This is an idea I had for a post wherein I put a few topics or themes I've been mulling over (and haven't come to a strong conclusion to) and yet feel like I'm missing perspectives on- and am open to strong shifts in belief. Please comment evidence of agreement, disagreement or both...

PS: I am young, inexperienced and this was a post written in <20 min- pls be kind and bear in mind this is not meant to be serious/professional

Biology:

• I'm not certain whether pandemic prevention or global health (e.g. more uncertain long-term vs more concrete data-driven near term) is a more promising pathway for early career impact?

  • both are underfunded, 'contraversial' in terms of public/governmental support, and both important- but I'm unsure which aspects are more marginally in need of an early career (pre uni even) volunteer... 

AI:

• I'm unsure whether the environmental impact from AI is actually as substantial as say plane travel?

  • Open to shift either to 'this is a counterfactually high level of emissions/water use compared to other human activities' or 'this is less of a priority to mitigate compared to other AI issues/other climate damaging activities'

• I'm unsure whether deepfakes are being used as commonly as the media portrays? (near term AI focus)

  • I have a stance they CAN lead to harm, and WILL lead to harm if used, but unsure if they have been successfully used yet compared to other downsides of AI?
  • I will say- leaning to harm already as I know childhood sextortion has increased over 20 fold due to deepfakes
  • (I know near term and damage are hard to define- but interpret however you want)

• I'm unsure if 

Ethics:

• I'm unsure whether to use SciHub and similar sites.... what is the ethics (and societal implications) of 'pirated' science research?

  • less about the legalities/logistics- more on how does society change if this is the only way to get through the system to acquire knowledge?
  • I have decided I'm 'okay' with others using it if they are fine with it, but I've yet to decide whether to use it myself

• Should I for non-commercial purposes use AI art?

  • unsure of the damage- copyright, legal, environmental- compared to the benefits of expression (for non commercial purposes)...
  • undecided on my own stance

General life:

I am unsure how much disposable income to spend on myself/'fun' fuzzies when starting uni (likely to be under £500 a year so not substantial in the first place) versus just putting everything after rent/insurance/bills to charities to set a good epistemic norm?

• Same for whether to bill for my time, to ask for pay rather than volunteering etc- especially since finances are a huge burden and there is no economic runway from a support system whilst high projected expenses for uni/moving out...
• unsure whether to take paid work at non profits or to split my time between free volunteering at non profits and paid work from more corporate environments (e.g. is my time valuable enough to be paid or is paying me substaintially hindering a good cause?)