tangentially related, but linked you out on a meetup idea for EA SF :) https://luma.com/2vekrkaz

+ hiya @Jonathan Claybrough 

Re: "the shape of fieldbuilding for SF might be particularly different"

• might poke @gergo for his thoughts here 

Thank you for writing this and pardon my tremendous delay in responding!

Some takes I get from this (+ my response):

• Invest more into diffusion of knowledge (quantity) over quality (1:1)
  • Contrasts w/ David Nash (former EA UK) advice
• Consider SF's uniqueness - not rinse & repeat normal CB
  • im seeing austin's response to this also
• AIS vs EA balance is tricky - i havent read the McAskill post (yet?)
  • there is significantly more demand for AIS programming
  • but also right now, its hard to break into AIS w/o EA context
  • BlueDot & Mox fulfill some AIS field-building already. I consider separation of roles as BD/Mox able to be flashier/attract speakers/more resources & EA SF to be more scrappy - like a club, meetup, touchpoint.
• an inference: to reach the masses vs strengthen existing EA ecosystem
  • i agree, but personally, unenthused. EA Chicago's friendly neighborhoodyness was my only community in a new city and my starting point for becoming invested into EA.
  • i am philosophically more motivated by NEST > 80k-ness
  • also, super EAs already live in group houses or know each other well anywho
  • in an ideal world, I would have a co-organizer to do all the professionalism events + ais workshops and i could proceed with vibey ones. 

I am a bottleneck and I wonder if EA SF needs a proper proper organizer to take this to the next level. 

Current rough EA SF offerings has been:

• 1-1 AIS Coaching calls (high demand ~40+/mo)
• 1-1 EA SF calls (slim ~5/month)
• bi-weekly informal events
• community slack
• our newsletter/luma calendar has ~800 people
  • event dist tends to be 20% high context 40% low context, 40% middle or mainly ais
• [dormantish] coffee chats - member matching (not by ai, by me) 

Previously, we've done a career fair & hackathon. Now, co-supporting https://thebigtent.ai/ - mega-conference for intro AIS.

Hm.. i think the whole problem with sending links is that there's way too much capital C crap everywhere - links galore. Coaching programs exist largely to help people weed out whats relevant & personalized to them (could this be a scalable product? hm)

This exists: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-safety-field-guide-i-wish-id-had-benedikt-oehmen-yttge/?trackingId=HY3mwWrabmAMwyeet47c7Q%3D%3D 

My post-event emails as a reference: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/EhLhrrEEG6Jo9kYJv/learnings-from-a-viral-linkedin-post-what-ai-safety-means-to

• I can tell you that MOST people did not click the links I shared in my linkedin post. alas psychological phenomenon of link overload and lack of activation energy to put eyeballs to read a page. 

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GPxMDHApaLwL3phjv/ai-safety-career-fair-and-builders-summit-sf-retrospective 

The "Desperate" AI Safety Talent Bottleneck is deeply misleading. Please.stop.

I worked at Google.

Google does not tell applicants that there is a talent bottleneck and they are desperately hiring. They say "we're cool, join us!" 

I didn't get into Harvard. 

Harvard does not tell applicants that they are desperately seeking students. I am not misled. 

I've gotten rejected from countless AI Safety organizations.

AI Safety tells applicants - we are in desperate need of talent (operators/generalists)! Please join us! 

I've coached 70+ aspiring career pivoters on navigating the ecosystem. A common theme is the dejection & disappointment from all this rejection. Because of this false marketing, I am the one picking up the pieces to calibrate professionals on how difficult, competitive, and picky organizations are, how to build context, and how to endure the marathon, which is like any other job hunt. 

Please.stop.

Some alternatives:

• We are an exciting, growing organization and you should apply for our roles!
• Many people are excited to work for us - here are qualities of candidates we're especially excited about.
• EA roles are competitive, and we would still love to see your application.

Relevant posts:

• https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/B6d8Wzk4gNzHsXvdi/ai-safety-is-extremely-bottlenecked-on-grantmakers?commentId=n2Rd7RR4y9EnKP42F
• https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/b82SLXwEHRCs3TFJA/why-experienced-professionals-fail-to-land-high-impact-roles
• https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jmbP9rwXncfa32seH/after-one-year-of-applying-for-ea-jobs-it-is-really-really 

| As long as you’re taking the question of doing Big Good seriously, we want you to host discussions of everything from RCTs, to fundamental science, to YIMBY, to post-AGI politics, and more.

Especially excited about this & happy to help out if y'all need an extra pair of hands

Mox Movie Nights watched Slumdog Millionaire today and it reminded me of the why behind the work. We're not here to EV-max, to gain impact points, to count utils. We're here because the world is unfair, suffering is prolific, and need to find a way through it. 

These are article views specifically (people who clicked on the guide). Here it is: Linkedin post

🥹 and +1 that is one of my favorite episodes