Interesting stuff! Itâs definitely got me thinking about my own comparative advantage as well, especially since EA doesnât have a typical distribution of talents. Iâm a software engineer, and weâre vastly overrepresented in EA relative to the general population.
You make a great point about how organisations know the labor pool, and individuals donât, and that info is needed to understand comparative advantage well. I suppose that would mean the right advice for individuals is â Pay attention to the signals coming from the market.â For instance, I consider myself a better software engineer than a writer, but thus far when I apply for EA engineering jobs I havenât had a ton of luck, and when I enter EA writing contests I win small prizes. So I wonder if this is a case where my comparative advantage might lie outside of engineering just because we already have a lot of strong engineering talent in a way that isnât as true with writing.
Although perhaps even better would be to utilise the Pareto frontier where I have skills at bothâe.g, skilling up in ML and then working to become a distiller of AI safety research, which requires both technical skill AND ability to write well.
Itâs a difficult question! But the lesson I have definitely taken from this article is âApply for things, pay attention to what happens.â
Besides distillation, another option to look into could be the Communications Specialist or Senior Communications Specialist contractor roles at the Fund for Alignment Research.
Thatâs an interesting example! It does seem like you having success with writing contests is meaningful evidence; the distillation thing does potentially seem promising.
Interesting stuff! Itâs definitely got me thinking about my own comparative advantage as well, especially since EA doesnât have a typical distribution of talents. Iâm a software engineer, and weâre vastly overrepresented in EA relative to the general population.
You make a great point about how organisations know the labor pool, and individuals donât, and that info is needed to understand comparative advantage well. I suppose that would mean the right advice for individuals is â Pay attention to the signals coming from the market.â For instance, I consider myself a better software engineer than a writer, but thus far when I apply for EA engineering jobs I havenât had a ton of luck, and when I enter EA writing contests I win small prizes. So I wonder if this is a case where my comparative advantage might lie outside of engineering just because we already have a lot of strong engineering talent in a way that isnât as true with writing.
Although perhaps even better would be to utilise the Pareto frontier where I have skills at bothâe.g, skilling up in ML and then working to become a distiller of AI safety research, which requires both technical skill AND ability to write well.
Itâs a difficult question! But the lesson I have definitely taken from this article is âApply for things, pay attention to what happens.â
Besides distillation, another option to look into could be the Communications Specialist or Senior Communications Specialist contractor roles at the Fund for Alignment Research.
Thatâs an interesting example! It does seem like you having success with writing contests is meaningful evidence; the distillation thing does potentially seem promising.