One thing we could do to help EA seem more cool without compromising at all on truth and intellectual integrity is to emphasize that what we’re doing is actually heroic. Like, we are literally saving lives (bednets) and protecting the helpless (animals) and trying to save the world from potential doom (AI safety).
That leans into our altruist angle. I think we could also lean into the effectiveness angle by comparing ourselves to heroic characters in fiction who use their intelligence to outwit the bad guys. I’m thinking BBC’s Sherlock, Spock from Star Trek, Lelouch from Code Geass, Tony Stark aka Iron Man, HPMOR, etc. In fact, EAs are kinda like combining Tony Stark’s genius with the sense of morality and decency of Steve Rogers aka Captain America.
We are like Lawful Good D&D Paladins in the sense of championing a righteous cause, and D&D Wizards in the sense of using our intelligence to solve the problems.
So, I think we should lean into the idea that being EA is heroic. We’re trying to save the world. Many of us make real sacrifices (10% to charity, veganism, career pivots, etc.) to make the world a better place.
As for villains, I mean, there are many we could point to other than just Altman. Elon Musk is basically a caricature at this point. Not only is he racing to ASI with the least safety of any of the frontier competitors, but as leader of DOGE he cut USAID and essentially killed or at least abandoned all the people depending on that. Another obvious choice would be an unaligned ASI itself.
But I think, it’s actually more important to show us as the heroes we are, than to name villains. People get mad at villains. People connect with heroes.
You might argue with AI safety in particular that it already sounds too sci-fi. I think, we can’t avoid that, and we may as well take advantage of the tropes that our culture has to make the connections that can be made that resonate with people. Heroes saving the world is a lot more exciting and cool a frame than maximizing impact through targeted donations and direct work sounds, but in effect, in the real world, they are the same thing.
This is not PR or spinning facts. At the risk of sounding cheesy, our efforts really are heroic, and we deserve for our society and culture to appreciate that, and recognize that they too, can become heroes in our world.
One thing we could do to help EA seem more cool without compromising at all on truth and intellectual integrity is to emphasize that what we’re doing is actually heroic. Like, we are literally saving lives (bednets) and protecting the helpless (animals) and trying to save the world from potential doom (AI safety).
That leans into our altruist angle. I think we could also lean into the effectiveness angle by comparing ourselves to heroic characters in fiction who use their intelligence to outwit the bad guys. I’m thinking BBC’s Sherlock, Spock from Star Trek, Lelouch from Code Geass, Tony Stark aka Iron Man, HPMOR, etc. In fact, EAs are kinda like combining Tony Stark’s genius with the sense of morality and decency of Steve Rogers aka Captain America.
We are like Lawful Good D&D Paladins in the sense of championing a righteous cause, and D&D Wizards in the sense of using our intelligence to solve the problems.
So, I think we should lean into the idea that being EA is heroic. We’re trying to save the world. Many of us make real sacrifices (10% to charity, veganism, career pivots, etc.) to make the world a better place.
As for villains, I mean, there are many we could point to other than just Altman. Elon Musk is basically a caricature at this point. Not only is he racing to ASI with the least safety of any of the frontier competitors, but as leader of DOGE he cut USAID and essentially killed or at least abandoned all the people depending on that. Another obvious choice would be an unaligned ASI itself.
But I think, it’s actually more important to show us as the heroes we are, than to name villains. People get mad at villains. People connect with heroes.
You might argue with AI safety in particular that it already sounds too sci-fi. I think, we can’t avoid that, and we may as well take advantage of the tropes that our culture has to make the connections that can be made that resonate with people. Heroes saving the world is a lot more exciting and cool a frame than maximizing impact through targeted donations and direct work sounds, but in effect, in the real world, they are the same thing.
This is not PR or spinning facts. At the risk of sounding cheesy, our efforts really are heroic, and we deserve for our society and culture to appreciate that, and recognize that they too, can become heroes in our world.