What I am open to changing my mind about: polls and debates
This is an idea I had for a post wherein I put a few topics or themes I’ve been mulling over (and haven’t come to a strong conclusion to) and yet feel like I’m missing perspectives on- and am open to strong shifts in belief. Please comment evidence of agreement, disagreement or both...
PS: I am young, inexperienced and this was a post written in <20 min- pls be kind and bear in mind this is not meant to be serious/professional
Biology:
I’m not certain whether pandemic prevention or global health (e.g. more uncertain long-term vs more concrete data-driven near term) is a more promising pathway for early career impact?
both are underfunded, ‘contraversial’ in terms of public/governmental support, and both important- but I’m unsure which aspects are more marginally in need of an early career (pre uni even) volunteer…
AI:
I’m unsure whether the environmental impact from AI is actually as substantial as say plane travel?
Open to shift either to ‘this is a counterfactually high level of emissions/water use compared to other human activities’ or ‘this is less of a priority to mitigate compared to other AI issues/other climate damaging activities’
I’m unsure whether deepfakes are being used as commonly as the media portrays? (near term AI focus)
I have a stance they CAN lead to harm, and WILL lead to harm if used, but unsure if they have been successfully used yet compared to other downsides of AI?
I will say- leaning to harm already as I know childhood sextortion has increased over 20 fold due to deepfakes
(I know near term and damage are hard to define- but interpret however you want)
I’m unsure if
Ethics:
I’m unsure whether to use SciHub and similar sites.… what is the ethics (and societal implications) of ‘pirated’ science research?
less about the legalities/logistics- more on how does society change if this is the only way to get through the system to acquire knowledge?
I have decided I’m ‘okay’ with others using it if they are fine with it, but I’ve yet to decide whether to use it myself
Should I for non-commercial purposes use AI art?
unsure of the damage- copyright, legal, environmental- compared to the benefits of expression (for non commercial purposes)...
undecided on my own stance
General life:
I am unsure how much disposable income to spend on myself/‘fun’ fuzzies when starting uni (likely to be under £500 a year so not substantial in the first place) versus just putting everything after rent/insurance/bills to charities to set a good epistemic norm?
Same for whether to bill for my time, to ask for pay rather than volunteering etc- especially since finances are a huge burden and there is no economic runway from a support system whilst high projected expenses for uni/moving out...
unsure whether to take paid work at non profits or to split my time between free volunteering at non profits and paid work from more corporate environments (e.g. is my time valuable enough to be paid or is paying me substaintially hindering a good cause?)
None of the articles should be behind a paywall. Researchers who have produced research want it to be read. These same researchers are also doing free labor and wasting tons of time editing and reformatting their own work. They also have to review the work of others, for free, for journals. These journals often then charge the authors thousands to publish said work. In turn, the articles are put behind a paywall so people can’t even access them.
Given the “likely to be under £500 a year”—this is not intended as an opinion for all uni students.
I would still support de minimis effective giving for habit-forming reasons, among others.
Not having any money aside for more than your bare necessities at university will curtail your capacity to experience some of the most important social sides of university. You will end up like an asocial hermit. If you want to think of it in terms of utility then I expect the possible connections and friends you can make by being able to be out more for ‘fuzzies’ can open up opportunities to make more later that outweigh <500 per year donated. But honestly, 500 per year is 10 per week to spend on yourself, which is almost nothing. Calling it fuzzies IMO underweights the value to you as a human of having these experiences, and you won’t be able to have them in the same way after university. If by the end of the year or part way through you’ve found you haven’t spent this money or spending money on such things to be pointless then you can always donate the rest, or back charge it in future years when you are making more.
No expertise but my prior is not because of all industries that use electricity only a few can be amongst the most significant drivers of climate change.
Starting value (5% fun, 95% charity) open to change
Starting value- open to change
Starting value as a whole, open to change- I will admit I’ve not used it but I am ‘fine’ with others using it, but for myself I’m in a moral quandry
My starting value- very open to change
This is my starting value, but very open to change