We apply the logic of only taking top people to other areas. Take medicine. The cost of doing medicine badly is significant, so tons of filters exist. Don’t do well in organic chemistry? You can’t be a doctor. Low GPA? Nope. Can’t get a pretty good score on the MCAT? No again. Get into med school but can’t get an internship? Not gonna be able to practice.
I think most fields don’t state it as explicitly as the intersection of EAs and AI Safety researchers tend to do. For example, I’ve definitely heard less explicit “yeah, you might not be smart enough”s in every single other community I’ve been in, even other communities that are very selected in other ways. Most other fields/communities tend to have more of a veneer of a growth mindset, I guess?
I do think it’s true that filtering is important. Given this fact, it probably does make sense to encourage people to be realistic. But my guess is too many people run into the jarring “you might not be smart enough” attitude and self filter way too aggressively, which is what the post is pushing up against.
I think most fields don’t state it as explicitly as the intersection of EAs and AI Safety researchers tend to do. For example, I’ve definitely heard less explicit “yeah, you might not be smart enough”s in every single other community I’ve been in, even other communities that are very selected in other ways. Most other fields/communities tend to have more of a veneer of a growth mindset, I guess?
I do think it’s true that filtering is important. Given this fact, it probably does make sense to encourage people to be realistic. But my guess is too many people run into the jarring “you might not be smart enough” attitude and self filter way too aggressively, which is what the post is pushing up against.