See also: if you aren’t financially stable, rather than “earn to give”, “earn to get sufficiently wealthy you can afford to not have a job for several years while working on AI stuff”.
BTW, I think “financial stable” doesn’t mean “you can technically survive awhile” it’s “you have cushion that you will not feel any scarcity mindset.” For almost everyone I think this means at least 6 months more runway than you think you plan to use, and preferably more like a year.
(Note, AI automation might start doing wonky things to job market by the time you’re trying to get hired again, if you run out of money)
I also don’t really recommend people try to do this as their first job. I think there’s a collection of “be a competent adult” skills that you probably don’t have yet right out of college, and having any kind of job-with-a-boss for at least like 6 months is probably valuable.
Followup thought: there’s a lot you can do as a side hustle. If you can get a job that you don’t care that much about but pays well, and you don’t have enough money to quit with 3+ years of runway (i.e. 2+ for Doing Stuff and 1 for figuring out how to have more money)...
...that doesn’t mean “don’t do anything”, it means “find things to do that are motivating enough you can do them in evenings/weekends and start building some momentum/taste. (This may also later help you get a AI safety job.)”
Most people who end doing jobs that they love / are meaningful to them find some way to pursue it during their spare time while they have a Real Job.
Giving money goes through several layers of reduced effectiveness and inefficiency. It’s good as a fallback and self-signal, but if you can find and motivate yourself to do worthwhile things yourself you can do much more with much less money.
See also: if you aren’t financially stable, rather than “earn to give”, “earn to get sufficiently wealthy you can afford to not have a job for several years while working on AI stuff”.
BTW, I think “financial stable” doesn’t mean “you can technically survive awhile” it’s “you have cushion that you will not feel any scarcity mindset.” For almost everyone I think this means at least 6 months more runway than you think you plan to use, and preferably more like a year.
(Note, AI automation might start doing wonky things to job market by the time you’re trying to get hired again, if you run out of money)
I also don’t really recommend people try to do this as their first job. I think there’s a collection of “be a competent adult” skills that you probably don’t have yet right out of college, and having any kind of job-with-a-boss for at least like 6 months is probably valuable.
Followup thought: there’s a lot you can do as a side hustle. If you can get a job that you don’t care that much about but pays well, and you don’t have enough money to quit with 3+ years of runway (i.e. 2+ for Doing Stuff and 1 for figuring out how to have more money)...
...that doesn’t mean “don’t do anything”, it means “find things to do that are motivating enough you can do them in evenings/weekends and start building some momentum/taste. (This may also later help you get a AI safety job.)”
Most people who end doing jobs that they love / are meaningful to them find some way to pursue it during their spare time while they have a Real Job.
Yes! If you have reasonable takes and taste and agency, saving up to self-fund is usually the most cost effective donation you could find.
Could you please elaborate on this? I was also considering self-funding but could not find a good justification so far.
Giving money goes through several layers of reduced effectiveness and inefficiency. It’s good as a fallback and self-signal, but if you can find and motivate yourself to do worthwhile things yourself you can do much more with much less money.