As an example: I specifically chose to start working on AI alignment rather than trying to build startups to try to fund EA because of SBF. I would probably be making a lot more money had I took a different route and would likely not have to deal with being in such a shaky, intense field where I’ve had to put parts of my life on hold for.
Yeah, I agree. Though I feel I can imagine a lot of startups or businesses that require a lot of work, but don’t require as much brain power. I could have chosen a sector that doesn’t move as fast as AI (which has an endless stream of papers and posts to keep track of) and just requires me to build a useful product/service for people. Being in a pre-paradigmatic field where things feel like they are moving insanely fast can feel overwhelming.
I don’t know, being in a field that I think feels much more high-risk and forces me to grapple with difficult concepts every day is exhausting. I could be wrong, but I doubt I’d feel this level of exhaustion if I built an ed-tech startup (while still difficult and the market is shaky).
(Actually, one of my first cash-grabs would have been to automate digital document stuff in government since I worked in it and have contacts. I don’t think I’d feel the same intensity and shaky-ness tackling something like that since that’s partially what I did when I was there. Part of my strategy was going to be to build something that can make me a couple million when I sell it, and then go after something bigger once I have some level of stability.)
Part of what I meant by “shaky-ness” is maybe that there’s a potential for higher monetary upside with startups and so if I end up successful, there’s a money safety net I can rely on (though there’s certainly a period of shaky-ness when you start). And building a business can basically be done anywhere while for alignment I might be ‘forced’ to head to a hub I don’t want to move to.
Then again, I could be making a bigger deal about alignment due to bias of being in the field.
As an example: I specifically chose to start working on AI alignment rather than trying to build startups to try to fund EA because of SBF. I would probably be making a lot more money had I took a different route and would likely not have to deal with being in such a shaky, intense field where I’ve had to put parts of my life on hold for.
That’s startups too, no?
Yeah, I agree. Though I feel I can imagine a lot of startups or businesses that require a lot of work, but don’t require as much brain power. I could have chosen a sector that doesn’t move as fast as AI (which has an endless stream of papers and posts to keep track of) and just requires me to build a useful product/service for people. Being in a pre-paradigmatic field where things feel like they are moving insanely fast can feel overwhelming.
I don’t know, being in a field that I think feels much more high-risk and forces me to grapple with difficult concepts every day is exhausting. I could be wrong, but I doubt I’d feel this level of exhaustion if I built an ed-tech startup (while still difficult and the market is shaky).
(Actually, one of my first cash-grabs would have been to automate digital document stuff in government since I worked in it and have contacts. I don’t think I’d feel the same intensity and shaky-ness tackling something like that since that’s partially what I did when I was there. Part of my strategy was going to be to build something that can make me a couple million when I sell it, and then go after something bigger once I have some level of stability.)
Part of what I meant by “shaky-ness” is maybe that there’s a potential for higher monetary upside with startups and so if I end up successful, there’s a money safety net I can rely on (though there’s certainly a period of shaky-ness when you start). And building a business can basically be done anywhere while for alignment I might be ‘forced’ to head to a hub I don’t want to move to.
Then again, I could be making a bigger deal about alignment due to bias of being in the field.