I love this, but I also hope that there is a thriving, diverse EA-newspaper scene in this alternate universe, since I think the question of “What are really the most important facts / ongoing trends in the world?” is profound and difficult to answer. From a LessWrong post that really influenced me (https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qGceZXtQoMuiJ2cxN/what-is-going-on-in-the-world):
Here’s a list of alternative high level narratives about what is importantly going on in the world—the central plot, as it were—for the purpose of thinking about what role in a plot to take:
The US is falling apart rapidly (on the scale of years), as evident in US politics departing from sanity and honor, sharp polarization, violent civil unrest, hopeless pandemic responses, ensuing economic catastrophe, one in a thousand Americans dying by infectious disease in 2020, etc.
Western civilization is declining on the scale of half a century, as evidenced by its inability to build things it used to be able to build, and the ceasing of apparent economic acceleration toward a singularity.
AI agents will control the future, and which ones we create is the only thing about our time that will matter in the long run.
Institutions could be way better across the board, and these are key to large numbers of people positively interacting, which is critical to the bounty of our times. Improvement could make a big difference to swathes of endeavors, and well-picked improvements would make a difference to endeavors that matter.
Most people are suffering or drastically undershooting their potential, for tractable reasons.
Everyone is going to die, the way things stand.
Most of the resources ever available are in space, not subject to property rights, and in danger of being ultimately had by the most effective stuff-grabbers. This could begin fairly soon in historical terms.
And on and on. I sometimes think humanity is in a state akin to moral cluelessness about how our actions will affect the future—maybe call it “viewpoint cluelessness” about which of many seemingly-incommensurable issues are truly the most important, top-level concerns. (But of course it is the job of EA to compare the seemingly-incommensurable, and the perspective of your Pressing News cover is a good consensus place from which to start!)
I love this, but I also hope that there is a thriving, diverse EA-newspaper scene in this alternate universe, since I think the question of “What are really the most important facts / ongoing trends in the world?” is profound and difficult to answer. From a LessWrong post that really influenced me (https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qGceZXtQoMuiJ2cxN/what-is-going-on-in-the-world):
Here’s a list of alternative high level narratives about what is importantly going on in the world—the central plot, as it were—for the purpose of thinking about what role in a plot to take:
The US is falling apart rapidly (on the scale of years), as evident in US politics departing from sanity and honor, sharp polarization, violent civil unrest, hopeless pandemic responses, ensuing economic catastrophe, one in a thousand Americans dying by infectious disease in 2020, etc.
Western civilization is declining on the scale of half a century, as evidenced by its inability to build things it used to be able to build, and the ceasing of apparent economic acceleration toward a singularity.
AI agents will control the future, and which ones we create is the only thing about our time that will matter in the long run.
Institutions could be way better across the board, and these are key to large numbers of people positively interacting, which is critical to the bounty of our times. Improvement could make a big difference to swathes of endeavors, and well-picked improvements would make a difference to endeavors that matter.
Most people are suffering or drastically undershooting their potential, for tractable reasons.
Everyone is going to die, the way things stand.
Most of the resources ever available are in space, not subject to property rights, and in danger of being ultimately had by the most effective stuff-grabbers. This could begin fairly soon in historical terms.
And on and on. I sometimes think humanity is in a state akin to moral cluelessness about how our actions will affect the future—maybe call it “viewpoint cluelessness” about which of many seemingly-incommensurable issues are truly the most important, top-level concerns. (But of course it is the job of EA to compare the seemingly-incommensurable, and the perspective of your Pressing News cover is a good consensus place from which to start!)