2022 January
This is almost a full month too late, but it isn’t!
AI Safety Fellowship
I begun the AI safety fellowship – I met a few cool people, and reviewed basically all the jobs I could possibly work on. The main skill it appears I’m missing is a) research experience, b) proven credentials (like published research, a PhD, etc.). This is similar to what current and interning researchers I have asked have said – and especially the main thing to focus on is research experience.
Now the question of where to get that research experience? I’m not sure exactly. The three obvious routes suggested are: 1) Keep applying to the fairly frequent EA-related programs; 2) Volunteer to work for free for a spell; 3) Go back to uni.
Job Plans
So far I don’t have many good job plans. My ideas of possible routes are:
- Finity, but focusing on more interesting projects. I need to talk to people doing those interesting projects to know whether I’d like them.
- AI research, especially on the control problem. I need to gain some experience doing research to figure out whether I enjoy the work or not. There may be other steps before that.
- EA operations work, for example being in charge of operations at GWWC or a charity. I need to talk to people working in this area to see how useful they think I’d be. I also need to decide whether this is the most worthwhile use of my abilities/energy.
- Quantitative research at a firm like Akuna. I need to start applications for these kinds of roles.
There’s a lot to do and not a lot of time for me to do these in. Does anyone have any thoughts about prioritising?
Minus One D&D Game
As you may know, I was previously playing in three D&D campaigns concurrently, each taking ~four hours every week. Which was too much! So I’ve sadly had to leave one group. I’m still playing in two (although one is probably three sessions per month, so a little bit lighter).
What I’ve Been Reading/Watching/Hearing:
- It Takes Two (video game) – Bec bought me a video game for Christmas called It Takes Two. The premise is that you and your spouse have been shrunk down, and the only way to return to your previous size is to learn to work together. But it has fun mechanics, where each level is more of a puzzle to figure out how your two characters – with slightly different abilities – can make progress. So it’s quite good for inexperienced gamers like us who aren’t very coordinated.
- Encanto (movie on Disney+) – This is another great movie musical by Disney. The music is fun, and by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The story is great, it points to themes of family and feeling pressure to meet expectations. And I find lots of songs make me tear up, but I think that’s just me becoming more emotional!
- Dune (movie) – I saw this in IMAX, which I’d recommend to all who can. The scenes are great and epic and feel much better on the big screen. I could imagine it dragging on a laptop. I enjoyed being able to spend time with all the characters as it gave extra depth to the world and to Paul. I’m very excited for the next film.
- Matrix (movie) – I also saw this at IMAX. It was… alright. The beginning part was good and fun. But the last third it kind of became worse. It became much less gritty and real, and some of the character decisions and responses felt a bit untrue-to-character. I think it’s exacerbated by the fact that Carrie-Ann Moss and Keanu Reaves and their characters don’t strike me as particularly emotional actors, so it’s hard to evoke the right emotions in the audience.