In the sense of being high value on a utilitarian metric. I think “how much positive impact does X have” is very similar to “how much does X for AI safety”, so that narrows the field down substantially. Obviously, this comes from a place of believing that AI safety, in the broadest sense, is likely to be the primary factor deciding humaniy’s future; if that’s false the rest is certainly also false.
From there, points go to Yudkowsky and Nick Bostrom for their work as (co-) heads of Miri and FHI (those seem like the most important research centers), and points go to Yudkowsky and Scott for what they do for the rationality scene. Soares and Musk might also belong on that list.
It’s possible that I am biased towards giving the rationality ‘scene’ more importance than it has because I’m in it and because I wouldn’t do anything for safe AI if it didn’t exist. It seems like the most powerful tool we have for getting more people invested (which I think is good), but I don’t have numbers so perhaps that’s not true. Putting Scott on the list might be stretching.
Most important in what sense? Please don’t be a cultist.
In the sense of being high value on a utilitarian metric. I think “how much positive impact does X have” is very similar to “how much does X for AI safety”, so that narrows the field down substantially. Obviously, this comes from a place of believing that AI safety, in the broadest sense, is likely to be the primary factor deciding humaniy’s future; if that’s false the rest is certainly also false.
From there, points go to Yudkowsky and Nick Bostrom for their work as (co-) heads of Miri and FHI (those seem like the most important research centers), and points go to Yudkowsky and Scott for what they do for the rationality scene. Soares and Musk might also belong on that list.
It’s possible that I am biased towards giving the rationality ‘scene’ more importance than it has because I’m in it and because I wouldn’t do anything for safe AI if it didn’t exist. It seems like the most powerful tool we have for getting more people invested (which I think is good), but I don’t have numbers so perhaps that’s not true. Putting Scott on the list might be stretching.