To some, it might seem like a strange question. If you think of being college-educated as a marker of class (or personhood), the fact that I don't have a degree at age of thirty-six (!!) probably looks like a scandalous anomaly, which it would be only natural for me to want to remediate at the earliest opportunity.

I deeply resent that entire worldview—not because I've rejected education, properly understood. On the contrary. The study of literature, history, mathematics, science—these things are among the noblest pursuits in life, sources of highest pleasure and deepest meaning. It's precisely because I value education so much that I can't stand to see it conflated with school and its culture of bureaucratic servitude where no one cares what you know and no one...

Co-Authors: @Rocket, @Ryan Kidd, @LauraVaughan, @McKennaFitzgerald, @Christian Smith, @Juan Gil, @Henry Sleight

The ML Alignment & Theory Scholars program (MATS) is an education and research mentorship program for researchers entering the field of AI safety. This winter, we held the fifth iteration of the MATS program, in which 63 scholars received mentorship from 20 research mentors. In this post, we motivate and explain the elements of the program, evaluate our impact, and identify areas for improving future programs.

Summary

Key details about the Winter Program:

• The four main changes we made after our Summer program were:
  • Reducing our scholar stipend from $40/h to $30/h based on alumni feedback;
  • Transitioning Scholar Support to Research Management;
  • Using the full Lighthaven campus for office space as well as housing;
  • Replacing Alignment 201 with AI Strategy Discussions.
• Educational attainment of MATS scholars:
  • 48% of scholars

Something I'd like to try at LessOnline is to somehow iterate on the "Public Doublecrux" format. I'm not sure if I'll end up focusing on it, but here are some ideas.

Public Doublecrux is a more truthseeking oriented version of Public Debate. The goal of a debate is to change your opponent's mind or the public's mind. The goal of a doublecrux is more like "work with your partner to figure out if you should change your mind, and vice versa."

Reasons to want to do public doublecrux include:

• It helps showcase subtle mental moves that are hard to write down explicitly (i.e. tacit knowledge transfer.
• There's still something good and exciting about seeing high profile smart people talk about ideas. Having some variant of that format seems good for LessOnline.

I have no experience with data science, but D&D Sci seems fun and I would like to improve and get better at it. Where can/should I start?

In 2018, I was a bright-eyed grad student who was freaking out about AI alignment. I guess I'm still a bright-eyed grad student freaking out about AI alignment, but that's beside the point. 

I wanted to help, and so I started levelling up. While I'd read Nate Soares's self-teaching posts, there were a few key lessons I'd either failed to internalize or failed to consider at all. I think that implementing these might have doubled the benefit I drew from my studies. 

I can't usefully write a letter to my past self, so let me write a letter to you instead, keeping in mind that good advice for past-me may not be good advice for you.

Make Sure You Remember The Content

TL;DR: use a spaced repetition system like Anki. Put...

Readers must be 15+ 

This is a story about AI and existential risk.

22.

20 years old, lives-alone-with-her-dad Victoria Brittleson was stood on the scales, (She’d shucked out of her clothes for accuracy). 

The pointer on the gauge swung, like the merciless swing of the grim reaper’s scythe, then shivered to a conclusion. 

161 pounds.

Up from last week.

She rubbed her forehead, then got off the scales (the pointer flopped back to starting position), her most recent notebook, (she had been documenting her weight once a week, every week for the past four years). 

She was chubby.

Overweight.

But overweight was just one step from becoming obese, and obese people cost $260 billion in medical bills for Americans, in the year 2016. 

She was becoming a burden.

She was becoming unlovable.

She was becoming a leak in the bottom...