epistemic status: quickly written mini-memo, not Claude-generated
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This is possibly a (good) remnant from my past weightlifting-coaching backgrounds. I found lots of success with adopting this "Coaching" mindset framing going into my mentorship calls, that can strike the "firm but patient" balance:
accountability
so much value of paid coaching clients is from the social accountability of showing up to the scary arena together
where you're coming from as a mentor...
from a place of "i'm rooting for you and i want you to succeed which is why i'm giving you this feedback" and "i believe you can win the Olympic gold medal if you fix xyz"
give concrete pointers
as often as possible, don't be nebulous
eg. say less "go to gym"; say more "show up every Monday at 10am to 11am and do these five workouts, three sets of 10 reps each in this specific order."
points out errors with immediacy;
build a relationship where error-correction is the norm
eg. "[mid-screen share] ... wait wait go back, i think you should remove the picture of Terminator on the poster, because-"
result in: leaving mentees feeling like they worked with (an actual) coach and not someone they just answer to ;)
BLUF:
* To determine whether AI is ‘improving exponentially’, ‘hitting the wall’, or any other claim which involves a quantity or magnitude (e.g. ‘This model was a big leap/small increment’). We need a good y-axis: an interval scale of AI capability which means +1 unit always represents the same degree of ‘how much better’, in the same way +1 degree Celsius is always the same amount of ‘how much hotter’.
* Yet there is no good y-axis for AI capability. All our...
Summary
* The animal welfare movement has already seen an influx in funding and should prepare for the possibility of more.
* The EA Animal Welfare Fund is encouraging those working in animal advocacy to actively set aside time and resources now to concretely plan for scaling sustainably, and we’ll support you in doing that.
* We’re requesting advocates set concrete ambitious goals and submit plans t...
Public service announcement
1. Applications are now open for our first ever round of the Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program dedicated exclusively to animal welfare. Learn more about what’s different this round here and apply...