[APPRENTICE]
Hi I'm Uli and I care about two things: Solving alignment and becoming stronger (not necessarily in that order).
My background: I was unschooled, I've never been to school or had a real teacher. I taught myself everything I wanted to know. I didn't really have friends till 17 when I started getting involved with rationalist-adjacent camps.
I did seri mats 3.0 under Alex Turner, doing some interpretability on mazes. Now I'm working half-time doing interpretability/etc with Alex's team as well as studying.
In rough order of priority, the kinds of mentorship I'm looking for:
[MENTOR]
I am very good at learning when I want to be[2]. If you would like someone to yell at you for using obviously inefficient learning strategies (which you probably are), I can do that.
I can also introduce bored high-schoolers with interesting people their age, and give advice related to the stuff I'm good at.
Too busy for intensive mentorship, but async messaging plus maybe a call every week or so could work.
Semiconsistently meditating an hour a day + walking meditation when traveling. Currently around stage 3-4 in mind illuminated terms (for those not familiar, this is dogshit.)
Which sadly hasn't been the past year as much as it used to. I've been getting distracted by doing research and random small projects over absorbing fountains of knowledge. In the process of fixing this now.
[MENTOR]
This is a bit off-center from the normal LW topic of trying to prevent AI Doom, but I'm interested in helping out people who are interested in law or public policy. I don't post here much (long time near-lurker), but I am a state government lawyer who works in public health and consumer finance. I am interested in:
Will provide my real name and links to public facing things I've done on request. I don't have any particular need or use for an "Apprentice" per se, so I see what I'm offering as a mentor/mentee model more than a master/apprentice model.
[MENTOR]
I am best known around here for doing short science write-ups (plurality but not majority medical) and occasional broader epistemic or social stuff. I make my living with the research work, some of which looks like my blog but some of which is things like "help entrepreneurs evaluate start-up ideas". I'm also the other half of hath's apprenticeship Dialogue.
I am interested in:
Hey, I've been getting into writing posts and blogging, and I've done some scientific research. Would you be interested in mentoring me?
I'd need more information to answer that (well, the related version of that question I think makes more sense). Could you send me some information on yourself, some favorite work samples, what in particular you're hoping for? And this overlaps with the last bit, but knowing why you're asking me in particular is also helpful.
[MENTOR] Join My Brain in thinking about AGI AGI notkilleveryoneism
I am working on AGI notkilleveryoneism. I am good at generating lots of ideas. And I am good at going out of distribution with these ideas. That means I generate a lot of garbage ideas, but sometimes pretty good ones. To see some of them, see the "AGI notkilleveryoneism Interests" section in my bio.
I am interested in having somebody join my brain in thinking. That mainly involves being together, and then understanding a problem better, generating solutions, validating solutions, and implementing solutions. A major component would be keeping our brains in sync through effectively loading each other's models and ideas. In the ideal case, we are together in the same room, and the room contains a giant whiteboard.
I have done something related when I was studying game design, and empirically it made me much more productive. Since SERI MATS 3, John works together with David Lorell and he says it increases his productivity by 3-4x, which I totally buy. One possible structure that might try out:
UDVI X stands for the iterative process of: (U: first understand the problem domain of X (i.e. Hold Off On Proposing Solutions), D: design a solution, I: implement the solution)
I would probably do something different if I thought about it longer than 5 minutes, but I hope it communicates the rough idea.
Note that e.g. UDVI of "generating ideas" is already going meta. I imagine this process to be focused as much on the object level as possible, and only jump to the meta-level when you get stuck at the object level (understanding a problem domain better counts as object level in my book). So I am imagining something where you start by thinking about "UDVI how to work well together" but only spend some small fixed amount of time per week on that. Unless there is some problem that comes up. Mostly I am imagining working on the object level and applying UDVI to any problems that come up. Though initially, I think it makes to especially focus on meta.
