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  • Technology and the Rise of Great Powers
  • Help me build a media empire
    Become my COO
  • Freddie DeBoer's Temporal Copernican Principle Implies Early Humans Had Psychic Powers
    Plus the doomsday argument, the possibility of coming up with a nice reference class, and that you should ignore scientific evidence if it tells you there were a lot of early humans
  • Book Talk: Technology and the Rise of Great Powers
  • AI Safety Newsletter #41: The Next Generation of Compute Scale
    Plus, Ranking Models by Susceptibility to Jailbreaking, and Machine Ethics
  • September #1: Compensation in the movement
    Your farmed animal advocacy update
  • Job Posting: Research Director
    Do you have a passion for conducting research and a strong desire to help the animal advocacy movement be the best it can be? You may be the new Research Director Faunalytics is looking for. The post Job Posting: Research Director appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • An Analysis Of State Enforcement Of Farmed Animal Welfare Laws
    Progress on animal welfare laws are hard fought and hard won by animal advocates. This guest blog from the Animal Welfare Institute outlines the perpetual problem that comes after victory: enforcement. The post An Analysis Of State Enforcement Of Farmed Animal Welfare Laws appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • Rethinking Umbrella Species As A Conservation Strategy In The Tropics
    This study evaluates how well eight candidate animals perform as umbrella species to represent biodiversity conservation in tropical ecosystems. The post Rethinking Umbrella Species As A Conservation Strategy In The Tropics appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • Do it for him
    We're running a campaign to create a plushie of Doggo! Our goal is to reach 200 pledges by September 18th. If we succeed, Makeship will manufacture the plushie; otherwise, he will be forever lost in the void :( To support this campaign, visit our petition page here: https://www.makeship.com/petitions/rational-animations-doggo-plushie If we reach our goal, you'll be charged $27.99 USD plus...
  • Economics is a Field of Software Engineering
    It should start acting like one
  • Grizzly Man
    Wednesday, September 11
  • Science has a short-term memory problem
    Back in 2016, Vox asked 270 scientists to name the biggest problems facing science. Many of them agreed that the constant search for funding, brought on by the increasingly competitive grant system, serves as one of the biggest barriers to scientific progress. Even though we have more scientists throwing more time and resources at projects, […]...
  • Join Living Goods at UNGA 79!
  • EA Forum Digest #206
    EA Forum Digest #206 Hello!. Applications for AIM’s Charity Entrepreneurship program and Founding to Give program close next Sunday (September 15). Apply now, or refer a friend. — Toby (for the Forum team) We recommend: My top 10 picks from 200 episodes of the 80k podcast (JWS 🔸, 9 min).
  • Can the Anopheles gambiae mosquito pollinate? A scientific exploration
    The high-pitched buzzing of a mosquito typically brings to mind memories of itchy bites and thoughts of the deadly disease malaria, and other viral infections like dengue, zika, and chikungunya. While these associations are well-known, it is lesser known that mosquitoes, may be occasional plant feeders. Both male and female mosquitoes from various species feed […].
  • Evaluating the Effectiveness of Reward Modeling of Generative AI Systems
    New research evaluating the effectiveness of reward modeling during Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF): “ SEAL: Systematic Error Analysis for Value ALignment.” The paper introduces quantitative metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of modeling and aligning human values:
  • Exploring big ideas in development economics: an interview with Ranil Dissanayake
    This interview is a cross-post from Probably Good’s new Career Journeys series. “No one will ever complain that you write too well… I look back at stuff I wrote 20 years ago and cringe now. But if I didn’t write it, I would still be bad. You’re not learning unless you’re doing it.”. How does someone break into the field of development economics?
  • Strengthening Community Health Systems: Our Approach
  • Understanding the moral status of digital minds
    The post Understanding the moral status of digital minds appeared first on 80,000 Hours.
  • Anonymous answers: What are the best ways to fight the next pandemic?
    The post Anonymous answers: What are the best ways to fight the next pandemic? appeared first on 80,000 Hours.
  • OpenAI Strawberry 🍓, SpaceX first spacewalk 🧑‍🚀, prompt engineering framework 👨‍💻
  • Reconsidering the Celebration of Project Cancellations: Have We Updated Too Far?
    Reconsidering the Celebration of Project Cancellations: Have We Updated Too Far?. Epistemic status: Low certainty. These are tentative thoughts, and I’m open to alternative perspectives. Posting from an alt account. The Effective Altruism community has made significant strides in recognizing the importance of quitting projects that don’t deliver short-term results, which helps counteract the...
