When I declared RAISE, I knew maybe 20 rationalists in the Netherlands. I was a Bachelor’s student coming out of nowhere. I had maybe 10-15 hours per week to spend on this. I had no dedicated co-founders. I had no connections to funders. I didn’t have much of a technical understanding of AI Safety. Coming from this perspective, the project was downright quixotic...
Given this, why do you think the project felt like a good idea at the time?
I suppose I was naive about the amount of work that goes into creating an online course. I had been a student assistant where my professor would meet with me and the other assistants to plan the entirety of the course a day before it started. Of course this was different because there was already a syllabus and the topic was well understood and well demarcated.
Also, I had visited Berkeley around that time, and word was out about a new prediction that the singularity was only 15 years ahead. I felt like I had no choice but to try and do something. Start moving mountains right there and then. Looking back, I suppose I was a little bit too impressed by the fad of the day.
Third reason is that when starting out the project was supposed to be relatively simple and limited in scope, not a full-blown charity, and every step towards making the thing bigger and drawing more resources felt logical at the time.
But to be honest I’m not very good at knowing my true motivations.
Given this, why do you think the project felt like a good idea at the time?
I suppose I was naive about the amount of work that goes into creating an online course. I had been a student assistant where my professor would meet with me and the other assistants to plan the entirety of the course a day before it started. Of course this was different because there was already a syllabus and the topic was well understood and well demarcated.
Also, I had visited Berkeley around that time, and word was out about a new prediction that the singularity was only 15 years ahead. I felt like I had no choice but to try and do something. Start moving mountains right there and then. Looking back, I suppose I was a little bit too impressed by the fad of the day.
Third reason is that when starting out the project was supposed to be relatively simple and limited in scope, not a full-blown charity, and every step towards making the thing bigger and drawing more resources felt logical at the time.
But to be honest I’m not very good at knowing my true motivations.
Can you say more about this?