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  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Tesla Cybercab 🚗, TikTok earbuds 🎧, WordPress fork 👨‍💻
  • Announcing the Ultimate Personality Test 2.0!
    We’ve got some exciting news: The Ultimate Personality Test just got a major upgrade! It will analyze your personality using all three...
  • When are political donations worth it?
    I wish I knew! But here are some speculative recommendations
  • New Partnership Boosts Community Health Workers in Manga, Burkina Faso
  • 10.000 euros for a kilogram of chicken meat
    One of the major challenges in animal welfare economics is estimating an appropriate animal welfare tax on meat that accounts for the external costs of suffering of farmed animals. Here I present my tentative best guesses. I estimate an animal … Lees verder →...
  • Behavioral red-teaming is unlikely to produce clear, strong evidence that models aren't scheming
    One strategy for mitigating risk from schemers (that is, egregiously misaligned models that intentionally try to subvert your safety measures) is behavioral red-teaming (BRT). The basic version of this strategy is something like: Before you deploy your model, but after you train it, you search really hard for inputs on which the model takes actions that are very bad.
  • FLI Statement on Nobel Prize Winners
    The Future of Life Institute would like to congratulate John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton receiving the 2024 Nobel Prize in […]...
  • The Lucky Ones
    Thursday, October 10
  • These California and Colorado ballot measures are terrifying the meat industry
    Most people know Sonoma County, the Northern California region sometimes called America’s Provence, for its lush vineyards, Mediterranean-style villas, and farm-to-table restaurants. But when I traveled to wine country last year, it was to observe a side of Sonoma that few outsiders know about: a dead-of-night animal rights protest at an industrial chicken slaughterhouse, located […]...
  • Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk
    A discussion I have with myself a lot. The post Inner dialogue, walking down the sidewalk appeared first on Otherwise.
  • A “towering figure” in the world of philanthropy: Remembering Joel Fleishman
    Editors’ Note: Damon Circosta and Kristin A. Goss celebrate the philanthropic legacy of Joel Fleishman, their colleague at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, who passed away on September 30, 2024. Photo credit: Chris Hildreth for Duke University. Joel Lawrence Fleishman, a towering figure in the world of philanthropy, public policy, and higher education, … Continue reading →...
  • “[Trigger warning: violence] Animal vs human welfare: sharing some personal reflections” by Forumite
    For many years, I devoted myself to improving human health and wellbeing. But then I shifted to working to prevent suffering for animals. In this post, I will briefly share some considerations that pushed me to make this change... . Violence. The phrase ‘animal welfare’ can sound pretty calm and gentle.
  • SB 1047: Our Side Of The Story
  • World Mental Health Day
    CEO Dr Ben Sturgeon shares his thoughts on 'workplace mental health' on World Mental Health Day.
  • Deebot Robot Vacuums Are Using Photos and Audio to Train Their AI
    An Australian news agency is reporting that robot vacuum cleaners from the Chinese company Deebot are surreptitiously taking photos and recording audio, and sending that data back to the vendor to train their AIs. Ecovacs’s privacy policy— available elsewhere in the app—allows for blanket collection of user data for research purposes, including:
  • Helping Children and Families See Possibilities with Vision Care
    Vision care is out of reach for many children and families across the United States because it is too expensive or difficult to access. As many as 4 million children and 12 million adults in the US are living with impaired vision due to an uncorrected refractive error. Without clear vision, children may struggle to […].
  • AI for Animals #4: Interspecies communication
    October 10, 2024
  • Understanding the mosquito: Target Malaria Ghana’s mesocosm study
    When most  people hear about research into mosquitoes, they see it as fascinating. Today, I wish to delve into an innovative study by Target Malaria Ghana, which aims to shed light on one of Africa’s most pressing public health issues—malaria transmission. If you have been wondering how scientists unravel the secrets of these tiny, yet […].
  • The 2024 Living Planet Index reports a 73% average decline in wildlife populations — what’s changed since the last report?
    A guide to understanding the Living Planet Index and what it does and doesn’t mean.