I have more detailed ideas about specific steps and general strategies than those outlined above. There is some basic stuff that I expect to be good, such as: learning to say ops, I am wrong, I am confused, I don't understand, and other things in this category. Also having social norms facilitating that seems beneficial.
Some things I am thinking of now might break though. Either because I generated them before I knew about Hold Off On Proposing Solutions, or because I imported them from game design, which is a very different domain.
I also think there is tons of good stuff in John's MATS Models post. Talking as somebody who experienced all that in person during SERI MATS 2 and the SERI MATS 3 training phase.
I don't expect that all the time would be spent working together. I expect sometimes it makes sense to split up a task, or make you figure out something for yourself.
Also, there are probably some good <skill-up/exercise> things that I might direct you towards. E.g. Nate's Giant textfile exercise
I am missing many technical concepts, which I think is my biggest constraint right now. There is a good chance that you have many useful concepts, especially in math, that I don't. See my LessWrong Bio for a list of my <skills/technical concepts>.
Also, see my LessWrong Bio for more general information about me.
[APPRENTICE]
I'm looking for someone to mentor me specifically w.r.t. «Boundaries» (or, similarly: Cartesian Frames). I'm interested in this both for AI safety (I have a draft compilation post on this that I will be posting in the next few days, or else I'd share it here), and also as a rationality technique. I'm interested in doing research on and/or distillation for this.
[MENTOR]
I am a 25-year-old computer science PhD student and I currently work on natural language processing with neurosymbolic approaches (using a mix of logic and neural networks to do reasoning on a normal text input). I have a (very) high degree of education in math and theoretical computer science. I also have some very limited skills and knowledge for more practical aspects of computer science. Also, I have quite a lot of reflection on the topic of the nature of thought, valid inference, and rational behavior. These are condensed in a currently unpublished book length report. The result of a year-long break I took for personal reflection. I expect to be able to help quite a lot with fundamental reflection that relates to epistemology or rationality.
If you intend to learn about some aspect of mathematics or theoretical computer science I can probably point you toward resources or help you understand technical aspects. I am also willing to serve as a background help for someone going through a math education. Alternatively, I might be willing to help an in depth reflection to which you think I can be relevant.
I can offer some asynchronous email/messages exchange and semiregular conversation, perhaps averaging one or two per month. Ideally, we would schedule conversations quickly when you need them. If you have a very different mode of interaction in mind I am willing to adapt.
[APPRENTICE]
Presentation copy/pasted from the mentor section.
I am a 25-year-old computer science PhD student and I currently work on natural language processing with neurosymbolic approaches (using a mix of logic and neural networks to do reasoning on a normal text input).
I have a (very) high degree of education in math and theoretical computer science. I also have some very limited skills and knowledge for more practical aspects of computer science.
Also, I have quite a lot of reflection on the topic of the nature of thought, valid inference, and rational behavior. These are condensed in a currently unpublished book length report. The result of a year-long break I took for personal reflection.
I am looking for one of the followings:
By default, I would imagine a few discussions near the beginning and then much less frequent conversations as needed (once a month?). But that's just off the top of my head.
[NORMAL]
Whether as a mentor, as an apprentice, or because you think we could work together in some other capacity, feel free to DM me through lesswrong. Give me a few days to get back to you. If I do not answer it probably means your message did not go through. In that case just comment below.
[APPRENTICE]:
For a bunch of these, the minimum viable product for mentoring me is a combination of pointing me to books/textbooks and checking in on me to make sure I actually do it.
Some things I'd like mentorship on:
What are your current skills in Python and programming in general?
(Just approximately, like "never programmed at all", "never wrote a program longer than one screen", "senior developer in C++ but never used Python" etc.)
Took APCS (Java 101-102) in high school (culminating with coding Tetris in Java), read through Diveintopython3.net, done a bunch of miscellaneous programs in Python, lots of experience in Linux.
Hm. My background is computer science at university, about 20 years of Java, plus some Python in my free time. Chances are, you know more about Python than I do, so the useful advice I could provide would be in the "programming in general" area, which of course also applies to Python code. Either something theoretical (e.g. finite-state machines), or something from practice (e.g. test-driven development); actually those are the only two examples that come to my mind right now, but maybe if I think longer about it, I will find something more. Also, you could show me your code for a review.
