You're right that this is an important distinction to make.

You make a fair point, but what other tool do we have than our voice? I've read Matthew's last post and skimmed through others. I see some concerning views, but I can also understand how he arrives at them. But what puzzles me often with some AI folks is the level of confidence needed to take such high-stakes actions. Why not err on the side of caution when the stakes are potentially so high?

Perhaps instead of trying to change someone's moral views, we could just encourage taking moral uncertainty seriously? I personally lean towards hedonic act utilitarianism, yet I often default to 'common sense morality' because I'm just not certain enough.

I don't have strong feelings on know how to best tackle this. I won't have good answers to any questions. I'm just voicing concern and hoping others with more expertise might consider engaging constructively.

Good point, I guess my lasting impression wasn't entirely fair to how things played out. In any case, the most important part of my message is that I hope he doesn't feels discouraged from actively participating in EA. 

On top of mentioning a specific opportunity, I think this post makes a great case in general for considering work like this (great wage & benefits, little experience necessary, somewhat mundane, shiftwork). I do feel a bit uncomfortable about the part where you mention using personal sway to influence the hiring process though, as this could undermine fair hiring practices, but I could be overreacting. 

Thanks for sharing this, while I personally believe the shift in focus on AI is justified (I also believe working on animal welfare is more impactful than global poverty), I can definitely sympathize with many of the other concerns you shared and agree with many of them (especially LessWrong lingo taking over, the underreaction to sexism/racism, and the Nonlinear controversy not being taken seriously enough). While I would completely understand in your situation if you don't want to interact with the community anymore, I just want to share that I believe your voice is really important and I hope you continue to engage with EA! I wouldn't want the movement to discourage anyone who shares its principles (like "let's use our time and resources to help others the most"), but disagrees with how it's being put into practice, from actively participating. 

I'm not sure how to word this properly, and I'm uncertain about the best approach to this issue, but I feel it's important to get this take out there.

Yesterday, Mechanize was announced, a startup focused on developing virtual work environments, benchmarks, and training data to fully automate the economy. The founders include Matthew Barnett, Tamay Besiroglu, and Ege Erdil, who are leaving (or have left) Epoch AI to start this company.

I'm very concerned we might be witnessing another situation like Anthropic, where people with EA connections start a company that ultimately increases AI capabilities rather than safeguarding humanity's future. But this time, we have a real opportunity for impact before it's too late. I believe this project could potentially accelerate capabilities, increasing the odds of an existential catastrophe. 

I've already reached out to the founders on X, but perhaps there are people more qualified than me who could speak with them about these concerns. In my tweets to them, I expressed worry about how this project could speed up AI development timelines, asked for a detailed write-up explaining why they believe this approach is net positive and low risk, and suggested an open debate on the EA Forum. While their vision of abundance sounds appealing, rushing toward it might increase the chance we never reach it due to misaligned systems.

I personally don't have a lot of energy or capacity to work on this right now, nor do I think I have the required expertise, so I hope that others will pick up the slack. It's important we approach this constructively and avoid attacking the three founders personally. The goal should be productive dialogue, not confrontation.

Does anyone have thoughts on how to productively engage with the Mechanize team? Or am I overreacting to what might actually be a beneficial project?

No guest bedrooms. We encouraged tents and sleeping bags. Some people just went home for the night, while others came only for one day. This meant for both editions only 5-8 people ended up staying overnight, with most of them sleeping indoors in the living room.

Got it, thanks for the reply!

What are some reasons to remain optimistic about the world from an EA perspective? Or how can we keep up with the most important news (ex. USAID / PEPFAR) without drowning in it? 

The news is just incredibly depressing. The optimism I once had before the pandemic is just gone. Yeah, global health and development may still continue to improve. And that's not insignificant. But moral circle expansion? Animal welfare? AI risks? 

Same, I love it as well. Though my Facebook connection is broken and will likely never be fully repaired. I can remain logged in until I send a picture, then the connection breaks. And I keep forgetting. I've talked with the support team about it and it seems quite hopeless.