RomanHauksson

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I also don't particularly like the hedonic gradient of pushing yourself to run at the volume and frequency that seems necessary to really git gud

What do you mean by "hedonic gradient" in this context?

For those of us who don't know where to start (like me), I also recommend checking out the wiki from r/malefashionadvice or r/femalefashionadvice.

Related: Wisdolia is a Chrome extension which automatically generates Anki flashcards based on the content of a webpage you're on.

That's a good point. I conflated Moravec's Paradox with the observation that so far, it seems as though cognitive tasks will be automated more quickly than physical tasks.

We take tending the garden seriously

Ironic typo: the link includes the proceeding space.

Suppose a family values the positive effects that screening would have on their child at $30,000, but in their area, it would cost them $50,000. Them paying for it anyway would be like "donating" $20,000 towards the moral imperative that you propose. But would that really be the best counterfactual use of the money? E.g. donating it instead to the Against Malaria Foundation would save 4-5 lives in expectation.[1] Maybe it would be worth it at $10,000? $5,000?

Although, this doesn't take into account the idea that an additional person doing polygenic screening would increase its acceptance in the public, incentivizing companies to innovate and drive the price down. So maybe the knock-on effects would make it worth it.

  1. ^

    Okay, I've heard that this scale of donations to short-termist charities is actually a lot more complicated than that, but this is just an example.

I agree. Maybe it's time to repost The Best Textbooks on Every Subject again? Many of the topics I want to self-study I haven't found recommendations for in that thread. Or maybe we should create a public database of textbook recommendations instead of maintaining an old forum post.

Just curious: what motivated the transition?

Prioritizing subjects to self-study (advice wanted)

I plan to do some self-studying in my free time over the summer, on topics I would describe as "most useful to know in the pursuit of making the technological singularity go well". Obviously, this includes technical topics within AI alignment, but I've been itching to learn a broad range of subjects to make better decisions about, for example, what position I should work in to have the most counterfactual impact or what research agendas are most promising. I believe this is important because I aim to eventually attempt something really ambitious like founding an organization, which would require especially good judgement and generalist knowledge. What advice do you have on prioritizing topics to self-study and for how much depth? Any other thoughts or resources about my endeavor? I would be super grateful to have a call with you if this is something you've thought a lot about (Calendly link). More context: I'm a undergraduate sophomore studying Computer Science.

So far, my ordered list includes:

  1. Productivity
  2. Learning itself
  3. Rationality and decision making
  4. Epistemology
  5. Philosophy of science
  6. Political theory, game theory, mechanism design, artificial intelligence, philosophy of mind, analytic philosophy, forecasting, economics, neuroscience, history, psychology...
  7. ...and it's at this point that I realize I've set my sights too high and I need to reach out for advice on how to prioritize subjects to learn!
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