  • Discovering the Strength of the Human Spirit
    By Kee Rajagopal, senior program manager at Fistula Foundation In June 2024, I had the privilege of visiting our partners in Kenya and Tanzania along with other Fistula Foundation team members. Fistula Foundation is a nonprofit organization that serves as a bridge between women who suffer needlessly from obstetric fistula and the selfless people who … Continued.
  • “Stepping down from GWWC: So long, and thanks for all the shrimp” by Luke Freeman 🔸
    This is a link post. It's a rare privilege to lead an organisation that embodies the very ideals that shaped your life. I’ve been fortunate to have been given that opportunity for the last four years. My journey with Giving What We Can began long before I became its CEO.
  • Checking our forecast for quantum computing in 2024
    Scott Aaronson has a nice post discussing recent experimental progress in quantum computing from Google, Microsoft, and Quantinuum. In particular, he says Continue reading...
  • Quantum fault-tolerance milestones dropping like atoms
    Update: I’d been wavering—should I vote for the terrifying lunatic, ranting about trans criminal illegal aliens cooking cat meat, or for the nice woman constantly making faces as though the lunatic was completely cracking her up? But when the woman explicitly came out in favor of AI and quantum computing research … that really sealed […]...
  • The Ones Beyond Deference
    What happens when you're smart enough that you don't need to defer?
  • Help him become a real boy
    8 DAYS LEFT - Pledge here to make Doggo become a real plushie: https://www.makeship.com/petitions/rational-animations-doggo-plushie If we reach at least 200 pledges, Makeship will manufacture it, you’ll be charged the remaining balance (27.99 USD + shipping and tax), and he will be shipped to you!
  • Linkpost for September
    Effective altruism, culture war, short stories, fun.
  • Quantifying Animal Welfare: A Framework For Comparing Interventions
    Animal Ask proposes a method to evaluate and compare the impact of different animal welfare interventions across species and types of experiences. The post Quantifying Animal Welfare: A Framework For Comparing Interventions appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • AI employees are defying their employers to support SB 1047
    In speaking out, they’re showing just how important the bill is...
  • Why Decapod Crustaceans Deserve Our Attention
    Did you know that lobsters can recognise individuals and crabs can exhibit complex social behaviours and hierarchies?
  • Sightsavers funds record number of operations in 2023
    In 2023, Sightsavers carried out more cataract operations than ever, according to figures published in the latest annual report.
  • The Rawness of Hurting
    Tuesday, September 10
  • #13: Max Alexander and I debate whether total utilitarianism implies the very repugnant conclusion
    (Pigeon Hour x Consistently Candid Crossover)
  • New Chrome Zero-Day
    According to Microsoft researchers, North Korean hackers have been using a Chrome zero-day exploit to steal cryptocurrency.
  • If you take AI safety seriously, you need to take your exercise routine seriously
    Pattern I’ve seen: “AI could kill us all! I should focus on this exclusively, including dropping my exercise routine.”Don’t. 👏 Drop. 👏 Your. 👏 Exercise. 👏 Routine. 👏You will help AI safety better if you exercise.You will be happier, healthier, less anxious, more creative, more persuasive, more focused, less prone to burnout, and a myriad of other benefits.All of these lead to increased...
  • Reaching Lower-Income Consumers with Nutritious Foods: Distribution Hubs, Direct Sales, and Supporting Distributors and Retailers
    Reaching Lower-Income Consumers with Nutritious Foods: Distribution Hubs, Direct Sales, and Supporting Distributors and Retailers tsood Tue, 09/10/2024 - 06:37 Last year on this blog, I announced the GAIN Business Model Research (BMR) Project: funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this project aims to identify promising business models to reach consumers on lower incomes with...
  • Contra DeBoer On Temporal Copernicanism
  • What's the chance your startup will succeed?
    The baserate for all companies. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shares data on the survivorship rates of a all companies. Around 30-35% die before the third year, and around 50% by the fifth year, with surprising regularity. Of all 4.66M companies founded in the year 2000, 2.7M remain, or 18.2%. This seems like a good starting point, or baserate.
  • iPhone 16 📱, DOJ vs Google ⚖️, why GitHub won 👨‍💻
  • Leadership Transition at Giving What We Can: A Message from the Board
  • Vienna Alignment Workshop 2024
    On July 21, 2024, experts from academia, industry, government, and nonprofits gathered at the Vienna Alignment Workshop, held just before the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML). The workshop served as a crucial platform for addressing the pressing challenges of AI safety, with a focus on ensuring that advanced AI systems align with human values. With 129 participants in...
