There’s no doubt you want to do good, but just because philosopher’s opened your eyes to EA doesn’t mean you should also be a philosopher. What if a plumber had handed you an EA book? You were going to be excited about EA no matter who first drew you in...and Ord and Singer drew a lot of people in, but they’re not all going to be philosopher’s. Instead what you should do is keep learning about what doing different jobs is like, what’s the day to day life of a philosopher? For example, many people dream about being a flight attendant because you get to travel, but actually being a flight attendant is like being a waiter in a restaurant with travel benefits...you could get a higher paying job and still be able to travel as much, it’s basically serving food and drinks in a long skinny restaurant. Being a lawyer is mostly about pleasing your clients by making sure things go their way. Lawyers have to kiss more a** than you can ever imagine, it’s all about billable hours and keeping clients happy. Being a philosopher is like being an architect—only the top few really do the cool stuff, but if you can do it, it’s pretty cool. I found in college every new semester my exposure to new ways of thinking kept causing me to change what I wanted to do. I recommend treating undergrad as a way to figure out what you want to do, then take a year or two to work a little, intern, go do charity work, etc. Then really have a much better idea on what graduate program to apply to. The main greatness of who you are is that you are bound and determined that your life is going to make the world a better place. That is amazing.
Thank you for your kind words. I agree, just because a philosopher introduced me to ideas doesn’t mean I should become one too. But I think I need more clarification about lawyers kissing a$$. Indeed, lawyers have to worry about staying afloat in their practice. Therefore, yes they must “pander” to the client. But what if said client is an entrepreneur starting a business for a good cause, perhaps a researcher starting their institute, or an animal lover forming an LLC for rescues. Then, isn’t pandering a good thing?
Well yes you’re right I was trying to point to the hidden realities of certain jobs, and it’s true many kinds of lawyers have to do some demeaning pandering but actually the best kind of legal work is in the EA non-profit sphere, here you can fight the good fight and in a sense your clients are the poor and disenfranchised you are fighting for, or say a good cause like AI alignment. I should have said that in my original comment. :)
There’s no doubt you want to do good, but just because philosopher’s opened your eyes to EA doesn’t mean you should also be a philosopher. What if a plumber had handed you an EA book? You were going to be excited about EA no matter who first drew you in...and Ord and Singer drew a lot of people in, but they’re not all going to be philosopher’s. Instead what you should do is keep learning about what doing different jobs is like, what’s the day to day life of a philosopher? For example, many people dream about being a flight attendant because you get to travel, but actually being a flight attendant is like being a waiter in a restaurant with travel benefits...you could get a higher paying job and still be able to travel as much, it’s basically serving food and drinks in a long skinny restaurant. Being a lawyer is mostly about pleasing your clients by making sure things go their way. Lawyers have to kiss more a** than you can ever imagine, it’s all about billable hours and keeping clients happy. Being a philosopher is like being an architect—only the top few really do the cool stuff, but if you can do it, it’s pretty cool. I found in college every new semester my exposure to new ways of thinking kept causing me to change what I wanted to do. I recommend treating undergrad as a way to figure out what you want to do, then take a year or two to work a little, intern, go do charity work, etc. Then really have a much better idea on what graduate program to apply to. The main greatness of who you are is that you are bound and determined that your life is going to make the world a better place. That is amazing.
Thank you for your kind words. I agree, just because a philosopher introduced me to ideas doesn’t mean I should become one too. But I think I need more clarification about lawyers kissing a$$. Indeed, lawyers have to worry about staying afloat in their practice. Therefore, yes they must “pander” to the client. But what if said client is an entrepreneur starting a business for a good cause, perhaps a researcher starting their institute, or an animal lover forming an LLC for rescues. Then, isn’t pandering a good thing?
Well yes you’re right I was trying to point to the hidden realities of certain jobs, and it’s true many kinds of lawyers have to do some demeaning pandering but actually the best kind of legal work is in the EA non-profit sphere, here you can fight the good fight and in a sense your clients are the poor and disenfranchised you are fighting for, or say a good cause like AI alignment. I should have said that in my original comment. :)