And some people have even suggested saving more than normal if you have relatively short TAI timelines
Short timeline AGI is not priced into the stock market. AI labs, big tech, GPU and data companies are good bets to map to short-term AGI. If this is your belief, you can expect thousandfold returns on investment during the singularity which is far superior to holding cash. While mitigating X-risk via donations might be the maximally altruistic thing to do, it wouldn’t hurt to leave yourself in a good position in the case of a post-AGI world where money still matters.
I would say the major exception is if you think your job is going to be automated soon. Then savings would be more valuable, though I suspect that even more valuable than savings would be working on being flexible and being able to pivot quickly.
I am a CS undergrad. As soon as I have money to save, I am going to hedge against job automation by investing in AGI stock. This will offer better financial protection compared to holding cash.
What should you do with the money that you are not putting into retirement? Some have suggested doing things on your bucket list, because you might not have an opportunity to later.
I personally only care about being happy day to day. For me, I can’t be sad that I didn’t check off my bucket list because I would be dead. I’m different to most I assume however.
I would recommend donating much of that extra money to the causes you care about while you can still make a difference, whether that is reducing existential risk, increasing animal welfare, reducing global poverty
Given short timelines, certain charities become less appealing. For example, animal welfare campaigns which convince companies to make commitments by a certain date many years from now may not have any impact. Existential risk probably has the highest expected utility with the correct animal welfare charities in second place.
Given the vibes of this post, I would highly recommend investing in AGI stock for mostly non-EA reasons. It seems like it would give you the safety net to then donate to EA causes.
As soon as I have money to save, I am going to hedge against job automation by investing in AGI stock. This will offer better financial protection compared to holding cash.
(Not investment advice) sounds reasonable, though some diversification may be prudent. There was an interesting discussion on LessWrong here.
Short timeline AGI is not priced into the stock market. AI labs, big tech, GPU and data companies are good bets to map to short-term AGI. If this is your belief, you can expect thousandfold returns on investment during the singularity which is far superior to holding cash. While mitigating X-risk via donations might be the maximally altruistic thing to do, it wouldn’t hurt to leave yourself in a good position in the case of a post-AGI world where money still matters.
I am a CS undergrad. As soon as I have money to save, I am going to hedge against job automation by investing in AGI stock. This will offer better financial protection compared to holding cash.
I personally only care about being happy day to day. For me, I can’t be sad that I didn’t check off my bucket list because I would be dead. I’m different to most I assume however.
Given short timelines, certain charities become less appealing. For example, animal welfare campaigns which convince companies to make commitments by a certain date many years from now may not have any impact. Existential risk probably has the highest expected utility with the correct animal welfare charities in second place.
Given the vibes of this post, I would highly recommend investing in AGI stock for mostly non-EA reasons. It seems like it would give you the safety net to then donate to EA causes.
Thanks for the thoughtful response!
(Not investment advice) sounds reasonable, though some diversification may be prudent. There was an interesting discussion on LessWrong here.