  • Important Notice: Meat Industry Monitoring at U.S.-based Animal Advocacy Conferences
    Hannah Thompson-Weeman, among others, from the Animal Agriculture Alliance, a group which is anti-animal rights, have been attending conferences like AVA, TAFA, and the ALDF Virtual Animal Law Symposium this past year. They gather information and report back to the meat industry through Meating Place, an online community for North American beef, pork, and poultry processors (which requires...
  • AI forecasting bots incoming
    In a recent appearance on Conversations with Tyler, famed political forecaster Nate Silver expressed skepticism about AIs replacing human forecasters in the near future. When asked how long it might take for AIs to reach superhuman forecasting abilities, Silver replied: “15 or 20 [years].”. In light of this, we are excited to announce “FiveThirtyNine,” an AI forecasting bot.
  • My top 10 picks from 200 episodes of the 80k podcast
    Intro. I think the 80,000 Hours Podcast is a great show. Despite the world of podcasts overflowing with content to choose from, it's reliably been a high-quality production that's been a regular part of my listening habits ever since I discovered it. It was also probably one of the first routes I become more aware of the EA community, which I suspect I might not be alone by.
  • Dispelling the Anthropic Shadow
    This is a linkpost for Dispelling the Anthropic Shadow by Teruji Thomas. Abstract: There are some possible events that we could not possibly discover in our past. We could not discover an omnicidal catastrophe, an event so destructive that it permanently wiped out life on Earth. Had such a catastrophe occurred, we wouldn’t be here to find out.
  • California’s AI Safety Bill: What do the Experts Say?
    California lawmakers recently passed SB 1047: light-touch AI regulations that will protect the public, safeguard innovation, and prevent AI disasters. The bill now sits on Governor Gavin Newsom's desk awaiting his approval—or potential veto. Why do AI experts, tech leaders, and the Californian public think SB 1047 is so important? Hear from them in this video.
  • Informe: Cómputo para el bien: el potencial de las supercomputadoras europeas para la investigación y desarrollo de la IA
    Bas, Guillem., Acelas, Alejandro., (2024), Cómputo para el bien: El potencial de las supercomputadoras europeas para la investigación y desarrollo de la IA, http://orcg.info/reportes. . Descarga. Español English Resumen ejecutivo.
  • Breaking the cycle: The struggles and successes of mental health therapy for Ugandan teens
    Breaking the cycle: The struggles and successes of mental health therapy for Ugandan teens A recent study titled "Therapy, Mental Health, and Human Capital Accumulation among Adolescents in Uganda" by a team of researchers, including Sarah Baird and Berk Ozler, reveals the potential and limitations of group-based interpersonal therapy for adolescent girls in Uganda. elewis@poverty… Mon,...
  • Making a measurable economic impact
    Making a measurable economic impact Saeed Miganeh’s work at MIT is helping him answer important questions about designing effective programs for poverty mitigation and economic growth in African countries. elewis@poverty… Mon, 09/09/2024 - 15:05...
  • The best of SSIR: Beyond randomized controlled trials
    The best of SSIR: Beyond randomized controlled trials This collection of articles brings together some of the best research on impact measurement published in SSIR to further discussion, collaboration, and co-learning opportunities about charitable giving. elewis@poverty… Mon, 09/09/2024 - 15:02...
  • Improving access to and usage of clean water
    Improving access to and usage of clean water Why has water treatment been historically neglected by governments and donors given the significant short- and long-term benefits of clean water provision and use? How can we design interventions to ensure households have access to and use clean water?. elewis@poverty… Mon, 09/09/2024 - 15:00...
  • J-PAL Global Executive Director Meets Telangana CM Revanth Reddy at AI Global Summit
    J-PAL Global Executive Director Meets Telangana CM Revanth Reddy at AI Global Summit Iqbal Dhaliwal, Global Executive Director of J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab), met Telangana Chief Minister K. Revanth Reddy at the AI Global Summit held at HICC, Hyderabad. elewis@poverty… Mon, 09/09/2024 - 14:52...
  • Telangana Government Signs 21 Key Agreements at Global AI Summit
    Telangana Government Signs 21 Key Agreements at Global AI Summit An MoU with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) will support AI research, contributing to the state’s efforts in leveraging AI for critical areas of development. elewis@poverty… Mon, 09/09/2024 - 14:48...
