Anti-Lone Wolf: Trying to go alone, you may miss an important part of motivation.
Stronger Together: There is some kind of evidence that group improvement works.
What I got from my research of doing more is:
After a myriad of methods and tips tried during 4 years, I remained on the same level—doing things mostly under Panic Monster pressure. I desperately want to change this.
Having a group of people who have their views almost aligned is good, but what if one could add some sort of competition to this? My current theory is that if two persons have the same goal and similar strategies of pursuing this goal, their competition can benefit each of them. For example, I heard that while sprinters train on track, they mostly run at least in pairs while going for a record. (I haven’t found written proofs of this). This implies, I suppose, that it’s easier to get better results when you compete with someone. The other example—It is recommended to organize startups not alone, but with a co-founder. I assume that in this case, among other benefits, there is a benefit from support while one of founders is lacking motivation.
Based on this, here I am, searching for a person who has the same goal and is on the same stage of reaching this goal, with similar strategy. My current state: Finished BS in Applied Math, preparing for an application.
Afterword: I apologize if this is the wrong place for such posts. In this case, it would be nice if one gave information about where it’s appropriate to post this. I also apologize if something from this post is naive or too vague. I’m open to any questions and suggestions.
EDIT (4:30, Jul 25 UTC) - It seems that I was wrong about focusing on competition. In games it’s easy to tell who is stronger because usually it’s the winner. However, there is no strict rules and definitions about winners and losers in real life. Some minor thing later can play a huge role and nobody knows whether it will happen or not.
So instead of “rivals with a bit of partnership” the focus shifts to “partners with a bit of competition”. It seems that this idea is very similar to Stronger Together post, just they have a broader goal.
Sounds like a good idea. I, as well, would like my actions to be ones that follow from that goal and subgoal, though I’ve lost the last 1-2 years to akrasia. I’m trying to finish a BS in CS in Germany and planning to continue with an MS in CS in Germany. I’m 22 years old, Half-Russian, male, don’t smoke/drink. I’m Gurkenglas on Freenode.
In terms of strategy, I recommend you to think about going to work at the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms. They recently received a grant from OpenPhil to do AI Safety Research. I can personally recommend the two professors at McGill (Joelle Pineau and Doina Precup). Since you are Russian, you should be able to handle the cold :-)
I support your idea of finding a rival. Friendly competition can indeed foster motivation.
I think I’m too far down the path you described to be your direct rival. I’m past the step “PhD in AI/ML”, and I’m currently gaining experience in the AI industry before turning to AI safety proper, if the opportunity comes. If anything, I can be the guy that you’re trying to catch up to instead of a rival (by no means I think you should follow my steps, but our goals seem to be in the same ballpark).
TL;DR—A man is searching for a rival to grow together.
Hello everyone!
This comment was inspired by Anti-Lone Wolf and Stronger Together posts.
What I got from these posts is:
Anti-Lone Wolf: Trying to go alone, you may miss an important part of motivation.
Stronger Together: There is some kind of evidence that group improvement works.
What I got from my research of doing more is:
After a myriad of methods and tips tried during 4 years, I remained on the same level—doing things mostly under Panic Monster pressure. I desperately want to change this.
Having a group of people who have their views almost aligned is good, but what if one could add some sort of competition to this?
My current theory is that if two persons have the same goal and similar strategies of pursuing this goal, their competition can benefit each of them.
For example, I heard that while sprinters train on track, they mostly run at least in pairs while going for a record. (I haven’t found written proofs of this). This implies, I suppose, that it’s easier to get better results when you compete with someone.
The other example—It is recommended to organize startups not alone, but with a co-founder. I assume that in this case, among other benefits, there is a benefit from support while one of founders is lacking motivation.
Based on this, here I am, searching for a person who has the same goal and is on the same stage of reaching this goal, with similar strategy. My current state: Finished BS in Applied Math, preparing for an application.
Afterword:
I apologize if this is the wrong place for such posts. In this case, it would be nice if one gave information about where it’s appropriate to post this.
I also apologize if something from this post is naive or too vague. I’m open to any questions and suggestions.
EDIT (4:30, Jul 25 UTC) - It seems that I was wrong about focusing on competition. In games it’s easy to tell who is stronger because usually it’s the winner. However, there is no strict rules and definitions about winners and losers in real life. Some minor thing later can play a huge role and nobody knows whether it will happen or not.
So instead of “rivals with a bit of partnership” the focus shifts to “partners with a bit of competition”. It seems that this idea is very similar to Stronger Together post, just they have a broader goal.
Try competing on Project Euler or Kaggle? They are okay for all skill levels.
Sounds like a good idea. I, as well, would like my actions to be ones that follow from that goal and subgoal, though I’ve lost the last 1-2 years to akrasia. I’m trying to finish a BS in CS in Germany and planning to continue with an MS in CS in Germany. I’m 22 years old, Half-Russian, male, don’t smoke/drink. I’m Gurkenglas on Freenode.
In terms of strategy, I recommend you to think about going to work at the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms. They recently received a grant from OpenPhil to do AI Safety Research. I can personally recommend the two professors at McGill (Joelle Pineau and Doina Precup). Since you are Russian, you should be able to handle the cold :-)
Hi Hafurelus, your post is in the right place!
I support your idea of finding a rival. Friendly competition can indeed foster motivation.
I think I’m too far down the path you described to be your direct rival. I’m past the step “PhD in AI/ML”, and I’m currently gaining experience in the AI industry before turning to AI safety proper, if the opportunity comes. If anything, I can be the guy that you’re trying to catch up to instead of a rival (by no means I think you should follow my steps, but our goals seem to be in the same ballpark).
There has been a recent post by 80k Hours that you may find interesting.
Do you keep a journal, something to evaluate progress and compare with others?