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:

AI risk is not a Pascal's wager

In the 17th century, the mathematician Blaise Pascal devised the idea of Pascal’s Wager.

via Thing of Things April 6, 2026

Microfictions

A few microfictions, very much inspired by Quiet Pine Trees. I hope to add more over time. No LLMs.

via Evan Fields March 27, 2026

Daycares and the Brown School

As someone in Somerville I notice that there are quite high prices regarding childcare. The average family in Somerville pays $1,100 to $3,500 for daycare per month, and I want to make the costs more affordable. I have also noticed that housing is quite …

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts March 22, 2026

more     (via openring)