Thank you for writing the post, it must have been pretty tough to write that all down. First and foremost, I want to encourage you to think about financial sustainability when considering moving to the bay. Personal growth and learning complex technical topics are energy-intensive and expensive activities (in terms of time and attention), and being constantly short on money and resources will not make either easier. My own experiences with mental health in the past showed me that doing good research gets exponentially harder if I can’t manage my own situation first.
With regards to your concerns about not learning fast enough/having enough skills to contribute to AI safety or related problems, I have several thoughts. First of all, while it may be true that you have limited skills in “traditional” technical research, that doesn’t mean that you therefore have to work to fit yourself into that mould. Right now I see a lot of people who are interested in AI safety taking the same correlated bets (moving to bay area, specialising into ML/technical AI research, joining a lab or an AI safety startup, relying heavily on Claude to accelerate progress), and overall I think this is quite a narrow minded angle with which to address a literally global problem. For example, even if MIRI secures its landmark policy goal (an international treaty to pause AI development), that still means that the US government is one of the two or three linchpins in ensuring that the treaty is carried out safely and competently. Thus local governance and campaigning for the ’26 and ’28 election seasons would be very important to shape who is in power at critical turning points. Being a non-US citizen, I have limited context here, but if you are American then this is something you have a unique power to shape. There are other similar opportunities here but I will not go on endlessly.
Finally, I want to push back a little against the idea of the “agentic, autodidactic elite” and the implied “plebs/NPCs/normies”. IMO most of what is called “agentic” is risk taking combined with leverage (e.g. pre-existing connections, resources etc.). As you said yourself many of the hotshots in this community already had some degree of backing, attended elite institutions etc., so its not really a case of “those with the will succeed and those without do not”. Insofar as people can grow and attain better skills, it is hard to do so when we constantly see ourselves as inferior to the titans and giants (although tbh I feel that way most of the time as well, I have to work quite hard to suppress that circuit in my brain). I hope that this helps somewhat and I hope that you can find firmer footing in your near future!
Well, you make good points about the Bay… it would be kinda hard to make the money work (though I’ve dealt with privation before), and it would be a correlated bet… I think part of why I want to be there, is to have any sort of like-minded community at all, instead of mouldering in my house all day, every day. I am highly motivated by other people.
I do think you’re right that technical research is not really the right path. There’s too much investment in that, compared to advocacy.
I am an American, but it’s hard to see a theory of change that actually routes through me? I can… vote, call my Congressperson, show up to protests… I’m going to PauseCon in DC, but I don’t see how that leads to a sustainable trajectory of change, including one that hopefully could get me paid. I am not skilled or resourced enough, I think, to go organizing all on my own, and I don’t have anywhere near the credentials to be an AI safety lobbyist or an assistant to one, not that there’s much funding for that in the US anyways. Unless you propose I move to a swing state and district specifically to influence the representative there...?
I am curious about the other opportunities you have in mind.
A lot of elites have impostor syndrome. You’re an elite, you went to Cambridge. I saw an article on EA Forum where someone said they weren’t good enough because they “weren’t in the top half of Oxford.” As someone who is, I’m pretty sure, an actual impostor (outside of being in intellectual sync with LW and the like), this is rather frustrating to listen to. You have the credentials, accomplishments, and connections to back up your ambitions, and the talent and family background to have gotten to where you are in the first place, and I do not. I don’t see how I can grow when I don’t have that kind of wealth.
Thank you for writing the post, it must have been pretty tough to write that all down. First and foremost, I want to encourage you to think about financial sustainability when considering moving to the bay. Personal growth and learning complex technical topics are energy-intensive and expensive activities (in terms of time and attention), and being constantly short on money and resources will not make either easier. My own experiences with mental health in the past showed me that doing good research gets exponentially harder if I can’t manage my own situation first.
With regards to your concerns about not learning fast enough/having enough skills to contribute to AI safety or related problems, I have several thoughts. First of all, while it may be true that you have limited skills in “traditional” technical research, that doesn’t mean that you therefore have to work to fit yourself into that mould. Right now I see a lot of people who are interested in AI safety taking the same correlated bets (moving to bay area, specialising into ML/technical AI research, joining a lab or an AI safety startup, relying heavily on Claude to accelerate progress), and overall I think this is quite a narrow minded angle with which to address a literally global problem. For example, even if MIRI secures its landmark policy goal (an international treaty to pause AI development), that still means that the US government is one of the two or three linchpins in ensuring that the treaty is carried out safely and competently. Thus local governance and campaigning for the ’26 and ’28 election seasons would be very important to shape who is in power at critical turning points. Being a non-US citizen, I have limited context here, but if you are American then this is something you have a unique power to shape. There are other similar opportunities here but I will not go on endlessly.
Finally, I want to push back a little against the idea of the “agentic, autodidactic elite” and the implied “plebs/NPCs/normies”. IMO most of what is called “agentic” is risk taking combined with leverage (e.g. pre-existing connections, resources etc.). As you said yourself many of the hotshots in this community already had some degree of backing, attended elite institutions etc., so its not really a case of “those with the will succeed and those without do not”. Insofar as people can grow and attain better skills, it is hard to do so when we constantly see ourselves as inferior to the titans and giants (although tbh I feel that way most of the time as well, I have to work quite hard to suppress that circuit in my brain). I hope that this helps somewhat and I hope that you can find firmer footing in your near future!
Well, you make good points about the Bay… it would be kinda hard to make the money work (though I’ve dealt with privation before), and it would be a correlated bet… I think part of why I want to be there, is to have any sort of like-minded community at all, instead of mouldering in my house all day, every day. I am highly motivated by other people.
I do think you’re right that technical research is not really the right path. There’s too much investment in that, compared to advocacy.
I am an American, but it’s hard to see a theory of change that actually routes through me? I can… vote, call my Congressperson, show up to protests… I’m going to PauseCon in DC, but I don’t see how that leads to a sustainable trajectory of change, including one that hopefully could get me paid. I am not skilled or resourced enough, I think, to go organizing all on my own, and I don’t have anywhere near the credentials to be an AI safety lobbyist or an assistant to one, not that there’s much funding for that in the US anyways. Unless you propose I move to a swing state and district specifically to influence the representative there...?
I am curious about the other opportunities you have in mind.
A lot of elites have impostor syndrome. You’re an elite, you went to Cambridge. I saw an article on EA Forum where someone said they weren’t good enough because they “weren’t in the top half of Oxford.” As someone who is, I’m pretty sure, an actual impostor (outside of being in intellectual sync with LW and the like), this is rather frustrating to listen to. You have the credentials, accomplishments, and connections to back up your ambitions, and the talent and family background to have gotten to where you are in the first place, and I do not. I don’t see how I can grow when I don’t have that kind of wealth.
I’ll send you a DM!