Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan)

Karma: 612

Director of Operations in PIBBSS, professor of Finance and Economics, trainer of Confidence and Public Speech, and corporate coach for Team Skills and Leadership. Consultant and Entrepreneur, with experience in Asia and Europe, especially China. I have a long history of working in charity but was always bothered by the ineffectiveness, and EA is exactly what I was looking for all this time. I developed charities in China where this was extremely difficult, growing clubs from 0 to 100 and helping clubs open in new cities and universities, doing community building with 0 funds.

My current meme to spread is that EA needs more outreach to existing Charity organizations.

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 16 May 2024 22:17 UTC
3 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: trammell’s comment on: Notes on risk compensation
I am saying something like: If actual risk is reduced by a quantity A, but the perceived reduction is actually B, then it’s worth spending time telling people the difference in cases where B>>A, else the effects of the project have been negative (like the effects of green-washing or more relevantly safety-washing). This is not about AI safety in general but for a particular intervention on a case by case basis.

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 15 May 2024 13:42 UTC
1 point
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on: Notes on risk compensation
A corollary of this might be “it is worthwhile to put effort into showing how little risk mitigation has actually been accomplished by the risk-reducing efforts” in order to minimize risk compensation.

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 10 Apr 2024 15:01 UTC
7 points
1 ∶ 0
on: Should EA ‘communities’ be ‘professional associations’?
I think I broadly agree. It would also help with attracting actual professionals. The “bar to entry” decision is talking price, but I am generally interested in it. The thing we lose is the ability to say is “Well, that person wasn’t REALLY EA” but the thing we gain is the ability to say is “Well, that person was kicked out of EA/never joined” or something like that when talking about a bad actor who has not acted in an EA way but has connections to the community. I don’t think that should be our main consideration, but it is worthwhile to know that the lever exists to distance ourselves from bad actors. My main consideration here is that it does look more serious, I’ve written before about Rotary and AIESEC and their membership, and how being a member has obligations and is a much clearer thing than EA movement as is.
On the other hand, I suppose in universities where EA clubs are university clubs they do have that more formal form, so perhaps we can investigate how things look like there compared to geographical communities, see if anything noticeable is different compared to countries where the clubs are not formal university clubs (I believe many countries do not have the western concept of University club, I think EA Hungary had student clubs not incorporated in universities for example). Probably there’s too many other factors also correlated which confounds the study, but maybe we’d have enough data points?

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 5 Apr 2024 11:12 UTC
1 point
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in reply to: Dicentra’s comment on: Introducing “Bribe Well”
Fantastic, I didn’t know about this, I would have included it in the post! :D

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 5 Apr 2024 11:11 UTC
1 point
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: Ian Turner’s comment on: Introducing “Bribe Well”
There’s something about the fact that having dissolved justice system in order to rule, dictators are often afraid of stepping down, since there’s no legal process to protect them once they are no longer president. Thus, a credible island paradise where all countries in the world agree to send leaders who decide to peacefully retire would be a good EV; including good or mediocre rulers, so that there’s no incentive to be extra bad. Maybe it brings in bad motivation to rule in the first place, but I am sure we could figure it out by next April 1st and turn it into a post :D

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 1 Apr 2024 18:37 UTC
7 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: NickLaing’s comment on: Introducing “Bribe Well”
Yeah, ChatGPT—this is first response, few edits, and it was unusually full of zingers. Maybe the bullet points I used mentioning Eastern Europeans brought our sense of humor over to it.

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 1 Apr 2024 18:27 UTC
6 points
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in reply to: Jason’s comment on: Introducing “Bribe Well”
Oh, another stellar contribution! I mean, if their reluctance to bribes generalizes to our adversaries, then that’s some positive externallity; but the downside risk of adversaries getting to do all the “Bribin’ ” (as we call it in the biz) and us doing none is too high. Still, “if none of your prospects ended up in jail, your “funding” bar was too high”, as the saying goes! Maybe we just do BribeWell, and simultaneously run a secret market for how much money we could get paid if we revealed our transactions, allowing us to “cash-out” when we see a high enough impact opportunity (bribing AGI for example).
New Alignment Agenda—Make AI Bribable.

