I find it hard to understand what this post is trying to say. The title is really attention-catching, but then the body of the post is pretty inscrutable.
When I read posts like this, I have a hard time telling if the author is deliberately trying to obscure what they’re saying in order to not be too blunt or too rude or whatever (maybe they think they won’t seem smart enough if they write too plainly?), or if that’s just their writing style. [Substantially edited on 2025-11-10 at 17:07 UTC.]
Some combination of not having a clean thesis I’m arguing for, not actually holding a highly legible position on on the issues discussed, and being a newbie writer. Not trying to spare people’s feelings. More just expressing some sentiments, pointing at some things, and letting others take from that what they will.
If there was a neat thesis it’d be:
People who used to focus on global cause prioritization now seem focused on power accumulation within the AI policy world broadly construed and this is now the major determinant of status among all people who used to focus on global cause prioritization
This risks losing track of what is actually best for the world
You, reader, should reflect on this dynamic and the social incentives around it to make sure you’re not losing sight of what you think is actually important, and push back on these when you can.
I think this is just Matt’s style (I like it, but it might not be everyone’s taste!). I think the SummaryBot comment does a pretty great job here, so maybe read that if you’d like to get the TL;DR of the post.
I find it hard to understand what this post is trying to say. The title is really attention-catching, but then the body of the post is pretty inscrutable.
When I read posts like this, I have a hard time telling if the author is deliberately trying to obscure what they’re saying in order to not be too blunt or too rude or whatever (maybe they think they won’t seem smart enough if they write too plainly?), or if that’s just their writing style. [Substantially edited on 2025-11-10 at 17:07 UTC.]
Some combination of not having a clean thesis I’m arguing for, not actually holding a highly legible position on on the issues discussed, and being a newbie writer. Not trying to spare people’s feelings. More just expressing some sentiments, pointing at some things, and letting others take from that what they will.
If there was a neat thesis it’d be:
People who used to focus on global cause prioritization now seem focused on power accumulation within the AI policy world broadly construed and this is now the major determinant of status among all people who used to focus on global cause prioritization
This risks losing track of what is actually best for the world
You, reader, should reflect on this dynamic and the social incentives around it to make sure you’re not losing sight of what you think is actually important, and push back on these when you can.
I think this is just Matt’s style (I like it, but it might not be everyone’s taste!). I think the SummaryBot comment does a pretty great job here, so maybe read that if you’d like to get the TL;DR of the post.