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# D&D.Sci September 2022: The Allocation Helm
*This is an entry in the 'Dungeons & Data Science' series, a set of puzzles where players are given a dataset to analyze and an objective to pursue using information from that dataset.*
You are the Allocation Helm, a piece of magical headwear employed at Swineboils Colleg... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/DKDDT8hGCTz8AxBQF/d-and-d-sci-september-2022-the-allocation-helm |
# Emergency Residential Solar Jury-Rigging
With generous incentives, many houses around here now have rooftop solar. In an emergency, however, these panels would not be able to provide electricity: we've [regrettably chosen](https://www.jefftk.com/p/solar-blackout-resistance) to set things up where almost all resident... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jbgLJc95bwFTp7xec/emergency-residential-solar-jury-rigging |
# Why doesn't China (or didn't anyone) encourage/mandate elastomeric respirators to control COVID?
(This post was inspired in part by [this comment by Florin](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/83KuwSoruqiENMSxK/covid-6-30-22-vaccine-update-update?commentId=LAR2addxF6H5ZJYoH), which I think makes some good related points... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KM77tjFabtFBzKY4M/why-doesn-t-china-or-didn-t-anyone-encourage-mandate |
# Takeaways from our robust injury classifier project [Redwood Research]
With the benefit of hindsight, we have a better sense of our takeaways from our first adversarial training project ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.01663)). Our [original aim](https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/k7oxdbNaGATZbtEg3/redwood-rese... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/n3LAgnHg6ashQK3fF/takeaways-from-our-robust-injury-classifier-project-redwood |
# Many therapy schools work with inner multiplicity (not just IFS)
*Cross-posted to the* [*EA Forum*](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/w9hKmNvhEnHo2wcr7/many-therapy-schools-work-with-inner-multiplicity-not-just)*.*
Summary
-------
* The psychotherapy school *Internal Family Systems* (IFS) is popular amon... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/wCvdM97ZTv7QX2rbj/many-therapy-schools-work-with-inner-multiplicity-not-just |
# [Closed] Prize and fast track to alignment research at ALTER
On behalf of[ ALTER](https://alter.org.il/), I am pleased to announce a prize of 50,000 USD, to be awarded for the best substantial contribution to the[ learning-theoretic AI alignment research agenda](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5bd75cc58225bf06703755... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8BL7w55PS4rWYmrmv/closed-prize-and-fast-track-to-alignment-research-at-alter |
# Refine's Third Blog Post Day/Week
Yesterday was the third blog post day at Refine (technically it was announced on Monday for Friday, but people leveraged the week differently so it's in between a week and a day).
In the current phase of the incubator we're mostly pushing them to generate and iterate on ideas, with... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PhKSe9BT4h5peqrHL/refine-s-third-blog-post-day-week |
# Sparse trinary weighted RNNs as a path to better language model interpretability
*Epistemic status: Strongly arguing for what I feel is a neglected approach. May somewhat overstate the case and fail to adequately steelman counter arguments. I hope and expect that readers will point out flaws in my logic.*
Introduct... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Hjv5ncXk2yCKLdGbm/sparse-trinary-weighted-rnns-as-a-path-to-better-language |
# Updates on FLI's Value Aligment Map?
Around January 2021, I came across the Future of Life Institute's [Value Alignment Map](https://futureoflife.org/valuealignmentmap/), and found it to be a useful resource for getting a sense of the different alignment topics. I was going through it again today, and recalled that ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gqBhqgvterGi9ZxJy/updates-on-fli-s-value-aligment-map |
# Podcasts on surveys, slower AI, AI arguments, etc
I recently talked to Michael Trazzi for his podcast, The Inside View. It just came out, so if that’s a conversation you want to sit in on, do so here:
The main topics were the [survey of ML folk](https://aiimpacts.org/what-do-ml-researchers-think-about-ai-in-2022/) ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CjNywzXknE9Zcycj4/podcasts-on-surveys-slower-ai-ai-arguments-etc |