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 1 Apr 2024 18:25 UTC
8 points
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in reply to: NickLaing’s comment on: Introducing “Bribe Well”
I shamelessly admit that AI wrote all of those, leaving me in awe. I thought I’d need to write in some zingers, but honestly, it was just my job to get out of its way. There’s a metaphor there somewhere...

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 1 Apr 2024 18:18 UTC
6 points
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in reply to: Jason’s comment on: Introducing “Bribe Well”
Thank you, Jason, for so clearly showing all the advantages of our approach! Once we get funding from a mysterious benefactor in ~25 years, I’ll reach out to you for our “Director of Explaining BribeWell” position!

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 1 Apr 2024 10:32 UTC
19 points
4 ∶ 0
on: EA Global: we’re improving 1-on-1s
Can’t wait for the Numerology and Chinese Zodiac updates in the following years for ever more auspicious meetings! Perhaps the conference halls could have different positions of Feng-Shui to facilitate different topics?

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 1 Apr 2024 10:28 UTC
22 points
1 ∶ 0
on: Announcement: We are rebranding to Shrimpactful Animal Advocacy
I was doing alright until the Shrimp Welfare Project rebranding, that one got me well :D

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 16 Feb 2024 22:37 UTC
1 point
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in reply to: NunoSempere’s comment on: How would your project use extra funding? (Marginal Funding Week)
Finally out, our 2023 retrospective! https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/izWpWJRoqXPLoqSv9/retrospective-pibbss-fellowship-2023 (Apologies, I don’t know how to do links on mobile) I know it’s too late for the ball, but my completionist mind needed to close this open question. This reflection does include research output, and even a bit of retrospective on what alumni from 2022 did.

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 16 Nov 2023 20:26 UTC
8 points
0 ∶ 1
on: How would your project use extra funding? (Marginal Funding Week)
TLDR: PIBBSS has room for funding for additional research affiliates! We can support additional affiliates at 35k USD per individual for 6 months.
PIBBSS is a research initiative aiming to leverage insights on the parallels between intelligent behaviour in natural and artificial systems towards progress on making AI systems safe and aligned. We run a number of programs (e.g. summer fellowship, affiliate program, reading group, speaker series) aimed at facilitating this type of research, identifying and leveraging high caliber talent, and building a strong epistemic community around this epistemic approach to AI alignment.
Since our inception ~2 years ago, we have been able to produce results supporting the impact potential of PIBBSS’ core epistemic bet and to build traction. Encouraged by these results, we recently launched our affiliate program with the goal of providing long-term, tailored support to excellent researchers pursuing “PIBBSS-style” AI alignment research.
We are currently in the process of selecting our first batch of research affiliates (likely ~4-6). We would be able to support more affiliates (in terms of operational and research facilitation capacity) but are constrained by funding (mainly for salaries and travel expenses). We have been very impressed by the applicant pool, and would have been excited to make at least 2 additional offers during this round.
At the current margins, any additional affiliate costs us 35k USD for 6 months.
Depending on the speed of when the funding would some through, the funding would either go towards hiring more affiliates at the this or the next (~spring 2024) round of applications, or extending our support to existing affiliates beyond the initial 6-months commitment
If you wish to know more, feel free to reach out to us via contact@pibbss.ai.
What links here?
- Meet the candidates in the Forum’s Donation Election (2023) by Lizka (28 Nov 2023 14:23 UTC; 67 points)

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 30 Oct 2023 8:15 UTC
2 points
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in reply to: Nickolai_Leschov’s comment on: AI Safety Hub Serbia Official Opening
Hi Nickolai! Sure thing; generally, the maximum stay of 90 days for other countries is limited to 90 days in 180 days. However,, for Russian and Chinese citizens, the limit is 30 days, but there is no limit to how many times this can be done. Thus, so long as you cross a border (for example by bus into Bosnia, which has the same rule and is 2 hours away from Belgrade) once a month, you can stay indefinitely (and I have known people who did so for ~7 years already). This allows you to work from here and have a bank account here, all without having to take out a residency permit. Even getting those permits is not too expensive, as one can open a company fairly cheaply and get a visa based on that, getting corporate accounts and related benefits of residency (ability to apply for other countries’ visas from here and gaining citizenship after 3-5 years, although you usually have to give up your own passport).

