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  • Reading glasses might be one of the best buys in global health.
    Most development interventions are considered “good buys” (for donors or governments) if they return $15 in social benefits for every $1 spent. Every $1 spent on reading glasses could result in $46 more in earnings. Discuss...
  • Protected: Cybersecurity and the Clean Energy Transition
    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post. The post Protected: Cybersecurity and the Clean Energy Transition appeared first on CLTC.
  • Are the 13 Keys to the White House Worthless?
    Allan Lichtman’s “13 Keys” election prediction system has a disputed track record and serious flaws. But it might still be worth learning about. A politics update by Jacob Cohen (@Conflux).
  • The Moral Two Envelopes Problem and the Moral Weights Project
    This post is an overview of the Moral Two Envelopes Problem and a take on whether it applies to Rethink Priorities' Moral Weights Project. It is a product of discussions between myself, Michael St. Jules, Hayley Clatterbuck, Marcus Davis, Bob Fischer, and Arvo Muñoz Morán, but need not reflect anyone's views but my own. Thanks to Brian Tomasik, Carl Shulman, and Michael St. Jules for comments.
  • Come watch Sarah Paine lecture live next week!
    RSVP below!
  • Minimal Motivation of Natural Latents
    Suppose two Bayesian agents are presented with the same spreadsheet - IID samples of data in each row, a feature in each column. Each agent develops a generative model of the data distribution. We'll assume the two converge to the same predictive distribution, but may have different generative models containing different latent variables.
  • An Opinionated Evals Reading List
    While you can make a lot of progress in evals with tinkering and paying little attention to the literature, we found that various other papers have saved us many months of research effort. The Apollo Research evals team thus compiled a list of what we felt were important evals-related papers.
  • The Media Celebrates California’s Historic Ban on Octopus Farming
    On September 27th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed The California Oppose Cruelty to Octopuses (OCTO) Act, cosponsored by Animal Legal Defense Fund and Social Compassion in Legislation, into law. The law prohibits octopus farming and the sales of commercially farmed octopus across the state.
  • Love of Country
    Tuesday, October 15
  • AI Shapes Our Time: 12 Billion Hours Spent Daily | Webinar Highlight
    Webinar: Privacy, Security, and Innovation - Friends Not Foes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS1lGVTyTM4 Featuring: Andrew Trask | OpenMined Founder and Executive Director Responsible AI development necessitates balancing the risks and rewards of open or closed-source development, respecting data privacy while promoting innovation, and supporting national security while protecting...
  • DC Butcher Shop Sued for Deceptively Advertising the “Fatty Liver” as Humane
    Today, animal protection groups Animal Outlook and Legal Impact for Chickens filed suit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Civil Division, against DC butcher shop Harvey’s Market for misleading marketing practices regarding its foie gras, which is sold under an advertising banner with the phrases “humanely raised stock,” “all-natural,” and “free range.”.
  • Cities face daunting challenges. Mike Bloomberg wants to help them help each other.
    Cities represent the future of humanity — and that means we must figure out how to make them more livable. The share of people who live in urbanized areas more than doubled in the US and across the world from 1900 to 2000. More than eight in 10 Americans live in cities today, as do […]...
  • Downed Pigs: An Intersection Of Animal Welfare, Public Health, And Consumer Safety
    Crucial research exposes concerns about downed pigs in the food supply, calling for stricter regulations and greater public awareness. The post Downed Pigs: An Intersection Of Animal Welfare, Public Health, And Consumer Safety appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • Cheap ornament and status games
    Was modernism originally a way to signal taste instead of wealth?
  • Mostleastremarkablegate And The Nature Of Online Harassment
  • Farm Animal Welfare in Ghana
    This report is also available on Animal Ask website. Downloadable pdf version here. We conducted this research on behalf of Animal Welfare League. More information about this organisation's work for animals is available here on their website. Executive Summary. The welfare of farmed animals is a critical component of agriculture.
