Whoa, awesome! Aligns well with my current interests. A lot of great insights there...

I have also started a pursuit of learning useful concepts/models explicitly.

Some useful resources:

• Model Thinking course on Coursera

• Mental models by Gabriel Weinberg

• Creating a Latticework of Mental Models: An Introduction

• And, of course, the Useful Concepts Repository @ LessWrong

Pareto fellowship

Hi Victoria,

I am highly interested in AI safety research. Unfortunately, I do not have a strong math background and I live in an area distant from AI research. After spending some time thinking about my future I have come to the decision to go for a math intensive PhD in some area not far from MIRI or FLI. I have only the bachelor degree in Engineering with major in Computer Science and Software Engineering. Currently, I spend most of my time working full time as a software developer, preparing for a GRE general exam and thinking about PhD and FAI.

Andrew Critch from MIRI and Berkeley is very enthusiastic about pursuing the PhD. He suggested the Statistics. I would be glad to know your opinions about PhD/AI & FAI research. Here is a list of some questions, which are bothering me.

• What do you think would be more relevant for AI safety research - CS, Statistics or something else?
• What areas of research are the most promising for AI safety, in your opinion?
• Is it better to pick the research area close to what MIRI working on, or a more general AI research one (such as a ML).
• Is it possible to increase the chances of successful admission by gaining some research experience before the admissions in this year? Or is it better to spend the time in some other way?
• Does the Math GRE subject test increase the chance of admission?

I'm going to apply for AI research related PhD this year. I want to start some research project in the near future with a goal of learning and increasing the chances of successful PhD admission. It's very likely that the domain of this research project will lie close to ML or MIRI research agenda.

I have only a bachelor degree in Engineering (CS and Software Engineering). I work as a software engineer and spend evenings by preparing for GRE, thinking and learning about FAI. Probably will do something with my job to free more time. My timezone: UTC+6.

I have listened to audiobooks for about a 6 months. Recently I started to spend less time on audiobooks and more time on thinking. Not much evidence is gathered, by so far thinking while walking seems more useful for me.