yeah; it seems obvious to me that “the good I accomplish” includes my contribution to allowing others to do good. I’m open to seeing evidence but I suspect the reason field-building, movement-building etc. isn’t done as much as OP would like has nothing to do with this kind of confusion. In fact I think it’s questionable how much you can do at the meta level if your direct work doesn’t measure up. People show up when they see cool stuff being done, not so much when they hear you talk about the cool stuff that someone else should do. Sputnik did a great deal more for science and engineering education than running a bunch of commercials about the importance of science would have.
not so much when they hear you talk about the cool stuff that someone else should do.
Maybe that feels a bit unfair non-steelmanny to me? There are other ways of motivating and helping others and the process other than just saying ‘wouldn’t it be great if someone solved the alignment problem’ etc.
Such as:
Encouraging people who are working on the problem
Providing inputs and support to others working on important problems
Offering career advice
Helping communicate and explain the work that is being done, in term helping people coordinate
yeah; it seems obvious to me that “the good I accomplish” includes my contribution to allowing others to do good. I’m open to seeing evidence but I suspect the reason field-building, movement-building etc. isn’t done as much as OP would like has nothing to do with this kind of confusion. In fact I think it’s questionable how much you can do at the meta level if your direct work doesn’t measure up. People show up when they see cool stuff being done, not so much when they hear you talk about the cool stuff that someone else should do. Sputnik did a great deal more for science and engineering education than running a bunch of commercials about the importance of science would have.
Maybe that feels a bit unfair non-steelmanny to me? There are other ways of motivating and helping others and the process other than just saying ‘wouldn’t it be great if someone solved the alignment problem’ etc.
Such as:
Encouraging people who are working on the problem
Providing inputs and support to others working on important problems
Offering career advice
Helping communicate and explain the work that is being done, in term helping people coordinate