# Inner alignment: what are we pointing at?
Proof that a model is an optimizer says very little about the model. I do not know what a research group is studying outer alignment is studying. Inner alignment seems to cover the entire problem at the limit. Whether an optimizer is mesa or not depends on your point of vie... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/E3vqfD3CLtNDNoeBr/inner-alignment-what-are-we-pointing-at |
# Summaries: Alignment Fundamentals Curriculum
The linked document provides my summaries for most core readings and many further readings of [the alignment fundamentals curriculum composed by Richard Ngo](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mTm_sT2YQx3mRXQD6J2xD2QJG1c3kHyvX8kQc_IQ0ns/edit), as accessed from July to ea... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/eymFwwc6jG9gPx5Zz/summaries-alignment-fundamentals-curriculum |
# Biden should be applauded for appointing Renee Wegrzyn for ARPA-H
When Biden first announced ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health) I was [skeptical](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xqmChXLF7zeDGDyKi/what-should-we-expect-from-arpa-h). At the time the proposal was to make ARPA-H a normal agency within... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/BqZ6dh7zGnFj2vEkb/biden-should-be-applauded-for-appointing-renee-wegrzyn-for |
# The Inter-Agent Facet of AI Alignment
*We argue that* [*intent alignment and capability robustness*](https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/SzecSPYxqRa5GCaSF/clarifying-inner-alignment-terminology) *do not capture the full “chain of command” (i.e., “alignment” without any qualifier) from the programmer's intentions to... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/khr3KvExuZxdnkDtD/the-inter-agent-facet-of-ai-alignment |
# Leveraging Legal Informatics to Align AI
We already face significant challenges communicating our goals and values in a way that reliably directs AI behavior – even without additional technological advancements, which could compound the difficulty with more autonomous systems. Specifying the desirability (*value*) o... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9xR4KExLQKNK4iggc/leveraging-legal-informatics-to-align-ai |
# Pretending not to Notice
Sometimes parents will pretend not to notice kids doing things they shouldn't: why might you do this and when is it a good idea?
My experience has been that things go much better when parents [set clear boundaries](https://www.jefftk.com/p/predictable-parenting). If it's sometimes ok to pic... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EgntLkWo3XSm8owNi/pretending-not-to-notice |
# Book Swap
**Summary:** Bring a book you liked, pitch it to the crowd, then trade your book for a book someone else brought that sounded good. This has no specific rationalist content.
**Tags:** Repeatable, medium
**Purpose:** Get people talking about books they read and encountering new ones.
**Materials:** A wh... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/brxEA69sBmbsqciLR/book-swap |
# EA & LW Forums Weekly Summary (12 - 18 Sep '22)
*Supported by Rethink Priorities*
This is part of a weekly series - you can see the full collection [here.](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/s/W4fhpuN26naxGCBbN) The first post includes some details on purpose and methodology.
If you'd like to receive these summar... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5Yto3zLynxQQFtAse/ea-and-lw-forums-weekly-summary-12-18-sep-22 |
# How my team at Lightcone sometimes gets stuff done
*Disclaimer: I originally wrote this as a private doc for the Lightcone team. I then showed it to* [*John*](https://www.lesswrong.com/users/johnswentworth) *and he said he would pay me to post it here. That sounded awfully compelling. However, I wanted to note that ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6LzKRP88mhL9NKNrS/how-my-team-at-lightcone-sometimes-gets-stuff-done |
# Quick Book Review: Crucial Conversations
I just finished reading [*Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15014.Crucial_Conversations) by by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. This is a quick review of the book.
I can summarize... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CBPSvA7LK59DuJpue/quick-book-review-crucial-conversations |
# Safety timelines: How long will it take to solve alignment?
**TLDR;** no one talks about how far we are towards safe AGI and the focus is on when AGI doom arrives. We want to readjust this focus and measure progress, guide and facilitate research, and evaluate projects in AI safety for impact. We also ask you to add... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LhEesPFocr2uT9sPA/safety-timelines-how-long-will-it-take-to-solve-alignment |
# Some notes on solving hard problems
**Caveats/Notes**:
* This is a cleaned-up version of some personal notes that I've had sitting in Google Docs for a while. There's a lot of hand-waving, probably some over-generalising, and many points could do with some/more examples. Please take each suggestion with a large g... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/AcbtSuGYB4jWGYk6x/some-notes-on-solving-hard-problems |
# Quintin's alignment papers roundup - week 2
Introduction
------------
[Last week's paper roundup](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7cHgjJR2H5e4w4rxT/quintin-s-alignment-papers-roundup-week-1) (more or less by accident) focused mostly on path dependence of deep learning and the order of feature learning. Going forwar... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jMRuwXdC6NPFw8HLq/quintin-s-alignment-papers-roundup-week-2 |