  • Chat With Jeff Maurer About Eating Meat, Immigration, Lab Meat, Trump, and Charles Manson
    And on Ron Desantis's posturing as a big, tough beef boy
  • Benchmarking Industry Progress On Decapod Welfare
    Following recent legal recognition of decapod crustacean sentience in the U.K., this report provides a benchmark to assess companies on decapod welfare. The post Benchmarking Industry Progress On Decapod Welfare appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • FarmSTAND seeks Legal Intern
    About FarmSTAND. How our society produces, distributes, and consumes food impacts everyone. Right now, that system consistently produces harm to maximize profit. A handful of corporations have consolidated control over all aspects of the food system, including shaping laws that let them exploit animals and the environment, as well as consumers and workers – often concentrating the worst...
  • Shaping Yourself
    Monday, September 9
  • Global Youth Campaigns Coordinator
    Global Youth Campaigns Coordinator admin_inox Mon, 09/09/2024 - 15:00 vacancy_id SYS-1212 location Open Location-See about the role section Contract type Fixed Term Duration Other Frontend apply URL https://jobs.gainhealth.org/vacancies/1212/apply/ Closing date Fri, 09/20/2024 - 12:00 Department Partnerships about_the_role <p>The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition...
  • ChinAI #280: Sour or Sweet Grapes? The U.S.'s Unstrategic Approach to the "Chip War"
    Greetings from a world where…...
  • Australia Threatens to Force Companies to Break Encryption
    In 2018, Australia passed the Assistance and Access Act, which—among other things—gave the government the power to force companies to break their own encryption. The Assistance and Access Act includes key components that outline investigatory powers between government and industry. These components include:
  • Improving Service Delivery is Key to Who We Are
  • Half of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition
    Improving the nutrition of mothers and children could save many lives at a relatively low cost.
  • Open Thread 346
  • That Alien Message - The Animation
    Discuss...
  • Tesla Giga Train 🚆, SpaceX Mars launch 2026 🚀, end of billion user startups 🦄
  • Levels of Republicanism
    On Profitable Partial Exit from Perverse Regimes Through the Exercise of One's Formal Rights as a Citizen Enough criticism and analysis for the moment; here's a constructive program! Whole systems become richer through exchange and division of labor, which affords people more leisure to explore and investigate the environment, and add to the total knowledge […]...
  • We're releasing a plushie IF there are enough preorders!
    We’re finally about to launch a plushie, but only if we get enough pledges for this campaign: https://www.makeship.com/petitions/rational-animations-doggo-plushie If we reach at least 200 pledges, Doggo will become a real plushie! After Makeship manufactures it, you’ll be charged the remaining balance (27.99 USD + shipping and tax), and he will be shipped to you!
  • Forecasting newsletter for August 2024
    The eye of the world turns to the US elections, and Polymarket captures its attention. Imitators pop up but don't have a great story for why they're better.
  • Alice Crary's Embarrassingly Bad Criticisms Of Effective Altruism
    Does EA neglect justice movements? Is Peter Singer a fake effective altruist?
  • Modernism Tests Cultural Drift
    Modernism, in the fine arts, [is] a break with the past and the concurrent search for new forms of expression … felt a growing alienation incompatible with Victorian morality, optimism, and convention.
  • this week in security — september 8 edition
    this week in security — september 8 edition US charges Russian GRU hackers over Ukraine hacks, London transit cyberattack, ransomware roundup, and more. ~this week in security~. a cybersecurity newsletter by @zackwhittaker volume 7, issue 34 View this email in your browser | RSS ~ ~ THIS WEEK, TL;DR. Five Russian GRU officers charged with targeting the...
  • Locked in History
    Sunday, September 8
  • #78 – Jacob Trefethen on Global Health R&D
    Jacob Trefethen oversees Open Philanthropy’s science and science policy programs. He was a Henry Fellow at Harvard University, and has a B.A. from the University of Cambridge. You can find links and a transcript at www.hearthisidea.com/episodes/trefethen. In this episode we talked about open source the risks and benefits of open source AI models. We talk about:
  • I can’t take care of all my mom’s needs. Am I a monster?
    Welcome to Your Mileage May Vary, my new twice-monthly advice column offering you a framework for thinking through your ethical dilemmas and philosophical questions. Your Mileage May Vary isn’t like other advice columns, which usually aim to give you a single answer — the underlying premise being that there is an objectively “right” answer to […]...