  • More Details on Israel Sabotaging Hezbollah Pagers and Walkie-Talkies
    The Washington Post has a long and detailed story about the operation that’s well worth reading (alternate version here). The sales pitch came from a marketing official trusted by Hezbollah with links to Apollo. The marketing official, a woman whose identity and nationality officials declined to reveal, was a former Middle East sales representative for the Taiwanese firm who had established...
  • PACE Forum convenes school officials, technology vendors to improve cybersecurity in K-12 Schools
    WASHINGTON, DC: The PACE Forum, a first-of-its-kind convening held on October 8, 2024, brought together dozens of cybersecurity experts, education technology (edtech) vendors, procurement leaders, and other stakeholders…. The post PACE Forum convenes school officials, technology vendors to improve cybersecurity in K-12 Schools appeared first on CLTC.
  • Asterisk Mag 07: Development
    Xenobiology. Catholic schools. When will we have artificial wombs? Old MacDonald meets Big Brother. Weird little guys. Malaria vaccines. The most important part is knowing when to quit. What’s going on with the kids these days? Unleash the DFC. All about GLP-1s. Urban planning, Weber-style. Of course the AI labs are lying to you.
  • Transitioning from Battery Cages: How Can Farmers Access Support for Humane Poultry Systems?
    During this Animal Welfare Debate Week, I’ve learned that the battery cage system in poultry farming can be considered a form of punishment for the birds. As a farmer currently using this system, I am eager to transition to a more humane, cage-free approach. Are there any funding or support programs available to assist farmers in making this change? If so, how can I access these resources?
  • Google backs nuclear plants ⚡, OpenAI's meta-prompt 🧠, Internet Archive returns 🌎
  • Eukaryote writes for Asterisk Magazine
    See my piece on the history of microbiology and the vast, invisible worlds that come into focus every time we figure out how to look closer: Through the Looking Glass, and What Zheludev et al. (2024) Found There at Asterisk Magazine I’ve written for Asterisk before: What I won’t eat, on arriving at an equilibrium […]...
  • The case for unlearning that removes information from LLM weights
    What if you could remove some information from the weights of an AI? Would that be helpful?. It is clearly useful against some misuse concerns: if you are concerned that LLMs will make it easier to build bioweapons because they have memorized such information, removing the memorized facts would remove this misuse concern.
  • What would evidence-based AI policy look like?
    If-then commitments might be the answer
  • Upcoming Speaking Engagements
    This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak: I’m speaking at SOSS Fusion 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The event will be held on October 22 and 23, 2024, and my talk is at 9:15 AM ET on October 22, 2024. The list is maintained on this page.
  • Trump Attempted A Coup
    Trump attempted to illegally install himself as president after losing a fair election
  • Protected: PACE Forum convenes school officials, technology vendors to improve cybersecurity in K-12 Schools
    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post. The post Protected: PACE Forum convenes school officials, technology vendors to improve cybersecurity in K-12 Schools appeared first on CLTC.
  • The True Cost Of Fur: A Hidden Environmental Threat
    Fur is glamorized, but the environmental damage caused by its production is staggering. From high emissions to water pollution, fur is fashion’s dirtiest secret. The post The True Cost Of Fur: A Hidden Environmental Threat appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • The EU AI Act Newsletter #63: Standards, Cooperation, Risk Management
    First Code of Practice plenary for general-purpose AI was on 30 September, revealing disagreements between GPAI providers and other stakeholders. Legislative Process Euractiv's tech journalist Jacob Wulff Wold reported that the European Commission held its first Code of Practice plenary for general-purpose AI (GPAI) on 30 September.
  • Import AI 387: Overfitting vs reasoning; distributed training runs; and Facebook's new video models
    What is the space of intelligence?
  • Project Assistant-Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN)
    Project Assistant-Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN) admin_inox Mon, 10/14/2024 - 15:00 vacancy_id SYS-1223 location Abuja, Nigeria Contract type Fixed Term Duration 6 Months Frontend apply URL https://jobs.gainhealth.org/vacancies/1223/apply/ Closing date Fri, 10/18/2024 - 12:00 Department Advocacy, policy and external relations about_the_role <p...