# Do bamboos set themselves on fire?
*Cross-posted from* [*Telescopic Turnip*](https://malmesbury.substack.com/p/do-bamboos-set-themselves-on-fire?sd=pf)*.*
As we all know, [the best place to have a kung-fu fight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-TTb72eUH0) is a bamboo forest. There are just so many opportunities to... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WNpvK67MjREgvB8u8/do-bamboos-set-themselves-on-fire |
# A noob goes to the SERI MATS presentations
I have been cooped up in suburbia trying to take a break. But not having a routine and being around peers made the days feel monotonous. I was procrastinating writing my Prospect reflection and operations guide, and ended up reading alignment papers and being confused about... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/uvxvcCfABYJyrzo8G/a-noob-goes-to-the-seri-mats-presentations |
# Rationality Dojo Berlin Handout
This year, like in 2018 and 2019, on Monday after the [Less Wrong Community Weekend](https://www.lesswrong.com/events/zrgcoXWWMuheCvzot/less-wrong-community-weekend-2022), we held an Open Rationality Dojo. This time I organised this event and throughout LWCW fielded many questions, us... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/XNWKkb7XtEXi6HWEG/rationality-dojo-berlin-handout |
# Prize idea: Transmit MIRI and Eliezer's worldviews
Motivation
==========
Claim (80% confidence): At least 50% of the disagreement between people who align more with MIRI/Eliezer and those who align more with opposing clusters of views ([Christiano](https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/CoZhXrhpQxpy9xw9y/where-i-agre... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/eGzfjrLp7LbQGYPG3/prize-idea-transmit-miri-and-eliezer-s-worldviews |
# Gene drives: why the wait?
[*(Crossposted from my Substack)*](https://denovo.substack.com/p/gene-drives-why-the-wait)
If you’ve been following biology news over the last few years, you might have heard of an interesting concept called a “gene drive”. The overall idea is to engineer a genetic allele that transmits i... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CQsEwAyJP6NYvKZw6/gene-drives-why-the-wait |
# Losing the root for the tree
## 1
You know that being healthy is important. And that there's a lot of stuff you could do to improve your health: getting enough sleep, eating well, reducing stress, and exercising, to name a few.
There’s variou... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ma7FSEtumkve8czGF/losing-the-root-for-the-tree |
# Character alignment
When I introspect on why I do not kill more people, I find it has not very much to do with my goals. Mostly my goals would not be furthered by murder and some goals, like staying out of prison would be endangered, but if I just took the option seriously it wouldn't surprise me if murder would occ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/t6ZGSro4Q8fRKPont/character-alignment |
# Some of the most important entrepreneurship skills are tacit knowledge
*Cross-posted from* [*Future Startup.*](https://futurestartup.com/2022/09/18/some-of-the-most-important-entrepreneurship-skills-are-tacit-knowledge/)
**Tacit knowledge or implicit knowledge—as opposed to formal, codified, or explicit knowledge—i... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/d28otTvtooLanWgHi/some-of-the-most-important-entrepreneurship-skills-are-tacit |
# Twitter Polls: Evidence is Evidence
Follow-up to: [Law of No Evidence](https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2021/12/20/law-of-no-evidence/)
Recently, [there was some debate](https://twitter.com/AgnesCallard/status/1571325051756068865) about a few Twitter polls, which led into a dispute over the usefulness of Twitter polls ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EgfmaEg4vanE5EbCP/twitter-polls-evidence-is-evidence |
# $13,000 of prizes for changing our mind about who to fund (Clearer Thinking Regrants Forecasting Tournament)
We have $13,000 of prizes you can win for our [Clearer Thinking](https://www.clearerthinking.org/) Regrants Forecasting Tournament on Manifold Markets! You can win money by:
(1) providing us with arguments o... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/eSBA9BueiTAiCR8wF/usd13-000-of-prizes-for-changing-our-mind-about-who-to-fund |
# Doing oversight from the very start of training seems hard
**TLDR:** We might want to use some sort of oversight techniques to avoid inner misalignment failures. Models will be too large and complicated to be understandable by a human, so we will use models to oversee models (or help humans oversee models). In many ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/33kpQK3poHGNXJXf8/doing-oversight-from-the-very-start-of-training-seems-hard-1 |
# Alignment Org Cheat Sheet
*Epistemic Status: *[*Exploratory*](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Hrm59GdN2yDPWbtrd/feature-idea-epistemic-status)*. *
*Epistemic Effort: ~6 hours of work put into this document.*
*Contributions: Akash wrote this, Thomas helped edit + discuss. Unless specified otherwise, writing in the ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9TWReSDKyshfA66sz/alignment-org-cheat-sheet |
# Features and Antifeatures
One interesting thing I've noticed in the field of game design is that there are some purported features that are so hated that *not having them* becomes an advertised feature! Here are some quick examples:
* In the world of card games, *Magic: the Gathering*'s 'lands'/'mana' system for ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gb4qFiuz293EZkZZ7/features-and-antifeatures |
# You Are Not Measuring What You Think You Are Measuring
Eight years ago, I worked as a data scientist at a startup, and we wanted to optimize our sign-up flow. We A/B tested lots of different changes, and occasionally found something which would boost (or reduce) click-through rates by 10% or so.
