I think the most shovel-ready, most tractable, least partisan, least politically risky and least weird but still important cause which the politician could actually go on to champion is pandemic mitigation, and you can get the main points across in a very short conversation. Key points to mention would be:
new pandemics much worse than COVID are very much possible,
we got lucky with COVID because we had studied SARS-COV-1 in detail before hand
lab leaks are not a conspiracy theory but are a legitimate threat and biosecurity experts have been worried about them for years, and lab leaks could be worse than naturally arising pandemics
Human costs and financial costs of COVID-19. If the person is a libertarian, you could also say that poor pandemic response mechanisms led to overreach of government power and if they’re particularly left wing, you could also say that the pandemic exacerbated inequalities.
specific pandemic mitigation policies advocated by EA orgs like Guarding Against Pandemics (USA). You could also offer to connect them with biosecurity experts. I’m confident that if you contact EA biosecurity experts saying “this influential politician wants to talk about pandemics”, they will jump at the opportunity, but worst case scenario message me on this forum and I’ll help you get in touch with an expert.
I would strongly recommend against diluting your message by discussing more than one cause area.
I think internationalist stuff like global heath and aid is much more partisan / politically intractable, there’s a good chance the person you’re talking to will not care about farm animals enough, and I think people are too unlikely to take AI risks seriously in a short unsolicited conversation.
I think the most shovel-ready, most tractable, least partisan, least politically risky and least weird but still important cause which the politician could actually go on to champion is pandemic mitigation, and you can get the main points across in a very short conversation. Key points to mention would be:
new pandemics much worse than COVID are very much possible,
we got lucky with COVID because we had studied SARS-COV-1 in detail before hand
lab leaks are not a conspiracy theory but are a legitimate threat and biosecurity experts have been worried about them for years, and lab leaks could be worse than naturally arising pandemics
Human costs and financial costs of COVID-19. If the person is a libertarian, you could also say that poor pandemic response mechanisms led to overreach of government power and if they’re particularly left wing, you could also say that the pandemic exacerbated inequalities.
specific pandemic mitigation policies advocated by EA orgs like Guarding Against Pandemics (USA). You could also offer to connect them with biosecurity experts. I’m confident that if you contact EA biosecurity experts saying “this influential politician wants to talk about pandemics”, they will jump at the opportunity, but worst case scenario message me on this forum and I’ll help you get in touch with an expert.
I would strongly recommend against diluting your message by discussing more than one cause area.
I think internationalist stuff like global heath and aid is much more partisan / politically intractable, there’s a good chance the person you’re talking to will not care about farm animals enough, and I think people are too unlikely to take AI risks seriously in a short unsolicited conversation.