  • Beware Compelling Arguments
    You can make a devastating case for anything
  • No One Is Running Society
    Conspiracy thinking is extremely popular today. *
  • That Alien Message
    We're making a plushie! But only if we get enough pledges for this campaign: https://www.makeship.com/petitions/rational-animations-doggo-plushie Help Doggo become a real plushie! This video is an adaptation of "That Alien Message", a short story published by Eliezer Yudkowsky in 2008.
  • The Pieces of Thinking
    Saturday, September 7
  • Brief advertisements for EA infrastructure projects, Sept 2024
    This is the latest of a theoretically-three-monthly series of posts advertising EA infrastructure projects that struggle to get and maintain awareness (see original advertising post for more on the rationale). Italicised projects have been added since the previous post was originally submitted.
  • There’s a fix for AI-generated essays. Why aren’t we using it?
    It’s the start of the school year, and thus the start of a fresh round of discourse on generative AI’s new role in schools. In the space of about three years, essays have gone from a mainstay of classroom education everywhere to a much less useful tool, for one reason: ChatGPT. Estimates of how many […]...
  • Une pause plutôt qu’une course sur la route vers l’IA Générale
    ⚠️ 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.
  • Victory: Carl’s Jr. reports it is 100% cage-free in the US!
    Hi all!. After being called out in the 2024 Eggsposé report and being the target of a cage-free accountability campaign run by The Humane League, Carl’s Jr. is now reporting its cage-free egg progress and is 100% cage-free for all US locations! Additionally, after previously removing “100%” and “globally” from its commitment, CKE published the following on its animal welfare page:
  • Messengers Wanted
    Experts are the people who know and do the most on particular valuable topics, while elites are the people of highest status … we … tend to accept many important actions only if they are taken by elites, who do it in a sufficiently elite style.
  • Live Video of Promachoteuthis Squid
    The first live video of the Promachoteuthis squid, filmed at a newly discovered seamount off the coast of Chile. Blog moderation policy.
  • Contact people for the EA community
    This post is an update of an older post originally from 2018. If you’re familiar with our older policies, we suggest looking at our new confidentiality policy before bringing us sensitive information. This post reflects one part of the team's broader work.
  • Simon DeDeo on Explore vs Exploit in Science
    Good news everyone: I’m getting into podcasting! As part of my investigation into how scientific paradigms are created, I hosted a talk by Simon DeDeo, Professor Of Many Topics at Carnegie Mellon and the Santa Fe Institute, recorded at the recent ILIAD conference in Berkeley. He discusses the idea of explore vs exploit in science.
  • Backdoors as an analogy for deceptive alignment
    ARC has released a paper on Backdoor defense, learnability and obfuscation in which we study a formal notion of backdoors in ML models. Part of our motivation for this is an analogy between backdoors and deceptive alignment, the possibility that an AI system would intentionally behave well in training in order to give itself the opportunity to behave uncooperatively later.
  • Against Literature
    Epistemic status: completely unhinged, partially satirical
  • Your Book Review: The Pale King
    Finalist #12 in the Book Review Contest
  • Transformer Weekly — Sep 6
    OpenAI's $100b fundraising, Ilya Sutskever’s hypocrisy, and a wave of endorsements for SB 1047...
  • YubiKey Side-Channel Attack
    There is a side-channel attack against YubiKey access tokens that allows someone to clone a device. It’s a complicated attack, requiring the victim’s username and password, and physical access to their YubiKey—as well as some technical expertise and equipment. Still, nice piece of security analysis.
  • Gen Z In China: Driving Sustainable Protein Adoption
    China’s Generation Z has a growing interest in plant-based and cultivated meats, with health and animal welfare as key motivators. The post Gen Z In China: Driving Sustainable Protein Adoption appeared first on Faunalytics.
  • Exciting Opportunity to be the Educational Outreach Manager at New Roots Institute
    Join our Team!. New Roots 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.
  • New Roots Institute is looking for a Development Manager
    Join our Team!. New Roots 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.
  • New Roots Institute is looking for a Dynamic Development Manager
    Join our Team!. New Roots 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.
  • Jeffrey Ladish | AI Threat Models, Hacking, Deception, and Manipulation
    Jeffrey Ladish. Before starting Palisade, Jeffrey helped build out the information security program at Anthropic through his security consulting company, Gordian. Jeffrey has also helped dozens of tech companies, philanthropic organizations, and existential-risk-focused projects get started with secure infrastructure. Summary:
  • To a Mouse
    Friday, September 6

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