If you want a project, I think a fun exercise could be to design your own toy language and write its interpreter in Python.
If you are interested, send me a private message and let's figure out how to communicate.
*
Thinking about math, the part relevant for alignment seems to be logic. Could give you a short introduction, but nothing too advanced.
Seems like in both programming and math, I can help you make a step or two forward, but it will still be far from where you want to get. Just saying it in advance, to keep your expectations appropriately low.
Do you have a plot for your novel, or just an idea?
I have an idea on HP:MoR-like novel with different negative forces implying different setting (though still magical world and Hogwarts). I've also written a plot for it (with help of ChatGPT), however the plot doesn't actually matter much to me - I just want to read an exciting story! (It also seems the most realistic way to write a novel, because the finish is not fixed in real life.)
[APPRENTICE]
Not a narrow or specific kind of apprenticeship (training or a project), rather very broad and focusing on learning and academics in STEM areas (advice dispenser, and in cases tutor/trainer).
Fields of Study:
Computer Science: I am planning to major in this at college. So it is kind of important. I am interested in ML, AI, algorithms, Low Level or precise programming, Website Development, and Application Programming. All at a surface level, I am not sure what I want to do after college but I think it would to have an idea of how all of these work in case I find my self especially interested in one or another. I will be taking an introductory programming and problem solving class in the fall.
Psychology: Specifically rationality and learning which according to a textbook I picked up fit in this category. I have a great drive to improve and optimize my ability to learn. Similarly I want to be able to reason accurately consciously and clearly, out loud, in writing, and in my head. Also Philosophy of Logic, I am taking that as a class in the fall.
Math: I love math and plan to learn and practice it no matter what for the rest of my life. It doesn’t matter what math I like to experience the release of endorphins that coincide with the grasping of a new concept and the solving of a difficult problem. The best part is the practice of the process of reasoning. I struggle with math but hope to improve a lot over the summer and have been revisiting algebra, and geometry as I am not taking a math class currently. I will be taking a calculus class in the fall.
Physics: I haven’t taken any physics classes yet so don’t have any rigorous understanding of it but I like the idea of having math that you can use to predict what will happen in the real world. I will be taking a physics course next fall.
Interests: (Less important and only really a bonus)
All the stuff above
Chess: I am learning chess and having a lot of fun I am currently 580 elo and spend a lot of time playing.
Drawing: I am currently taking my first art class (required to graduate) and find my self really enjoying it.
Climbing: I like going bouldering, the problem solving aspect of it is fun, usually it technique over strength and really enjoyable to learn.
Teaching: I really like sharing what I learn, things I made and how I made them.
I am a high school senior I don’t know a lot about anything and currently my only desire in life is to learn stuff. The kind of mentorship I am thinking of is more loose than others described here, I would like to have a contact who has been through college and has experience and or interest in similar things. I would describe it more as a counselor. Someone I could go to for guidance about whatever I am interested in learning, someone who could give me advice on general academics. If I am really struggling to grasp a specific concept or idea, they could help walk me through it. If I don’t know what to do next they could help describe, what is applicable and really worth focusing on. Traditionally an apprentice would work for their mentor, however this is more of a charity project :). Although I would be happy to help if there is anything an extra hand/head would be useful for.
Motivation/Goal: To gain a broad base of knowledge in order to be effective at what ever I decide to do.
For contacting just direct message me.
If I am really struggling to grasp a specific concept or idea, they could help walk me through it.
By the way, if you have a specific question, you can also:
A while back, @Zvi set up a Schelling point for mentorship. I, personally, had some pretty good experiences from that thread, and wanted to continue the tradition, now that the old thread's been inactive for some time.
To see some of my thoughts on mentorship, check out this dialogue between Elizabeth and I.
I'll be copying Zvi's formatting for comments: