All of James Lin's Comments + Replies

It certainly helps, and we would recommend taking a look through the intro GCBR curriculum. At the same time, the pathway for some biosecurity researchers goes from technical research -> learning about the overview of biosecurity.

In short, these two programs are fairly complementary, and order probably doesn't matter as much as focus/curiosity.

Thanks for the thoughts!

I think you're right on sterilization making more sense for mitigation. My thought process was that sterilization of surfaces in hospitals and the air can almost fully prevent infections from spreading. The case for mitigation does feel more natural though.

On choosing ontologies, I think that several frameworks could have worked in theory, but in practice I felt that the mitigate-prevent framework was the simplest to understand for a general audience. As with all frameworks, there are gray areas, but the distinction is clear enough so that the visual makes sense.

2
JP Addison
1y
And the things about built environment, and better PPE, are also, in this view, most useful for preventing an infection from ever getting off the ground? I would really expect PPE to be a mitigation as well.

Just added a link, hopefully that makes it more accessible! Thanks for pointing this out. 

2
Guy Raveh
1y
Perfect, thanks!

Thanks for the constructive feedback! I've added a link to a larger image as per your suggestion.

An updateable online list of resources seems useful, and I'm currently working on something similar. QR codes didn't occur to me at all, so thanks for pointing that out! And on zoonotic risk, I was thinking of the other definition (i.e. previously didn't infect humans), though I agree that vectors such as mosquitoes would also count.

On specific rationales, it's often hard to speak explicitly about why things are and aren't low-downside because of info hazard co... (read more)

3
DirectedEvolution
1y
That makes sense, best of luck as you continue to develop this resource. I'd also suggest finding a way to make clear what sort of epistemic backing the map has on the map itself. Right now, it is essentially a list of claims. Here on this post, you give some context for those claims, but the map itself doesn't. So if I was seeing the map as a standalone, I can only evaluate whether or not the connections between the items seem reasonable to me. This is easy to do for well-informed people, but the downside is that this tool is probably most useful for less-informed people. Optimizing this tool for the intended audience might take some more work, but I think it's a great foundation to build on.

Thanks for your comment Linch! We appreciate the feedback.

To clarify, competence and fit are ultimately the most important considerations for a position at the end of the day. We don't think you should prevent talented young people from non-elite backgrounds from taking on senior-level positions. Our claim is closer to: 1) if you create a prestigious website/application/program then you would get better candidates, and 2) experience at an elite institution is one factor among many that is fairly predictive for average competence/specialization. I'm now mor... (read more)

Thanks for the clarifications! Sorry my wording was confusing!

I'm not too sure I understand what you mean by b), but to reiterate our point: we think that it's basically pointless (and probably detrimental!) to be elitist for entry level positions, given the selection pressures.

I'm not sure, but I think I disagree here. I think often you have less signals of demonstrated competency, success, and track record for most people who apply for entry-level positions. So for, e.g., a summer research or journalism internship, it makes sense to (relatively) upweight... (read more)

Thanks for taking the time to write this response! We really appreciate the feedback.

A couple of points:

  1. On the first and second point, I agree that we could have been much more rigorous about the specifics of "what we mean by elitism." We mostly mean elite institutions and organizations, which we used interchangeably with elite environments (e.g. having worked at SpaceX, or having studied at MIT).
     
    Sometimes (maybe even often?), the best in the field won't be from an 'elite' institution (e.g. Ramanujan). I agree that elite institutions =/= best talent.
... (read more)

I think this is an interesting consideration!

I'm still curious about the opportunity cost for those people's time, though.  On first pass, it seems likely that if you feel overqualified for a position, it probably tracks something important and you should look into alternative ways of maximizing your impact. But it's good to keep in mind that even if you feel overqualified, there are legitimate reasons to still choose that position besides looking for a job.

This website is great for all things science fiction. Here's a list of technologies that were predicted (there are hundreds!):

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/ctnlistalpha.asp 

2
Isaac King
2y
This appears to be a list of all science fiction technology, even if it doesn't exist in real life. For example I see "antigravity" on this list.

This sounds super exciting! Despite working in biosecurity field-building, for some reason running paper-writing competitions never occurred to me, but I think this seems like a promising direction to point biosecurity-keen students towards.

You mentioned that writing the paper took 40-60 hours, but what about the time commitment for reading papers / talking with experts?

2
jtm
2y
Hi James! Good question. That estimate was for our entire process of producing the paper, including any relevant research. We wrote on a topic that somewhat overlapped with areas we already knew a bit about, so I can imagine there'd be extra hours if you write on something you're less familiar with.  Also, I generally expect that the time investment might vary a lot between groups, so I wouldn't put too much weight on my rough estimate. Cheers!

This is a really cool initiative! I think we need more organizations like ProPublica, and at the same time we should tap into existing publications and persuade them that EA ideas are good.