Yeah, I definitely think this is worth someone spending at least a couple hours seriously thinking about doing, including maybe sending out a survey to or conducting interviews with non-junior researchers[1] to gauge interest in having an RA if it was arranged via this service.
I previously suggested a somewhat similar idea as a project to improve the long-term future:
Research or writing assistance for researchers (especially senior ones) at orgs like FHI, Forethought, MIRI, CHAI
This might allow them to complete additional valuable projects
This also might help the research or writing assistants build career capital and test fit for valuable roles
Itās possible itās not worth being proactive about this, and instead waiting for people to decide they want an assistant and create a job ad for one. But Iād guess that some proactiveness would be useful (i.e., that there are cases where someone would benefit from such an assistant but hasnāt thought of it, or doesnāt think the overhead of a long search for one is worthwhile)
See also this comment from someone who did this sort of role for Toby Ord
And Daniel Eth replied there:
As a senior research scholar at FHI, I would find this valuable if the assistant was competent and the arrangement was low cost to me (in terms of time, effort, and money). I havenāt tried to set up anything like this since I expect finding someone competent, working out the details, and managing them would not be low cost, but I could imagine that if someone else (such as BERI) took care of details, it very well may be low cost. I support efforts to try to set something like this up, and Iād like to throw my hat into the ring of āresearchers who would plausibly be interested in assistantsā if anyone does set this up.
Iām going to now flag this idea to someone who I think might be able to actually make it happen.
Someone pointed out to me that BERI already do some amount of this. E.g., they recently hired for or are hiring for RAs for Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom at FHI.
It seems plausible that theyāre doing all the stuff thatās worth doing, but also seems plausible (probable?) that thereās room for more, or for trying out different models. I think anyone interested in potentially actually starting an initiative like this should probably touch base with BERI before investing lots of time into it.
Ah, right! There still might be a need outside of longtermist research, but I definitely agree that itād be very useful to reach out to them to learn more.
For further context for people who might potentially go ahead with this, BERI is a nonprofit that supports researchers working on existential risk. I guess that Sawyer is the person to reach out to.
Btw, the other person I suggested this idea to today is apparently already considering doing this. So if someone else is interested, maybe contact both Sawyer and me, and I can put you in touch with this person.
And this person would do it for longtermist researchers, so yeah, it seems plausible/ālikely to me that thereās more room for this for researchers focused on other cause area.
Yeah, I definitely think this is worth someone spending at least a couple hours seriously thinking about doing, including maybe sending out a survey to or conducting interviews with non-junior researchers[1] to gauge interest in having an RA if it was arranged via this service.
I previously suggested a somewhat similar idea as a project to improve the long-term future:
And Daniel Eth replied there:
Iām going to now flag this idea to someone who I think might be able to actually make it happen.
Someone pointed out to me that BERI already do some amount of this. E.g., they recently hired for or are hiring for RAs for Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom at FHI.
It seems plausible that theyāre doing all the stuff thatās worth doing, but also seems plausible (probable?) that thereās room for more, or for trying out different models. I think anyone interested in potentially actually starting an initiative like this should probably touch base with BERI before investing lots of time into it.
Ah, right! There still might be a need outside of longtermist research, but I definitely agree that itād be very useful to reach out to them to learn more.
For further context for people who might potentially go ahead with this, BERI is a nonprofit that supports researchers working on existential risk. I guess that Sawyer is the person to reach out to.
Btw, the other person I suggested this idea to today is apparently already considering doing this. So if someone else is interested, maybe contact both Sawyer and me, and I can put you in touch with this person.
And this person would do it for longtermist researchers, so yeah, it seems plausible/ālikely to me that thereās more room for this for researchers focused on other cause area.