Then one week I was... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9kNxhKWvixtKW5anS/you-are-not-measuring-what-you-think-you-are-measuring |
# The Redaction Machine
On the 3rd of October 2351 a machine flared to life. Huge energies coursed into it via cables, only to leave moments later as heat dumped unwanted into its radiators. With an enormous puff the machine unleashed sixty years of human metabolic entropy into superheated steam.
In the heart of the ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CKgPFHoWFkviYz7CB/the-redaction-machine |
# Quantified Intuitions: An epistemics training website including a new EA-themed calibration app
*Crossposted to* [*EA Forum*](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/W6gGKCm6yEXRW5nJu/quantified-intuitions-an-epistemics-training-website)
TL;DR [Quantified Intuitions](http://quantifiedintuitions.org/) helps users ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NnmJ7trnKzQGmdYYN/quantified-intuitions-an-epistemics-training-website |
# Towards deconfusing wireheading and reward maximization
**TL;DR**: A response to “[Reward is not the optimization target](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pdaGN6pQyQarFHXF4/reward-is-not-the-optimization-target),” and to a lesser extent some other shard theory claims. I agree with the headline claim but I disagree wi... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jP9cKxqwqk2qQ6HiM/towards-deconfusing-wireheading-and-reward-maximization |
# Case Rates to Sequencing Reads
In thinking about how you might [identify future pandemics by sequencing wastewater](https://www.naobservatory.org/), you might have a goal of raising an alert before some fraction of people were currently infected. What you're actually able to observe, however, are [sequencing reads](... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xMejgpZYuW5HGSq5W/case-rates-to-sequencing-reads |
# Can you define "utility" in utilitarianism without using words for specific human emotions?
I'm trying to get a slightly better grasp of utilitarianism as it is understood in rat/EA circles, and here's my biggest confusion at the moment.
How do you actually define "utility", not in the sense of how to compute it, b... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pqYLStRzquAaaYYp2/can-you-define-utility-in-utilitarianism-without-using-words |
# Trends in Training Dataset Sizes
**Summary**: We collected a database of notable ML models and their training dataset sizes. We use this database to find historical growth trends in dataset size for different domains, particularly language and vision.
Key takeaways
=============
* We collected over200 nota... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/asqDCb9XzXnLjSfgL/trends-in-training-dataset-sizes |
# Scraping training data for your mind
2432 pages into Karl Ove Knausgaard’s autobiographical *My Struggle* comes a pivotal plot point: the publication of a new Proust translation in Norwegian.
Knausgaard at this point, in his mid-twenties, has spent nearly ten years learning to write. Without success, to put it mild... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/sYzH9h6zkxSAmKFEq/scraping-training-data-for-your-mind |
# Nearcast-based "deployment problem" analysis
When thinking about [how to make the best of the most important century](https://www.cold-takes.com/making-the-best-of-the-most-important-century/), two “problems” loom large in my mind:
* The **[AI alignment problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_alignment)**: how ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vZzg8NS7wBtqcwhoJ/nearcast-based-deployment-problem-analysis |
# Announcing AISIC 2022 - the AI Safety Israel Conference, October 19-20
ALTER, with the University of Haifa and the Technion, is excited to announce the details about its upcoming conference introducing AI safety in Israel. We’re going to be hosting Stuart Russell, as well as several other AI safety researchers, to s... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/afCcihytsFtKdwSvp/announcing-aisic-2022-the-ai-safety-israel-conference |
# Toy Models of Superposition
A new Anthropic interpretability paper—“[Toy Models of Superpostion](https://transformer-circuits.pub/2022/toy_model/index.html)”—came out last week that I think is quite exciting and hasn't been discussed here yet.
[Twitter thread from Anthropic](https://twitter.com/AnthropicAI/status/1... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CTh74TaWgvRiXnkS6/toy-models-of-superposition |
# Tuesday Family Dinner
While I like Boston for [lots of reasons](https://www.jefftk.com/p/why-boston), one of the more personal ones is that my family is here. My dad and sister (and my other sister with her family until recently) are in the next town over, and my cousin's family is five towns NNW. For something like... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LkX7kZpEFWx5jgaNs/tuesday-family-dinner |
# LW Petrov Day 2022 (Monday, 9/26)
Next Monday is [Petrov Day](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QtyKq4BDyuJ3tysoK/9-26-is-petrov-day) (September 26), an annually observed Rationalist/EA holiday inspired by the actions of Stanislav Petrov:
> As a Lieutenant Colonel of the Soviet Army, Petrov manned the system built to... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KTEciTeFwL2tTujZk/lw-petrov-day-2022-monday-9-26 |
# Mathematical Circuits in Neural Networks
[*(Also posted on the EA Forum*](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/AQRvQ3AuQaPmuurk8/mathematical-circuits-in-neural-networks)*)*
*This is one of my final projects for the* [*Columbia EA Summer 2022 Project Based AI Safety Reading Group*](https://www.columbia-ea.org/... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kaR6EToDwjvkkDoFA/mathematical-circuits-in-neural-networks |
# Understanding Infra-Bayesianism: A Beginner-Friendly Video Series
[Click here to see the video series](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLntAW0eILBdWcOWK_GmQiRGxrLjrUIKJy)
This video series was produced as part of a project through the 2022 SERI Summer Research Fellowship (SRF) under the mentorship of Diffractor.
... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/mSDwPeqAzYk79vLiA/understanding-infra-bayesianism-a-beginner-friendly-video |
# AI Risk Intro 2: Solving The Problem
This marks the second half of our overview of the AI alignment problem. In the first half, we outlined the case for misaligned AI as a significant risk to humanity, first by looking at past progress in machine learning and extrapolating to what the future could bring, and second ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/e889bGfbtbo2qrMmW/ai-risk-intro-2-solving-the-problem |
# Covid 9/22/22: The Joe Biden Sings
[Joe Biden firmly declared on 60 Minutes that the Covid pandemic is over](https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1571648655043461120).
As you would expect, those in Public Health did not all quietly agree with this.
When [Bob Wachter says it is a judgment call](https://twitter.com/B... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dWzGQr5RSj3wqRFW8/covid-9-22-22-the-joe-biden-sings |
# Ukraine Post #12
After doing frequent Ukraine posts early on, I decided that the war was no long a good match for this blog and my skill set. The basic situation was clear and was moving slowly. In the last few weeks things have started moving more rapidly on multiple fronts. Ukraine has made substantial progress.
... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/khYYedgupgrHonWNc/ukraine-post-12 |
# Dath Ilan's Views on Stopgap Corrigibility
*The second half of this linkpost contains significant planecrash spoilers, up through* [*Book 7, null action.*](https://www.glowfic.com/posts/6132)
> [Somewhere in the true dath ilan, carefully blurred out of satellite images by better image-editing software than is suppo... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/eS7LbJizE5ucirj7a/dath-ilan-s-views-on-stopgap-corrigibility |
# Fake qualities of mind
There’s a thing where you’d like to have one “quality of mind”, but it’s not available, but you substitute it with a kind of a fake or alternative version of the same. Which is fine as long as you realize you’re doing it, but becomes an issue if you forget that what’s happening.
For example, ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vXtEegPirxgxWNdhG/fake-qualities-of-mind |
# Methodological Therapy: An Agenda For Tackling Research Bottlenecks
*This post is part of the work done at* [*Conjecture*](https://conjecture.dev)*.*
**Epistemic Status**: [Palimpsest](https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/4BpeHPXMjRzopgAZd/mosaic-and-palimpsests-two-shapes-of-research)
Better epistemology should m... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/foEr8gtkpzmjkvcDp/methodological-therapy-an-agenda-for-tackling-research |
# Let's Compare Notes
What's the best way to share your progress skilling up in AI alignment? Maybe it's highly polished posts on your well-considered and nuanced insights in to alignment. Or maybe it's massively overconfident takes you should really just keep in your private drafts. Let's find out with the power of s... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dtyca6yg5ibCfdAkA/let-s-compare-notes |
# What Do AI Safety Pitches Not Get About Your Field?
When I was first introduced to AI Safety, coming from a background studying psychology, I kept getting frustrated about the way people defined the and used the word "intelligence". They weren't able to address my questions about cultural intelligence, social evolut... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/StxoHGChdfmxrv9gL/what-do-ai-safety-pitches-not-get-about-your-field |
# Funding is All You Need: Getting into Grad School by Hacking the NSF GRFP Fellowship
# Fellowship is All You Need: Getting into Grad School by Hacking the NSF GRFP
Last year I started having delusions of grad school. By delusions I mean that on paper, in the numeric and text fields that actually make it into the ap... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Sq75dZniBctPyTrWX/funding-is-all-you-need-getting-into-grad-school-by-hacking |
# Making Prunes
Since [organizing a group flour buy](https://www.jefftk.com/p/organizing-a-group-buy-of-flour) in April 2020 I've been occasionally putting in orders at a [restaurant supply store](https://www.baldorfood.com). Generally this happens because we're running out of chocolate: I've failed at maintaining my ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/YzqJMQNQ4gq3LoL37/making-prunes |
# A game of mattering
When I have an overwhelming number of things to do, and insufficient native urge to do them, I often arrange them into a kind of game for myself. The nature and appeal of this game has been relatively stable for about a year, after many years of evolution, so this seems like a reasonable time to ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6BPqAbx9woMfpyJF5/a-game-of-mattering |
# Public-facing Censorship Is Safety Theater, Causing Reputational Damage
It's so common it's a stereotype.
A large corporation releases a cutting-edge AI model, and puts out a press release talking about how their new, \[larger/smaller\]-than-ever model provides unprecedented freedom for \[underprivileged artists/s... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/boBZkTqPdboX5u7g9/public-facing-censorship-is-safety-theater-causing |
# Intelligence as a Platform
In this post I review the platform/product distinction and note how GPT can be modeled as a platform, which further products will be built upon. I argue that prosaic alignment is best viewed as ~~hypnotism capabilities training~~ instantiating products on that platform. I explain why this ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dk4TNvJL3xjvixF8S/intelligence-as-a-platform |
# Interlude: But Who Optimizes The Optimizer?
*This post is part of my* [*hypothesis subspace*](https://www.lesswrong.com/s/H3xEgE7bPGKvucfQk) *sequence, a living collection of proposals I'm exploring at* [*Refine.*](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5uiQkyKdejX3aEHLM/how-to-diversify-conceptual-alignment-the-model-behi... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/y6Wuq9ihruEAdJRvZ/interlude-but-who-optimizes-the-optimizer |
# Shahar Avin On How To Regulate Advanced AI Systems
[Shahar Avin](https://www.shaharavin.com/) is a senior researcher at the [Center for the Study of Existential Risk](https://www.cser.ac.uk/) in Cambridge. In his past life, he was a Google Engineer, though right now he spends most of his time thinking about how to p... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KzGwDeaYZXNWGWjd8/shahar-avin-on-how-to-regulate-advanced-ai-systems |
# How to use DMT without going insane: On navigating epistemic uncertainty in the DMT memeplex
DMT has a certain popular reputation – that of something discombobulating, inscrutable, not necessarily for the faint of heart.
While I *do* believe DMT is capable of providing a comprehensible and even *wholesome* experien... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pXN8G45nbsGPGnukx/how-to-use-dmt-without-going-insane-on-navigating-epistemic |
# The heterogeneity of human value types: Implications for AI alignment
Note: This essay was originally posted on EA Forum [here](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/KZiaBCWWW3FtZXGBi/the-heterogeneity-of-human-value-types-implications-for-ai) on Sept 16. I’d welcome comments from LessWrong readers and AI Alignm... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KacESZhBYCt9hLxCE/the-heterogeneity-of-human-value-types-implications-for-ai |
# Interpreting Neural Networks through the Polytope Lens
Sid Black*, Lee Sharkey*, Leo Grinsztajn, Eric Winsor, Dan Braun, Jacob Merizian, Kip Parker, Carlos Ramón Guevara, Beren Millidge, Gabriel Alfour, Connor Leahy
*equal contribution
Research from[ Conjecture](https://conjecture.dev/).
*This post benefited from... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/eDicGjD9yte6FLSie/interpreting-neural-networks-through-the-polytope-lens |
# There are no rules
*Crossposted to my* [*blog*](https://unoptimal.com/essays/rules.html)
Over the course of this past year, I’ve slowly become a magician.