  • Explaining the discrepancies in cost effectiveness ratings: A replication and breakdown of RP's animal welfare cost effectiveness calculations
    I'd like to thank Derek Shiller from Rethink priorities for extensive discussions and looking over this post. Introduction. I've been following the "animal welfare" debate this week on the EA forum, and noticed that a key crux for a lot of people was that calculations showed that animal welfare campaigns (specifically the "caged chicken corporate campaign") was much more cost effective than...
  • Everyone Will Not Just
    Monday, October 14
  • What went wrong with autism research? Let’s start with lab mice.
    In the world of neuroscience research, the mouse reigns supreme: in the US alone, tens of millions of mice are studied as a proxy for the human brain in labs. They’re small, they breed quickly, and they’re relatively easy to genetically manipulate, making mice ubiquitous in biomedical science. When studying something fundamental to biology, like […]...
  • ChinAI #285: Chinese LLMs go global
    Greetings from a world where…...
  • Perfectl Malware
    Perfectl in an impressive piece of malware: The malware has been circulating since at least 2021. It gets installed by exploiting more than 20,000 common misconfigurations, a capability that may make millions of machines connected to the Internet potential targets, researchers from Aqua Security said.
  • The Secret Suffering of Baby Pigs: An Inside Look at the Meat Industry
    Pigs in the meat industry endure misery from the moment they’re born. Take action and urge lawmakers to protect them now!. The post The Secret Suffering of Baby Pigs: An Inside Look at the Meat Industry appeared first on Mercy For Animals.
  • AI Art Turing Test
  • Veganuary HR Manager vacancy (part time, UK)
    Hi FAST friends, Veganuary have a job opening for a part time HR Manager based in the UK, to join our growing international team and support our mission to create a better world for humans and animals alike. Contract: Part-time (30 hours per week), Permanent. Salary: £35,632 FTE (pro rata for part-time hours). Reports to: COO . Work base: Home-based within the UK.
  • The EU AI Act Newsletter #63: Standards, Cooperation, Risk Management
    First Code of Practice plenary for general-purpose AI was on 30 September, revealing disagreements between GPAI providers and other stakeholders.
  • 78th World Health Assembly
    78th World Health Assembly gloireri Mon, 10/14/2024 - 07:31...
  • How will climate change affect crop yields in the future?
    Maize yields could see significant declines, but wheat could increase. Impacts across the world will be very different.
  • Who You Are Vs. What You Control
    If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible.
  • Introducing 'Animal Law Focus Foundation'
    I'm happy to share here with you all the official launch of Animal Law Focus Foundation, a new international organisation dedicated to researching the regulatory framework for the protection of farm animals and developing innovative legal strategies for the creation or improvement of current standards. For many years, I have worked in the defence of animals - not only in the area of animal...
  • My Nutty, Extremist Beliefs
    In nearly twenty years of blogging, I’ve unfortunately felt more and more isolated and embattled. It now feels like anything I post earns severe blowback, from ridicule on Twitter, to pseudonymous comment trolls, to scary and aggressive email bullying campaigns. Reflecting on this, though, I came to see that such strong reactions are an understandable […]...
  • Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 1: The Merge
  • SpaceX catches Starship 🚀, WordPress chaos 📝, OpenAI Swarm 👨‍💻
  • Multiplier Arguments are often flawed
    Foreword. Sadly, it looks like the debate week will end without many of the stronger arguments for Global Health being raised, at least at the post level. I don't have time to write them all up, and in many cases they would be better written by someone with more expertise, but one issue is firmly in my comfort zone: the maths! .
  • Open Thread 351
  • Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism (part 2) (2)
    [I posted this before, but Substack didn’t send out notifications for some reason, so I am trying again.
  • For US opportunities, consider entering the US diversity visa lottery before November 5, 2024--its free and easy!
    This is a linkpost for @Tyrone-Jay Barugh 's post for people outside of the US who are interested in careers doing good within the United States. In 2022, he recommended that people within that demographic (people without US residency or citizenship interested in careers doing good within the United States, e.g., with Global Development or AI Safety Technical or Policy work) take advantage of...