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 27 Sep 2023 13:39 UTC
1 point
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in reply to: Matheus Souza’s comment on: Learning from Non-EA orgs: Rotary and impact through local communities
Thanks for the input Matheus—yes indeed, they create quite tight communities in really diverse places, lots to learn! I hope to post more about successes in cooperation once we have them :)

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 21 Sep 2023 9:25 UTC
7 points
2 ∶ 0
in reply to: Chris Leong’s comment on: The Case for AI Safety Advocacy to the Public
I find your focus on outer game strange. Given the already existing support of the public for going slowly and deliberately, there seems to be a decent case that instead of trying to build public support, we should directly target the policymakers. It’s not clear what extra public support buys us here. In fact, I suspect it might be far more valuable to lobby the industry to try to reduce the amount of opposition such laws might receive.
These are not exclusive to each other, but complementary. Calling your local senator is only made stronger if the same senator sees protests on the streets calling for the same thing you are calling for.

This is a worrying figure to me. If we slow down licensing too much, we almost guarantee that the first super-intelligence is not going to be developed by anyone going through the proper process. Not to mention all of the hours wasted on bureaucratic requirements, rather than actually building an aligned system.
The regulations on guns/nuclear weapons/bioweapons mean that most public uses are by people not going through the proper process. Still worth regulating them!

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 21 Sep 2023 9:22 UTC
−3 points
0 ∶ 2
in reply to: Chris Leong’s comment on: The Case for AI Safety Advocacy to the Public
My understanding (non-expert) is that the inside game is whatever uses the system as is. Outside is things that try to break the system or put pressure in ways that the system generally does not legibly take as inputs. So, talking to existing officials to use existing ways of regulation is maximum inside game. Throwing a coup and enacting dictatorial powers in order to regulate is maximum outside game. Lobbying is more inside, and protesting is more outside. So when we say “target policymakers”, the question is how? Are you sending polite emails with reasoned arguments, or are you throwing buckets of computer chips at their car as they drive by? (I do not endorse doing this, and I say this for comedic effect :D )

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 30 Aug 2023 10:35 UTC
1 point
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in reply to: AllisonA’s comment on: Learning from Non-EA orgs: Rotary and impact through local communities
Thanks, Allison!
The commitment is actually not that huge—there are many clubs, and many of them are quite small, meaning that every year ~20% of members are board members, and people usually do not want to be board members multiple times, so even a year after joining you can make your way up with ambition and drive.
My hope is absolutely to aim for cause prioritization within Rotary—and Rotarians I spoke to are quite keen on the idea! No one likes being ineffective!
(Yes, that’s often the case when incentives are poor—I think things would be different if you were given a budget and asked to create maximum impact with guidance from someone experienced, a la Charity Elections!)

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 25 Aug 2023 12:01 UTC
2 points
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: Joseph Lemien’s comment on: Learning from Non-EA orgs: Rotary and impact through local communities
Happy to hear that you find it useful!

Yes, my subjective feeling from talking to people at EAG London, ~<30% people knew of Rotary. That was surprising to me, so this post was pushed higher on my priorities list.

Dušan D. Nešić (Dushan) 17 Aug 2023 8:17 UTC
2 points
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: Brad West’s comment on: Price-, Taste-, and Convenience-Competitive Plant-Based Meat Would Not Currently Replace Meat
Just a quick comment to add to what Jacob said—my intuition is if I am currently using A, and B appears which seems the same, then I will not switch because I already know A and am used to A, and people I have personal relations with are selling me A etc… For me to switch, B must be much better; in this case, plant-based causes less suffering, but how much do people care about this, compared to signalling and such? Seems intuitive to me that to make the shift, additional campaigns need to be made to make this a clear-cut change, it will not happen 100% by default.