  • Progressive Myths Book Review
    A book review and an audit
  • Safe Predictive Agents with Joint Scoring Rules
    Thanks to Evan Hubinger for funding this project and for introducing me to predictive models, Johannes Treutlein for many fruitful discussions on related topics, and Dan Valentine for providing valuable feedback on my code implementation.
  • Seva Foundation Releases Landmark Child Eye Report for World Sight Day
    Across low-and-middle-income countries, less than half of 10-year-old children can read. This alarming phenomenon has been labelled by education experts around the world as the global ‘learning crisis’: A bitter-sweet situation in which we have achieved near universal primary education, including gender parity, but in which children are not achieving sufficient mastery of basic literacy ….
  • Why don’t your psychiatric drugs work better?
    Tomorrow is World Mental Health Day, and in many ways, it seems like the world has made great strides in mental health care. In 2023 alone, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) poured $1.25 billion into research studying how mental illness manifests in the brain. People are prescribed more psychiatric drugs now than ever, […]...
  • The Marginal $100m Would Be Far Better Spent on Animal Welfare Than Global Health
    Why I Still Think AW >> GH At The Margin. Last year, I argued that Open Phil (OP) should allocate a majority of its neartermist resources to animal welfare (AW) rather than global health (GH). Most of the critical comments still agreed that AW > GH at the margin:
  • Potential Google breakup ⚖️, Tesla Robotaxi rumors 🚕, software engineer pay map 💰
  • Supporter Spotlight: Gil L’Italien
    At the beginning of the millennium, Gil L’Italien—an epidemiologist based in New Haven, Connecticut—was looking for ways to give back. His three sons were grown, and after the horror of 9/11 he wanted to spend his free time in two positive ways: By making charitable contributions and by being a friend to those in need. … Continued.
  • Capitalism, Govt Causes Culture Woes?
    Many have noticed a key time coincidence.
  • Is Pausing AI Possible?
    This post is an attempt to analyze the feasibility of establishing an international pause on frontier AI development. More specifically, it highlights a few reasons why someone might consider pausing to be a viable component of AI safety strategy. Summary:
  • The End of Selfish Genes
    Wednesday, October 9
  • The HomeWork: October 9, 2024
    Welcome to the October 9, 2024 Main edition of The Homework, the official newsletter of California YIMBY — legislative updates, news clips, housing research and analysis, and the latest writings from the California YIMBY team. News from Sacramento Victory alert!…. The post The HomeWork: October <span class="dewidow">9, 2024</span> appeared first on California YIMBY.
  • Three Numbers That Make The Case For Shrimp Welfare
    For decades, animal advocates have worked to advocate for farmed animals. But what if one of the most — if not the most — numerous farmed species on the planet has been overlooked? . The post Three Numbers That Make The Case For Shrimp Welfare appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • How Food Displays Can Change Dining Practices
    This study investigated the effects of displaying vegan food as a default — rather than side-by-side with a meat option — in university cafeterias. The post How Food Displays Can Change Dining Practices appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • EA Forum Digest #210
    EA Forum Digest #210 Hello!. The big news this week is the Animal Welfare vs Global Health debate week which is happening on the Forum, ending on the 13th. Make sure to get your (purely symbolic) votes in by then and contribute to the discussion. Also, the application deadline for EA Global Boston is coming up on the 20th October. You can apply here.
  • Prices are Bounties
    A man has just robbed a train.
  • Ways I see the global health -> animal welfare shift backfiring
    There seems to be movement towards animal welfare interventions and away from global health interventions. Here are some ways I can see this going badly: 1. Resistance against being told what to do. People hate being told what to do. Most of the top global health interventions aren't imposed (and probably shouldn't be, because that leads to backlash).
  • Auto-Identification Smart Glasses
    Two students have created a demo of a smart-glasses app that performs automatic facial recognition and then information lookups. Kind of obvious, but the sort of creepy demo that gets attention. News article.