  • Indirect Relations
    Sunday, October 13
  • this week in security — october 13 edition
    this week in security — october 13 edition US investigating Salt Typhoon hacks, Internet Archive breached, Qualcomm zero-day under attack, and more. ~this week in security~. a cybersecurity newsletter by @zackwhittaker volume 7, issue 38 View this email in your browser | RSS ~ ~ THIS WEEK, TL;DR. U.S. officials race to understand severity of China's recent...
  • My theory of change for working in AI healthtech
    Discuss...
  • From Haecceities To God
    Haecceities, for the record, are a philosophical concept, not a kind of spell
  • Links in Progress: rising incomes do not always mean fewer births
    And how having a baby can make you believe in the future
  • Animal welfare is neglected in a particular way: it is fragile
    Open Philanthropy has generously supported the animal welfare field for an extended period of time, enabling the success of corporate campaigns, the creation of numerous new initiatives unlikely to succeed without this funding, and the establishment of animal advocacy more into the mainstream in the EA.
  • SAE features for refusal and sycophancy steering vectors
    TL;DR: Steering vectors provide evidence that linear directions in LLMs are interpretable. Since SAEs decompose linear directions, they should be able to interpret steering vectors. We apply the gradient pursuit algorithm suggested by Smith et al to decompose steering vectors, and find that they contain many interpretable and promising-looking features.
  • My theory of change for working in AI healthtech
    This post starts out pretty gloomy but ends up with some points that I feel pretty positive about. Day to day, I'm more focussed on the positive points, but awareness of the negative has been crucial to forming my priorities, so I'm going to start with those.
  • Machines of Loving Grace
    Saturday, October 12
  • Dario Amodei — Machines of Loving Grace
    I think and talk a lot about the risks of powerful AI. The company I’m the CEO of, Anthropic, does a lot of research on how to reduce these risks. Because of this, people sometimes draw the conclusion that I’m a pessimist or “doomer” who thinks AI will be mostly bad or dangerous. I don’t think that at all.
  • Whose transparency can we celebrate?
    Holly Elmore writes about the costs of criticism. One of the most salient things to me here is that criticism disincentivises transparency: people are 'punished' when they are transparent while equal transgressions by people who are not transparent 'go unpunished'. I want to call out instances of transparency and celebrate them.
  • In Defense of Animals Job Listings for Freedom Farms Vegan Sanctuary
    Hi Everyone,. We're thrilled to share current job listings for 3 new positions at Freedom Farms, a 44-acre vegan sanctuary located in Central California with a variety of wild and rescued farmed animals, including cows, peacocks, ducks, deer, horses, and rabbits.
  • Ambitious Impact (AIM) is hiring for 4 roles
    Ambitious Impact (AIM) is excited to open applications for four influential roles in our tight-knit, dedicated team. You can find more information about each of the roles, including job descriptions, on our website. We also recommend watching this video for a (slightly outdated) sense of what it's like working at AIM.
  • Mercy For Animals is hiring for a Managing Director, US/Canada!
    Mercy For Animals is hiring for a Managing Director, US/Canada! . I am excited to announce that Mercy For Animals has just opened a high impact job opportunity for Managing Director, US/Canada! Come join us at MFA! . Please see the link here for information about the role and applying. This role is remote in either the United States or Canada.
  • Your mind needs chaos
    When you think of what makes us human, would you say it’s our powers of prediction? I probably wouldn’t have, at least not until my conversation with Mark Miller, a philosopher of cognition and research fellow at both the University of Toronto and Monash University in Melbourne. He studies how new ideas about the mind […]...
  • Why Are So Many Left-Wing Protests So Offputting?
    Incentives and selection effects
  • EIS XIV: Is mechanistic interpretability about to be practically useful?
    Is this market really only at 63%? I think you should take the over. Only 63%? I think you should take the over.Five tiers of rigor for safety-oriented interpretability work. Lately, I have been thinking of interpretability research as falling into five different tiers of rigor. 1. Pontification.