No, not a literal one. But in the sense that I’ve become a version of myself that I previously [would’ve called a magician.](https://autotranslucence.wordpress... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Qjyo9NJXFBsR96c4i/there-are-no-rules |
# A ranked link of LessWrong tags/concepts
*Epistemic status - a quick contribution. Possibly useless for anyone else. Also, a sort of feature suggestion.*
This post provides [a link](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19aua5QRhH1YoqFpYRT3gVn_cq5lW_85vFICvZA621Jw/edit#gid=0) to a Google sheet which ranks tags/con... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FgzooQrvQ8BGdEuNq/a-ranked-link-of-lesswrong-tags-concepts |
# Announcing $5,000 bounty for (responsibly) ending malaria
It occurred to me recently that if a group of people eradicated malaria, say by exterminating [Anopheles gambiae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anopheles_gambiae) via gene drives, they would not be paid. That sounds like a potentially embarrassing mistake, so... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FuZ7MoR3dJEJuoRbN/announcing-usd5-000-bounty-for-responsibly-ending-malaria |
# Attempts at Forwarding Speed Priors
*This post summarizes research conducted under the mentorship of Evan Hubinger, and was assisted by collaboration with Pranav Gade, discussions with Adam Jermyn, and draft feedback from Yonadav Shavit.*
Summary
=======
1. Forwarding priors is a subproblem of deceptive alignment... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bzkCWEHG2tprB3eq2/attempts-at-forwarding-speed-priors |
# Orexin and the Quest for more Waking Hours
*Link post for* [*Orexin and the Quest for more Waking Hours*](https://somaticsignals.jollyjoyjourney.com/p/orexin-and-the-quest-for-more-waking)
A week ago... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/sksP9Lkv9wqaAhXsA/orexin-and-the-quest-for-more-waking-hours |
# Two reasons we might be closer to solving alignment than it seems
I was at an AI safety retreat recently and there seemed to be two categories of researchers:
1. Those who thought most AI safety research was useless
2. Those who thought *all* AI safety research was useless
This is a darkly humurous anecdote illu... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/oyZiwkxejBMuJZA7J/two-reasons-we-might-be-closer-to-solving-alignment-than-it |
# Brain-over-body biases, and the embodied value problem in AI alignment
Note: This essay was published [here](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/zNS53uu2tLGEJKnk9/ea-s-brain-over-body-bias-and-the-embodied-value-problem-in) on EA Forum on Sept 21, 2022. The description of the brain-over-body biases in the EA s... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rnkiczuRGHdgfyth3/brain-over-body-biases-and-the-embodied-value-problem-in-ai |
# UI/UX From the Dark Ages
(Inspired by a spirited discussion on #lesswrong)
You may not realize it, but our existing UI/UX paradigms are mainly from the 1970s, when human-oriented computing was still in dark ages. Menus, forms, check boxes, search bars, file systems, you name it. They are fine tools, polished by dec... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qTwiCBB6rkf5Gcfoi/ui-ux-from-the-dark-ages |
# Prioritizing the Arts in response to AI automation
In modern society, many find meaning and fulfillment from their work and careers. I, for one, certainly get enjoyment from a productive day's work.
As a software engineer, I've benefited greatly from GPT-3. I estimate that I'm 5-10 times more productive on a large ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3fzWBkGiCiN472cZG/prioritizing-the-arts-in-response-to-ai-automation |
# Bathroom Construction Cost Comparison
When we [bought](https://www.jefftk.com/p/house-buying-timeline) our house in 2015 it had one bathroom for our 4br unit. In 2016 I [added a bathroom](https://www.jefftk.com/p/adding-a-bathroom) upstairs and then in [2019](https://www.jefftk.com/p/bathroom-is-usable) I gut-renova... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4Xuh35BQ3HQ7jbdny/bathroom-construction-cost-comparison |
# "Agency" needs nuance
*This was originally written for and posted on the* [*EA forum*](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/acyfmFTN3cNgwnYw6/agency-needs-nuance)*. I think it's relevant here too, hence posting. It's a response to my* [*previous post on agency*](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Tnpp3cyEHMGthjGAf... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NGSSD6L67P82Gch94/agency-needs-nuance |
# Announcing Balsa Research
What are the most important policy changes America should make and how can we make them happen?
If we do not address the deep dysfunctions of our government and its policies, we put our democracy and entire civilization at risk. People whose lives are getting worse, who have no hope and ca... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tYAvXXgSwHCzNTK8f/announcing-balsa-research |
# Becoming Black Boxish
Through my arduous and repetitive drilling of various practice tasks - [mental rotation](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rrCzJipDgcDmwaDnW/seeing-the-schema), typing, beat saber, osu - I've noticed, as my skills improve, that I process less and less detail regarding their execution. There is a ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/H7jHtgsBoMLT6en6j/becoming-black-boxish |
# Planning a Loft Bed
The kids have gotten very excited about loft beds. I like the idea as well: they make good use of space. Lily's room, in particular is quite small, 7ft in the shortest dimension. A bed is just a bit shorter than that, so it's a good candidate for a wall-to-wall loft:
[ phone booth, for taking calls. It's very good at sound isolation, but being so small (~1.5 m3, 54 ft3) you [might be worried](https://news.ycombinator.com/context?id... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fpmW7EN2Asij89pyv/framery-phone-booth-co2-accumulation |
# Ambiguity in Prediction Market Resolution is Harmful
*(Disclaimers: I work in the financial industry, though not in a way related to prediction markets. Anything I write here is my opinion and not that of my employer.)*
SOMEBODY SET US UP THE BOMB
===========================
You've heard of this new 'prediction... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/DpDnXHcPejd9tn8R5/ambiguity-in-prediction-market-resolution-is-harmful |
# Inverse Scaling Prize: Round 1 Winners
*This is an abridged version of the full post, with details relevant to contest participants removed. Please see the linked post if you are interested in participating.*
**Inverse Scaling Prize: Round 1 Winners**
==========================================
The first round of t... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iznohbCPFkeB9kAJL/inverse-scaling-prize-round-1-winners |
# Loss of Alignment is not the High-Order Bit for AI Risk
This post aims to convince you that AI alignment risk is over-weighted and over-invested- in.
