Thinking about going back to earning to give

July 19th, 2017
ea
I'm wrapping up my AI risk project and at this point I'm thinking like I should probably go back to earning to give:
  • Most of my best altruistic options probably look a lot like what I did the past month, working remotely with varying amounts of self-management. While I suspected I wouldn't like this very much, now I know.

  • While I haven't finished the AI risk project yet, I think I'm pretty likely to conclude something like "I think work here is valuable, but not the very most pressing thing" and I don't think I'm a good fit for this kind of research.

  • I really like programming. When I think about different things I might work on, I keep coming back to opportunities that looked pretty exciting at big tech companies with openings here.

  • I still mostly agree with my 2016 EAG talk.

My main reservation about earning to give continues to be that I think the most important things are mostly constrained by people, not money. But I'm not well suited to be one of those people, I am well suited to earning money, and money is still useful.

(For more background and my constraints, see this earlier post.)

Update 2017-08-17: I'm going back to Google.

Referenced in:

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Shoshannah Tekofsky on how AI agents suck at personality tests, don't express surprise, and lie to themselves

Can you introduce yourself for people who don’t know who you are?

via Thing of Things February 11, 2026

2025-26 New Year review

This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Highlights include a minimal group house, the usefulness…

via Victoria Krakovna January 19, 2026

Why I Don't Think My Braces Were Worth It

A couple weeks ago, I got my braces off. I kind of wish I had never had them, though. When I was younger, two of my teeth were sticking out, and they looked kind of funny. I thought that my teeth were just fine, and I didn't want to get braces. But s…

via Anna Wise's Blog Posts January 3, 2026

more     (via openring)