Feedback on third episode: Also really liked it! Felt different from the first two. Less free-wheeling, more clearly useful. (Still much more on the relaxed, informal side than main-feed 80k podcasts.)
Felt very useful to get an inside perspective on what 80k thinks its doing with career advising. I really appreciated Dwarkesh kicking the tires on the theory of change (“why not focus 100% on the tails?”), as well as the responses.
It wasn’t entirely an easy listen. I identify with the common EA tropes of: trying to push myself to be more ambitious, but this doesn’t come naturally so I end up often feeling bad about how non-agentic I am. Ex ante trying some things to see if I’m in the right tail of the distribution, figuring I’m probably not, and being kind of upset and adrift about it.
I personally appreciate that 80k thinks a lot about doing right by people like me. It was somewhat hard to hear Dwarkesh focus so intently people at the tails, as if the other 99% of us are a rounding error, but I see the case for it and I’m not sure it’s completely wrong. (I’m not supposed to be the primary beneficiary of 80k advising / other EA resources. If I voluntarily sign up to try being an ambitious altruist, and later feel bad about not (yet) succeeding, I’m not sure I get to blame anyone except myself.)
Feedback on third episode: Also really liked it! Felt different from the first two. Less free-wheeling, more clearly useful. (Still much more on the relaxed, informal side than main-feed 80k podcasts.)
Felt very useful to get an inside perspective on what 80k thinks its doing with career advising. I really appreciated Dwarkesh kicking the tires on the theory of change (“why not focus 100% on the tails?”), as well as the responses.
It wasn’t entirely an easy listen. I identify with the common EA tropes of: trying to push myself to be more ambitious, but this doesn’t come naturally so I end up often feeling bad about how non-agentic I am. Ex ante trying some things to see if I’m in the right tail of the distribution, figuring I’m probably not, and being kind of upset and adrift about it.
I personally appreciate that 80k thinks a lot about doing right by people like me. It was somewhat hard to hear Dwarkesh focus so intently people at the tails, as if the other 99% of us are a rounding error, but I see the case for it and I’m not sure it’s completely wrong. (I’m not supposed to be the primary beneficiary of 80k advising / other EA resources. If I voluntarily sign up to try being an ambitious altruist, and later feel bad about not (yet) succeeding, I’m not sure I get to blame anyone except myself.)