> A further consideration is that sometimes people argue that all of this futurist speculation about AI is really dumb, and that its errors could be readily explained... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/seYS2xaqfhbWpaCNg/loss-of-alignment-is-not-the-high-order-bit-for-ai-risk |
# [MLSN #5]: Prize Compilation
*Link to original post: https://newsletter.mlsafety.org/p/ml-safety-newsletter-5*
Welcome to the 5th issue of the ML Safety Newsletter. In this special edition, we focus on prizes and competitions:
* ML Safety Workshop Prize
* Trojan Detection Prize
* Forecasting Prize
* Uncert... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EmnvtFLnQBte66Ydh/mlsn-5-prize-compilation |
# D&D.Sci September 2022 Evaluation and Ruleset
This is a followup to [the D&D.Sci post](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/DKDDT8hGCTz8AxBQF/d-and-d-sci-september-2022-the-allocation-helm) I made ten days ago; if you haven’t already read it, you should do so now before spoiling yourself.
[Here](https://h-b-p.github.io/... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/wNPSFgcB93wLhgbKh/d-and-d-sci-september-2022-evaluation-and-ruleset |
# Review of Examine.com’s vitamin write-ups
There are a lot of vitamins and other supplements in the world, way more than I have time to investigate. Examine.com has a pretty good reputation for its reports on vitamins and supplements. It would be extremely convenient for me if this reputation was merited. So I asked ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hz5AsZYPaYQrx7bTK/review-of-examine-com-s-vitamin-write-ups |
# Double Asteroid Redirection Test succeeds
Existential risks are important, and asteroid impact is one kind of existential risks. Thankfully, compared to other existential risks, asteroid impact is well funded.
Double Asteroid Redirection Test launched in November 2021, and just (September 2022) impacted Dimorphos, ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ioQA6jz6vKtSWRrBy/double-asteroid-redirection-test-succeeds |
# A Prince, a Pauper, Power, Panama
Instrumental convergence is an issue I think about a lot because it’s so natural. Being rich and powerful almost never works against you.
Take The Prince and the Pauper. It’s asymmetric.
The pauper’s side of the story can only happen because the prince allowed it, but the prince c... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jdByn6Yd7EuLEnBFx/a-prince-a-pauper-power-panama |
# My Thoughts on the ML Safety Course
*This summary was written as part of *[*Refine*](https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/5uiQkyKdejX3aEHLM/how-to-diversify-conceptual-alignment-the-model-behind)*. The *[*ML Safety Course*](https://course.mlsafety.org/) *is created by*[*Dan Hendrycks*](https://danhendrycks.com/) *at... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/CRMhhnKs7bymY4kbb/my-thoughts-on-the-ml-safety-course |
# Book review: “The Heart of the Brain: The Hypothalamus and Its Hormones”
1\. Introduction
================
1.1 Hypothalamus as “business logic”
------------------------------------
In software jargon, there’s a nice term **“business logic”**, for code like the following (made-up) excerpt from corporate tax filing ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4gaeWLhnnBvhamRke/book-review-the-heart-of-the-brain-the-hypothalamus-and-its |
# The Onion Test for Personal and Institutional Honesty
\[co-written by Chana Messinger and Andrew Critch, Andrew is the originator of the idea\]
You (or your organization or your mission or your family or etc.) pass the “onion test” for honesty if each layer hides but does not mislead about the information hidden wi... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/nTGEeRSZrfPiJwkEc/the-onion-test-for-personal-and-institutional-honesty |
# Soft skills for meetups
*This post is adapted from a memo I wrote for the 2022 global meetup organizer retreat, and owes some of its content to the organizers who attended.*
* * *
'Soft skills' is a broad and somewhat fuzzy term, but the OED defines it as "personal attributes that enable someone to interact effect... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4FaL7So4nAN9Bq79e/soft-skills-for-meetups |
# Why we're not founding a human-data-for-alignment org
TL;DR
=====
**One-paragraph summary: **we (two recent graduates) spent about half of the summer exploring the idea of starting an organisation producing custom human-generated datasets for AI alignment research. Most of our time was spent on customer interviews ... | https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qArDMixsx77a9xL45/why-we-re-not-founding-a-human-data-for-alignment-org-1 |
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