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This post is easily the weirdest thing I've ever written. I also consider it the best I've ever written - I hope you give it a chance. If you're not sold by the first section, you can safely skip the rest.
I
Imagine an alternate version of the Effective Altruism movement,...
The White House has published a framework requiring providers of projects funded by federal research grants to implement nucleic acid screening techniques. This was mandated by the previous executive order on AI, which stipulated the creation of this framework to reduce...
Given how bird flu is progressing (spread in many cows, virologists believing rumors that humans are getting infected but no human-to-human spread yet), this would be a good time to start a protest movement for biosafety/against factory farming in the US.
Btw, I don't think the virus has a high mortality rate in its current form, based on these reported rumors
More links:
April 22, Science:
But Russo and many other vets have heard anecdotes about workers who have pink eye and other symptoms—including fever, cough, and lethargy—and do not want to be tested or seen by doctors. James Lowe, a researcher who specializes in pig influenza viruses, says policies for monitoring exposed people vary greatly between states. “I believe there are probably lots of human cases,” he says, noting that most likely are asymptomatic. Russo says she is heartened that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has “really started to mobilize and do the right thing,” including linking with state and local health departments, as well as vets, to monitor the health of workers on affected farms. https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-government-hot-seat-response-growing-cow-flu-outbreak
April 29, Daily Mail:
Experts have warned that human transmission of bird flu may be far more widespread than thought, as farmers in Texas and Wisconsin are reported to have symptoms of the virus but are avoiding testing.
Dr Barb Petersen, a dairy veterinarian in Amarillo, Texas, explained that workers at a local farm where cattle have tested positive for the virus are suffering tell-tale symptoms.
[...] Meanwhile, veterinary researchers in Wisconsin — where the virus has infected cows — have reported multiple cases of local farmers suffering bird flu-like symptoms.
But farmers are notoriously reluctant to seek medical help, meaning 'a lot of cases are not documented', according to Dr Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Hi,
I appreciate THL has room for more funding. You say in the report on animal charity evaluators that:
A direct referral from Open Philanthropy’s Farm Animal Welfare team — the largest funder in the impact-focused animal welfare space — on THL indeed currently being funding-constrained, i.e. that it has ample room to cost-effectively use marginal funds on corporate campaigns and that there aren’t strong diminishing returns to providing THL with extra funding.
However, Open Philanthropy (OP), which granted 8.3 M$ to THL in 2023, presumably wants to fund...
TL;DR
- Don’t spend too long thinking about the pros and cons of applying to an opportunity (e.g., a job, grant, degree program, or internship). Assuming the initial application wouldn’t take you long, if it seems worth thinking hard about, you should probably just apply instead
An absurdly long and overwritten post about a little-known nervous system trait that will have nonetheless been worth the effort if it helps a handful of people
For some of us, experiencing the world has always been intense. From a young age we’ve known that there’...
I'm not very confident on this topic. I was also evaluated as a very weak-hearted and sensitive person. I don't think it's up to me to discuss whether they exist or not. But it's very difficult because HSPs are a shield for many people. I have observed something close to “covert narcissism.” I would like to point out that they tend to describe themselves as "competent and in need of protection." They want to be overly privileged.
A crucial consideration in assessing the risks of advanced AI is the moral value we place on "unaligned" AIs—systems that do not share human preferences—which could emerge if we fail to make enough progress on technical alignment.
In this post I'll consider three potential...
The main reason I made utilitarianism a contingent aspect of human values in the toy model is because I thought that's what you were arguing (e.g. when you say things like "humans are largely not utilitarians themselves").
I think there may have been a misunderstanding regarding the main point I was trying to convey. In my post, I fairly explicitly argued that the rough level of utilitarian values exhibited by humans is likely not very contingent, in the sense of being unusually high compared to other possibilities—and this was a crucial element of my thesi...
Epistemic status: Confident I learned a lesson; unsure if this is worth sharing but hopeful it might be
What this post is:
This is a brief, perhaps mundane story about how I was reminded of the importance of doing my research before diving deeply into a project that felt like "the most important thing ever" at the moment.
Summary
This weekend I learned a valuable lesson, or rather I had some cached wisdom solidified for me. What was this wisdom?
Look before you leap
- Do the research
- Check if similar work already exists.
- Reevaluate your motivations
Note: This approach is aligned with the scout mindset, focusing not on being first to claim and conquer but to carefully explore the terrain, consider others' ideas, and understand your own motivations.
Sometimes, the desire to produce something brilliant can push us towards an ego-driven "conqueror" mindset.[1]
Quick Story:
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...The Data on the EA community tag collects posts that provide, analyze, or discuss data related to the EA community itself, including membership metrics, funding statistics, and the results of community surveys.
Interesting post. I've always wondered how sensitive the views and efforts of the EA community are to the arbitrary historical process that led to its creation and development. Are there any in-depth explorations that try to answer this question?
Or, since thinking about alternative history can only get us so far, are there any examples of EA-adjacent philosophies or movements throughout history? E.g. Mohism, a Chinese philosophy from 400 BC, sounds like a surprisingly close match in some ways.