Thanks for the reflection, it is how a part of me feels (I usually never post on LessWrong, being just a lurker, but your comment inspired me a bit).
Actually, I do have some background that could, maybe, be useful in alignment, and I did just complete the AGISF program. Right now, I’m applying to some positions (particularly, I’m focusing now on the SERIMATS application, which is an area that I may be differentially talented), and just honestly trying to do my best. After all, it would be outrageous if I could do something, but I simply did not.
But I recognize the possibility that I’m simply not good enough, and there is no way for me to actually do anything beyond just, as you said, signal boosting, so I can introduce more capable people into the field, while living my life and hoping that Humanity solves this.
But, if Humanity does not, well, it is what it is. There was the dream of success, and building a future Utopia, with future technology facilitated by aligned AI, but that may have been just that, a dream. Maybe alignment is unsolvable, and is the natural order of any advanced civilization to destroy itself by its own AI. Or maybe alignment is solvable, but given the incentives of our world as they are, it was always a fact that unsafe AGI would be created before we would solve alignment.
Or maybe, we will solve alignment in the end, or we were all wrong about the risks from AI in the first place.
As for me, for now, I’m going to keep trying, keep studying, just because, if the world comes to an end, I don’t want to conclude that I could’ve done more. While hoping that I never have to wonder about that in the first place.
EDIT: To be clear, I’m not that sure about short timelines, in the sense that, insofar I know (and I may be very, very wrong), the AGIs we are creating right now don’t seem to be very agentic, and it may be that creating agency from current techniques is much harder than creating general intelligence. But again, “not so sure” is something like 20%-30% chance of timelines being really short, so the point mostly stands.
Thanks for the reflection, it is how a part of me feels (I usually never post on LessWrong, being just a lurker, but your comment inspired me a bit).
Actually, I do have some background that could, maybe, be useful in alignment, and I did just complete the AGISF program. Right now, I’m applying to some positions (particularly, I’m focusing now on the SERIMATS application, which is an area that I may be differentially talented), and just honestly trying to do my best. After all, it would be outrageous if I could do something, but I simply did not.
But I recognize the possibility that I’m simply not good enough, and there is no way for me to actually do anything beyond just, as you said, signal boosting, so I can introduce more capable people into the field, while living my life and hoping that Humanity solves this.
But, if Humanity does not, well, it is what it is. There was the dream of success, and building a future Utopia, with future technology facilitated by aligned AI, but that may have been just that, a dream. Maybe alignment is unsolvable, and is the natural order of any advanced civilization to destroy itself by its own AI. Or maybe alignment is solvable, but given the incentives of our world as they are, it was always a fact that unsafe AGI would be created before we would solve alignment.
Or maybe, we will solve alignment in the end, or we were all wrong about the risks from AI in the first place.
As for me, for now, I’m going to keep trying, keep studying, just because, if the world comes to an end, I don’t want to conclude that I could’ve done more. While hoping that I never have to wonder about that in the first place.
EDIT: To be clear, I’m not that sure about short timelines, in the sense that, insofar I know (and I may be very, very wrong), the AGIs we are creating right now don’t seem to be very agentic, and it may be that creating agency from current techniques is much harder than creating general intelligence. But again, “not so sure” is something like 20%-30% chance of timelines being really short, so the point mostly stands.