  • The Evolution of Our Partnership with Tech Mahindra: A Journey Towards Reducing Animal Products (2021-2024)
    As the world becomes more conscious of ethical choices, Tech Mahindra Ltd., a global IT giant, has actively supported the movement to reduce animal suffering. By participating in Vegan Outreach’s campaign, the Green Tuesday Initiative, Tech Mahindra has made significant strides in promoting plant-based food options. Institutions play a crucial role in this mission, as […].
  • Triple Tragedy And Thankful Theory
    A guest post by Daniel Böttger...
  • Aan de paus en alle vleeseters: iedereen is baas over eigen lichaam
    De paus zei dat artsen die een abortus uitvoeren ‘huurmoordenaars’ zijn. Volgens Tom Naegels is dat vergelijkbaar met een dierenrechtenactivist die ‘vlees is moord’ roept. Dat is een interessante stelling waar we onze morele waarden eens mee kunnen aftoetsen. Op … Lees verder →...
  • Government of Karnataka partners with J-PAL South Asia to accelerate and scale policy innovations in school education
    Government of Karnataka partners with J-PAL South Asia to accelerate and scale policy innovations in school education The partnership with J-PAL South Asia underscores the Department of School Education and Literacy's strategic, evidence-based approach to strengthen policies. dakshta@povert… Wed, 10/09/2024 - 04:02...
  • The Nuclear Ballot: Strained Relations
    This election isn’t just about votes—it’s about who controls the world’s most powerful weapons. In this season of NukeTalk, we will explore The Nuclear Ballot: How the U.S. Election Shapes Nuclear Policy. We bring you insights from top nuclear weapons experts on how this election can shape nuclear weapons policy in the future as stakes rise in this election cycle.
  • What would you do differently if you changed your mind?
    If you substantially changed your mind on this issue (e.g. flip the sign, or move towards a more/less extreme position), how would your actions change?. If the specific wording of the debate topic isn't a crux for you on anything important, I'd be interested in what your actual cruxes are (as opposed to anchoring on the specific wording of the debate). Feel free to add caveats and constraints...
  • Descartes's Punchy Writing
    "I shall nevertheless make an effort and follow anew the same path as that on which I yesterday entered, i.e. I shall proceed by setting aside all that in which the least doubt could be supposed..."
  • What are the strongest arguments for the side you voted against in the AW vs GH debate?
    The Animal Welfare vs Global Health debate week is turning out to be pretty one sided so far. The wording of the question this time was chosen to be a bit more resistant to nitpicks (vs "...should be an EA priority" last time), potentially this has also resulted in it appearing more polarised one way.
  • Lives not worth living?
    This is my contribution to the animal welfare vs. global health debate week. Thank you to Felix Werdermann, Helene Kortschak, and Vasco Grilo for their feedback. TL;DR: I think there's significant uncertainty about whether most sentient lives, human or non-human, are truly "net positive" - meaning their positive experiences outweigh their negative ones.
  • Samsung's crisis 📱, .io domain chaos 🌎, Ozempic adoption 📈
  • Video and transcript of presentation on Otherness and control in the age of AGI
    An attempt to distill down the whole “Otherness and control” series into a single talk.
  • Schelling game evaluations for AI control
    Playing Schelling games is a key dangerous capability for schemers: it’s much harder to control AIs that are very capable at Schelling coordination. In this post, I discuss the threat model and describe concrete projects for empirical work... . Suppose you wish to control models that adversarially try to cause a catastrophic outcome (“schemers”).
  • American University Honors Ann Cleaveland for Commitment in Inclusivity in Technology Policy
    This piece was originally published by American University. Your can read the full article on their website. Washington, D.C. (October 8, 2024) – American University honored cybersecurity leader…. The post American University Honors Ann Cleaveland for Commitment in Inclusivity in Technology Policy appeared first on CLTC.
  • When Wages Prevail: Assessing the Cost of Construction
    In California, legislation to streamline housing production and to fund the construction of deed-restricted affordable housing often requires builders to pay “prevailing wages” to the construction workers who work on the resulting project. These requirements are based on the idea….

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