  • L’interventionnisme et l’animalisme – avec Thomas Lepeltier
    ⚠️ Découvrez du contenu EXCLUSIF (pas sur la chaîne) ⚠️ ⇒ https://the-flares.com/y/bonus/ ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Infos complémentaires : sources, références, liens... ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Le contenu vous intéresse ? Abonnez-vous et cliquez sur la 🔔 Vous avez aimé cette vidéo ? Pensez à mettre un 👍 et à la partager.
  • My submission for Worst Argument In The World
    Scott Alexander once wrote: David Stove once ran a contest to find the Worst Argument In The World, but he awarded the prize to his own entry, and one that shored up his politics to boot. It hardly seems like an objective process. If he can unilaterally declare a Worst Argument, then so can I.
  • Some reasons for not prioritising animal welfare very strongly
    Disclaimer: I work at EA animal welfare organisations but this piece reflects my personal views, not the views of the organisations I am involved with. I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of support for animal welfare in this debate.
  • All My Coverage of California AI Safety Bill SB 1047 (in One Place)
    Governor Gavin Newsom killed the bill, but the fight over it sketches a blueprint for the AI safety battles to come
  • Indian Fishermen Are Catching Less Squid
    Fishermen in Tamil Nadu are reporting smaller catches of squid. Blog moderation policy.
  • Exciting opportunity for an experienced Development Manager at New Roots Institute
    ABOUT NEW ROOTS INSTITUTE. What do we do?. New Roots Institute is a growing nonprofit that educates people across the country on factory farming’s devastating impacts on people, animals, and the planet, and empowers them to advocate for systemic change in their communities. Our approach is designed to build significant and lasting capacity for the movement to end factory farming.
  • More on My AI and Democracy Book
    In July, I wrote about my new book project on AI and democracy, to be published by MIT Press in fall 2025. My co-author and collaborator Nathan Sanders and I are hard at work writing. At this point, we would like feedback on titles. Here are four possibilities:
  • Sarah Paine & Dwarkesh Patel Lecture Series
    A 3-part live lecture series feat. Sarah Paine. Reserve your tickets today.
  • Enhancing Cybersecurity Resilience for Transnational Dissidents
    On September 12, 2024, the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity hosted a launch event for Enhancing Cybersecurity Resilience for Transnational Dissidents, a report authored by researchers from Citizen Lab,…. The post Enhancing Cybersecurity Resilience for Transnational Dissidents appeared first on CLTC.
  • Second Latin American Congress on Animal Law - ARBA 2024!
    Hello everyone !. We invite you to the 2nd Latin American Congress of Animal Law - ARBA 2024!. This congress will bring together eight important professional experts who exercise an important work as defenders of animal rights in Latin America (Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Peru).
  • QB: Is Self-Sacrifice Especially Virtuous?
    tl;dr: No.
  • Anders Sandberg | Whole Brain Emulation Ethics
    Anders Sandberg's research centres on estimating the capabilities and underlying science of future technologies, methods of reasoning about long-term futures, existential and global catastrophic risk, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), as well as societal and ethical issues surrounding human enhancement.
  • We're looking for an Organizing & Campaign Specialist at New Roots Institute
    ABOUT NEW ROOTS INSTITUTE. What do we do?. New Roots Institute is a growing nonprofit that educates people across the country on factory farming’s devastating impacts on people, animals, and the planet, and empowers them to advocate for systemic change in their communities. Our approach is designed to build significant and lasting capacity for the movement to end factory farming.
  • Transformer Weekly — Oct 11
    Peter Kyle on the UK AI Bill, OpenAI’s cost projections, and AI takes over the Nobel Prizes.
  • Is Funding From Industrial Agriculture Sabotaging U.S. Banks’ Climate Commitments?
    Big banks are top lenders to the industrial animal agriculture sector. If they want to follow through on their climate commitments, they must divest from the industry. The post Is Funding From Industrial Agriculture Sabotaging U.S. Banks’ Climate Commitments? appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • A Close Presidential Race: What Does the Path Look Like for the US Post-Election?
    What does US policy change look like under each of the candidates?
