Fantastic essay—one of the most original and challenging I’ve seen on the forum.
I’m interested in this argument not so much as it relates to the value of working on AI alignment, but rather the internal narratives / structures of meaning people carry into their EA work.
Many people come to EA from intense or high-control religious backgrounds—evangelicalism, Mormonism, orthodox and ultra-orthodox Judaism, and more. Especially in the kinds of educated circles that tend to overlap with EA, there’s a huge cultural vacuum for shared structures of meaning. I suspect we underestimate the power of this vacuum at our own peril. We’ve got to acknowledge that AI apocalypse narratives (focusing on the narrative here; not the issue itself) have a powerful religious pull. They offer a kind of salvation / destruction binary that offers us what we want most in the world—relief from uncertainty.
I see a young movement with a ton of fervor / new converts and I wonder—are we honest with ourselves about what we’re looking for? Are we being smart about where we get our sense of belonging, meaning, and purpose?
Lots of folks are worried about burnout, and I am too. I see a bunch of brilliant 23 year olds in STEM (and others!) who haven’t had a chance to develop an understanding of their emotional / relational / spiritual needs and are heading for a crash.
Fantastic essay—one of the most original and challenging I’ve seen on the forum.
I’m interested in this argument not so much as it relates to the value of working on AI alignment, but rather the internal narratives / structures of meaning people carry into their EA work.
Many people come to EA from intense or high-control religious backgrounds—evangelicalism, Mormonism, orthodox and ultra-orthodox Judaism, and more. Especially in the kinds of educated circles that tend to overlap with EA, there’s a huge cultural vacuum for shared structures of meaning. I suspect we underestimate the power of this vacuum at our own peril. We’ve got to acknowledge that AI apocalypse narratives (focusing on the narrative here; not the issue itself) have a powerful religious pull. They offer a kind of salvation / destruction binary that offers us what we want most in the world—relief from uncertainty.
I see a young movement with a ton of fervor / new converts and I wonder—are we honest with ourselves about what we’re looking for? Are we being smart about where we get our sense of belonging, meaning, and purpose?
Lots of folks are worried about burnout, and I am too. I see a bunch of brilliant 23 year olds in STEM (and others!) who haven’t had a chance to develop an understanding of their emotional / relational / spiritual needs and are heading for a crash.
Thank you for the high praise.
This certainly seems to be an area ripe for further exploration, and I am curious about how it applies to other parts of EA