation of eg quantum mechanics), but I think accurate forecasts tend to have such explanations (Tetlock’s work strongly argues for this).
I agree there is a balance to be struck between losing your audience and being exhaustive, just that the vast majority of material I’ve read is on one side of this.
I don’t prefer video format for learning in general, but I will take a look!
I hadn’t seen this. I think it’s a good resource as sort of a FAQ, but isn’t zeroed in on “here is the problem we are trying to solve, and here’s why you should care about it” in layman’s terms. I guess the best example of what I’m looking for is Benjamin Hilton’s article for 80,000 hours, which I wish were a more popular share.