I’ll also mention that GiveWell — clearly not a den of MIRI-sympathizers — is effectively doing an external review of some of MIRI’s core assumptions, by way of “shallow investigations” of specific catastrophic risks (among other interventions).
So far, they’ve reviewed climate change, asteroids, supervolcanoes, and nuclear war. None of these reviews cite the corresponding chapters in GCR, perhaps because GiveWell wants to do its own review of these issues that is mostly independent from the Bostromian school (which includes MIRI).
So far, GiveWell seems to have come to the same conclusions as the Bostromian school has about these specific risks, with the major caveat that these are shallow investigations that are “not researched and vetted to the same level as [Givewell’s] standard recommendations.”
I’m pretty excited about GiveWell investigating GCRs independently of the Bostromian school, since (1) I admire the quality and self-skepticism of GiveWell’s research so far, (2) I think GCRs are important to study, and (3) this will provide a pretty solid external review of some of MIRI’s core assumptions about the severity of various x-risks.
I’ll also mention that GiveWell — clearly not a den of MIRI-sympathizers — is effectively doing an external review of some of MIRI’s core assumptions, by way of “shallow investigations” of specific catastrophic risks (among other interventions).
So far, they’ve reviewed climate change, asteroids, supervolcanoes, and nuclear war. None of these reviews cite the corresponding chapters in GCR, perhaps because GiveWell wants to do its own review of these issues that is mostly independent from the Bostromian school (which includes MIRI).
So far, GiveWell seems to have come to the same conclusions as the Bostromian school has about these specific risks, with the major caveat that these are shallow investigations that are “not researched and vetted to the same level as [Givewell’s] standard recommendations.”
I’m pretty excited about GiveWell investigating GCRs independently of the Bostromian school, since (1) I admire the quality and self-skepticism of GiveWell’s research so far, (2) I think GCRs are important to study, and (3) this will provide a pretty solid external review of some of MIRI’s core assumptions about the severity of various x-risks.