  • Retrospective on EA Nigeria Summit: Our Successes and Learnings
    EA Nigeria Summit was the first EA-related conference in Nigeria, and it took place from September 6th to 7th, 2024. The event saw a higher level of interest than we (the organisers) expected. We received applications from individuals across Nigeria and the international community, especially Africans. We accepted 170 applicants for the summit, and a total of 136 participants attended the event.
  • Was RP's Moral Weights Project too animal friendly? Four critical junctures
    I really appreciate the RP Moral Weights Project and before I say anything I’d like to thank the amazing RP crew for their extremely thoughtful and kind responses to this critique. Because of their great response I feel a little uncomfortable even publishing this, as I respect both the project and the integrity of the researchers.
  • Is RP's Moral Weights Project too animal friendly? Four critical junctures
    I really appreciate the RP Moral Weights Project and before I say anything I’d like to thank the amazing RP crew for their extremely thoughtful and kind responses to this critique. Because of their great response I feel a little uncomfortable even publishing this, as I respect both the project and the integrity of the researchers.
  • AI companies are trying to build god. Shouldn’t they get our permission first?
    AI companies are on a mission to radically change our world. They’re working on building machines that could outstrip human intelligence and unleash a dramatic economic transformation on us all. Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, has basically told us he’s trying to build a god — or “magic intelligence in the sky,” as he […]...
  • Stand Still Awhile
    Saturday, October 12
  • Tamay Besiroglu on AI in 2030: Scaling, Automation, and AI Agents
    Tamay Besiroglu joins the podcast to discuss scaling, AI capabilities in 2030, breakthroughs in AI agents and planning, automating work, the uncertainties of investing in AI, and scaling laws for inference-time compute. Here's the report we discuss in the episode: https://epochai.org/blog/can-ai-scaling-continue-through-2030 Timestamps: 00:00 How important is scaling?
  • IronNet Has Shut Down
    After retiring in 2014 from an uncharacteristically long tenure running the NSA (and US CyberCommand), Keith Alexander founded a cybersecurity company called IronNet. At the time, he claimed that it was based on IP he developed on his own time while still in the military. That always troubled me.
  • Project 1882 report release: Plant-based transitions
    Hello FAST! . Exciting news! Project 1882 has just released a new report showcasing the growing trend towards plant-based transitions in the Swedish hotel, restaurant, and fast-food industry. With this report, we have been urging companies to set clear goals for promoting plant-based options and reducing the overall amount of meat purchased and consumed.
  • Book Review Contest 2024 Winners
  • “Criticism is sanctified in EA, but, like any intervention, criticism needs to pay rent” by Holly_Elmore
    I really loved this quick take from Lizka, especially this part: At the same time, trying to actually do anything is really hard. Appreciation for doers is often undersupplied. Being in leadership positions or engaging in public discussions is a valuable service, but opens you up to a lot of (often stressful) criticism, which acts as a disincentive for being public.
  • “The default trajectory for animal welfare means vastly more suffering” by JamesÖz
    In summary, there are two important reasons why I believe it's more important to direct additional resources towards animal welfare over global health: Global health and human welfare are generally improving whilst animal suffering is getting worse at a worrying (and potentially accelerating) rate. For factory farming, the default is it gets worse and worse over the next 50 years.
  • Statement on the situation in the Middle East
    11 October 2024 The war in Gaza has been going on for a year with catastrophic loss of human lives … More...
  • Highlights From "The Most Plausible Explanation Of Why God Allows Evil"
    Many such criticisms
  • AI and the feeling of living in two worlds
    This is a cross-post from my Substack, where I don't assume much background knowledge on AI safety and trends. . I feel like I live in two different worlds sometimes. In one world, the next decade will be... normal. Sure, I’ll see the world change, but it will change in familiar ways.
  • Proposed Octopus Farm Fails Environmental Impact Assessment
    The Canary Islands rejected a proposal for the world’s first commercial octopus farm, claiming the company failed to address its environmental impacts. This report highlights the significant flaws in the farm’s plans. The post Proposed Octopus Farm Fails Environmental Impact Assessment appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • Anonymous answers: could advances in AI supercharge biorisk?
    The post Anonymous answers: could advances in AI supercharge biorisk? appeared first on 80,000 Hours.

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