Thanks for laying this out, it’s very interesting and shows a lot of depth of knowledge. Each of those steps is important.
My sense is that you’re providing support and accounting for these entities for billing essentially.
What you wrote also gives a sense why there’s not much “ownership” or attention to pandemic safety or genomic sampling. Honestly, it looks like things are barely held together (“Almost Bankrupt Ambulance Company”).
You’re correct except that we receive money from other types of organizations too, including non-profit organizations who give money in the form of grants (hi there, American Heart Association!). You’ll see why later in this comment.
I think you’re saying that without this funding, there would be pretty much no support for any social goods that you can provide.
The original post by the two authors talked about getting effective monitoring/surveillance.
The status quo is what the planet has with the current funding, etc. If you want something better, then as you inferred, it’s going to take additional changes and resources.
In the Less Wrong sequences, there are essays about utilions and warm fuzzies. In the healthcare world, that distinction is always present.
If I spend $80,000 hiring someone to slog through medical records looking for a pandemic, then I have given up the chance to spend $80,000 on a nurse to get patients out of ambulances and into a hospital bed faster. The former cannot be billed to Medicare. The latter can be.
To use an AI analogy, if a programmer makes a reward function that rewards the latter and not the former, the programmer doesn’t get to complain that it was a surprise while dying of COVID-19 or being turned into a paperclip.
Mostly wanted to describe what has been tried before so that maybe someone else can try something smarter in the future. There’s so many misaligned incentives and problems that it’s hard to know where to start and it’s nice to have a place to put these thoughts down in a productive manner.
I guess I was looking for emotional support and got it; thank you. I imagine that my emotions have similarities to that of people who work on friendly AI.
There’s not much else to say that isn’t said better elsewhere (woes of American healthcare, coordination problems, the LW sequences, the way brains think of other people, utilions, heroic responsibility, ambiguous delegation of duties, dissemination and usage of knowledge, etc.).
In closing, a passage from chapter 109 of HPMOR feels appropriate.
The aspect I found interesting was that … the rest of Atlantis ignored this project and went upon their ways. It was sometimes praised as a noble public endeavor, but nearly all other Atlanteans found more important things to do on any given day than help. … With relatively little support, the tiny handful of would-be makers of this device labored under working conditions that were not so much dramatically arduous, as pointlessly annoying. Eventually time ran out and Atlantis was destroyed with the device still far from complete.
(I don’t really know how to operationalize this, I’m not connected to the people working on pandemic prevention) but I hope your experience and interests find use where it’s helpful, and you find it satisfying and rewarding to contribute.
Thanks for laying this out, it’s very interesting and shows a lot of depth of knowledge. Each of those steps is important.
My sense is that you’re providing support and accounting for these entities for billing essentially.
What you wrote also gives a sense why there’s not much “ownership” or attention to pandemic safety or genomic sampling. Honestly, it looks like things are barely held together (“Almost Bankrupt Ambulance Company”).
I think you’re saying that without this funding, there would be pretty much no support for any social goods that you can provide.
The original post by the two authors talked about getting effective monitoring/surveillance.
The status quo is what the planet has with the current funding, etc. If you want something better, then as you inferred, it’s going to take additional changes and resources.
In the Less Wrong sequences, there are essays about utilions and warm fuzzies. In the healthcare world, that distinction is always present.
If I spend $80,000 hiring someone to slog through medical records looking for a pandemic, then I have given up the chance to spend $80,000 on a nurse to get patients out of ambulances and into a hospital bed faster. The former cannot be billed to Medicare. The latter can be.
To use an AI analogy, if a programmer makes a reward function that rewards the latter and not the former, the programmer doesn’t get to complain that it was a surprise while dying of COVID-19 or being turned into a paperclip.
Everything you said makes sense to me and seems wise. Please continue if you have more wisdom to share.
Just so you know, I’m basically a random person on the internet, but I want to point you in any directions if I can help.
As a random person, are you looking for funding or support? What are the best outcomes you want from your presence on the forum?
>what do you want?
Mostly wanted to describe what has been tried before so that maybe someone else can try something smarter in the future. There’s so many misaligned incentives and problems that it’s hard to know where to start and it’s nice to have a place to put these thoughts down in a productive manner.
I guess I was looking for emotional support and got it; thank you. I imagine that my emotions have similarities to that of people who work on friendly AI.
There’s not much else to say that isn’t said better elsewhere (woes of American healthcare, coordination problems, the LW sequences, the way brains think of other people, utilions, heroic responsibility, ambiguous delegation of duties, dissemination and usage of knowledge, etc.).
In closing, a passage from chapter 109 of HPMOR feels appropriate.
Thank you for sharing!
(I don’t really know how to operationalize this, I’m not connected to the people working on pandemic prevention) but I hope your experience and interests find use where it’s helpful, and you find it satisfying and rewarding to contribute.