Thanks Peter—I continue to feel unsure whether it’s worth the effort for me to do this, and am probably holding myself to an uncecessarily high standard, but it’s hard to get past that. At the same time, I also haven’t been able to totally give up on the idea of writing something either—I do have a recent draft I’ve been working on that I’d be happy to share with you.
I thought about the criticism contest, but I think trying to enter that creates the wrong incentives for me. It makes me feel like I need to write a super well-reasoned and evidenced critique which feels too high a bar and if I’m going to write anything, something that I can frame more as my own subjective experience feels better. Also, if I entered and didn’t win a prize I might feel more bitter about EA, which I’d rather avoid—I think if I’m going to write something it needs to be with very low expectations about how EAs are going to respond to it.
I agree very much! I have a lot of half-finished but mostly not-even-really started drafts myself, and one thing that resonated in the OP was the need for spaces where those hunches can be explored, as opposed to expecting thought-through and well-articulated criticisms.
Perhaps worth mentioning, for people who don’t know Jess: Jess is Head of AI Policy at the Centre For Long-term Resilience, an impressive UK think tank. She also has a good blog.
For what it’s worth: I would very much like to read your perspective on this one day.
Might the possibility of winning $20K help you get over the hill?
I’d be happy to comment on drafts, of course.
No pressure, of course—I imagine you’re very busy with your new role. In any case I’ve appreciated the conversations we’ve had about this in the past.
Thanks Peter—I continue to feel unsure whether it’s worth the effort for me to do this, and am probably holding myself to an uncecessarily high standard, but it’s hard to get past that. At the same time, I also haven’t been able to totally give up on the idea of writing something either—I do have a recent draft I’ve been working on that I’d be happy to share with you.
I thought about the criticism contest, but I think trying to enter that creates the wrong incentives for me. It makes me feel like I need to write a super well-reasoned and evidenced critique which feels too high a bar and if I’m going to write anything, something that I can frame more as my own subjective experience feels better. Also, if I entered and didn’t win a prize I might feel more bitter about EA, which I’d rather avoid—I think if I’m going to write something it needs to be with very low expectations about how EAs are going to respond to it.
I agree very much! I have a lot of half-finished but mostly not-even-really started drafts myself, and one thing that resonated in the OP was the need for spaces where those hunches can be explored, as opposed to expecting thought-through and well-articulated criticisms.
Perhaps worth mentioning, for people who don’t know Jess: Jess is Head of AI Policy at the Centre For Long-term Resilience, an impressive UK think tank. She also has a good blog.