​I have a tool for thinking that I call “steelman solitaire”. I have found that it comes to much better conclusions than doing “free-style” thinking, so I thought I should share it with more people. 

In summary, it consists of arguing with yourself in the program Workflowy/Roam/any infinitely-nesting-bullet-points software, alternating between writing a steelman of an argument, a steelman of a counter-argument, a steelman of a counter-counter-argument, etc. 

In this post I’ll first list the benefits, then explain the broad steps, and finally, go into more depth on how to do it.

Benefits

1. Structure forces you to do the thing you know you should do anyway. Most people reading this already know that it’s important to consider the best arguments on all sides instead of just considering the weakest on the other. Many already know that you can’t just consider a counter-argument then consider yourself done. However, it’s easy to forget to do so. The structure of this method makes you much more likely to follow through with your existing rational aspirations.
2. Clarifies thinking. I’m sure everybody has experienced a discussion that’s gone all over the place, and by the end, you’re more confused than when you started. Some points get lost and forgotten while others dominate. This approach helps to organize and clarify your thinking, revealing holes and strengths in different lines of thought.
3. More likely to change your mind. As much as we aspire not to, most people, even the most competent rationalists, will often become entrenched in a position due to the nature of conversations. In steelman solitaire, there’s no other person to lose face to or to hurt your feelings. This often makes it more likely to change your mind than a lot of other methods.
4. Makes you think much more deeply than usual. A common feature of people I would describe as “deep thinkers” is that they’ve often already thought of my counter-argument, and the counter-counter-counter-etc-argument. This method will make you really dig deep into an issue.
5. Dealing with steelmen that are compelling to you. A problem with a lot of debates is that what is convincing to the other person isn’t convincing to you, even though there are actually good arguments out there. This method allows you to think of those reasons instead of getting caught up with what another person thinks should convince you.
6. You can look back at why you came to the belief you have. Like most intellectually-oriented people, I have a lot of opinions. Sometimes so many that I forget why I came to hold them in the first place (but I vaguely remember that it was a good reason, I’m sure). Writing things down can help you refer back to them later and re-evaluate.
7. Better at coming to the truth than most methods. For the above reasons, I think that this method makes you more likely to come to accurate beliefs.
   
   

The broad idea

Strawmanning means presenting the opposing view in the least charitable light – often so uncharitably that it does not resemble the view that the other side actually holds. The term of steelmanning was invented as a counter to this; it means taking the opposing view and trying to present it in its strongest form. This has sometimes been criticized because often the alternative belief proposed by a steelman also isn’t what the other people actually believe. For example, there’s a steelman argument that states that the reason organic food is good is that monopolies are generally bad and Monsanto having a monopoly on food could lead to disastrous consequences. This might indeed be a belief held by some people who are pro-organic, but a huge percentage of people are just falling prey to the naturalistic fallacy. 

While steelmanning may not be perfect for understanding people’s true reasons for believing propositions, it is very good for coming to more accurate beliefs yourself. If the reason you believe you don’t have to care about buying organic is that you believe that people only buy organic because of the naturalistic fallacy, you might be missing out on the fact that there’s a good reason for you to buy organic because you think monopolies on food are dangerous.

However – and this is where steelmanning back and forth comes in – what if buying organic doesn’t necessarily lead to breaking the monopoly? Maybe upon further investigation, Monsanto doesn’t have a monopoly. Or maybe multiple organizations have copyrighted different gene edits, so there’s no true monopoly.

The idea behind steelman solitaire is to not stop at steelmanning the opposing view. It’s to steelman the counter-counter-argument as well. As has been said by more eloquent people than myself, you can’t consider an argument and counter-argument and consider yourself a virtuous rationalist. There are very long chains of counter^x arguments, and you want to consider the steelman of each of them. Don’t pick any side in advance. Just commit to trying to find the true answer. 

This is all well and good in principle but can be challenging to keep organized. This is where Workflowy or Roam comes in. Workflowy allows you to have counter-arguments nested under arguments, counter-counter-arguments nested under counter-arguments, and so forth. That way you can zoom in and out and focus on one particular line of reasoning, realize you’ve gone so deep you’ve lost the forest for the trees, zoom out, and realize what triggered the consideration in the first place. It also allows you to quickly look at the main arguments for and against. Here’s a worked example for a question.

 Tips and tricks
​
That’s the broad-strokes explanation of the method. Below, I’ll list a few pointers that I follow, though please do experiment and tweak. This is by no means a final product.  

1. Name your arguments. Instead of just saying “we should buy organic because Monsanto is forming a monopoly and monopolies can lead to abuses of power”, call it “monopoly argument” in bold at the front of the bullet point then write the full argument in normal font. Naming arguments condenses the argument and gives you more cognitive workspace to play around with. It also allows you to see your arguments from a bird’s eye view.
2. Insult yourself sometimes. I usually (always) make fun of myself or my arguments while using this technique, just because it’s funny. Making your deep thinking more enjoyable makes you more likely to do it instead of putting it off forever, much like including a jelly bean in your vitamin regimen to incentivize you to take that giant gross pill you know you should take.
3. Mark arguments as resolved as they become resolved. If you dive deep into an argument and come to the conclusion that it’s not compelling, then mark it clearly as done. I write “rsv” at the beginning of the entry to remind me, but you can use anything that will remind you that you’re no longer concerned with that argument. Follow up with a little note at the beginning of the thread giving either a short explanation detailing why it’s ruled out, or, ideally, just the named argument that beat it.
4. Prioritize ruling out arguments. This is a good general approach to life and one we use in our research at Charity Entrepreneurship. Try to find out as soon as possible whether something isn’t going to work. Take a moment when you’re thinking of arguments to think of the angles that are most likely to destroy something quickly, then prioritize investigating those. That will allow you to get through more arguments faster, and thus, come to more correct conclusions over your lifetime.
5. Start with the trigger. Start with a section where you describe what triggered the thought. This can often help you get to the true question you’re trying to answer. A huge trick to coming to correct conclusions is asking the right questions in the first place.
6. Use in spreadsheet decision-making. If you’re using the spreadsheet decision-making system, then you can play steelman solitaire to help you fill in the cells comparing different options.
7. Use for decisions and problem-solving generally. This method can be used for claims about how the universe is, but it can also be applied to decision-making and problem-solving generally. Just start with a problem statement or decision you’re contemplating, make a list of possible solutions, then play steelman solitaire on those options.

Conclusion

In summary, steelman solitaire means steelmanning arguments back and forth repeatedly. It helps with:

• Coming to more correct beliefs
• Getting out of unproductive conversations
• Making sure you do epistemically virtuous things that you already know you should do

The method to follow is to make a claim, make a steelman against that claim, then a steelman against that claim, and on and on until you can’t anymore or are convinced one way or the other.

I recently faced a series of public attacks and it hurt a lot. 

Here’s what I did to feel better and get back on my feet. 

1. Check and see if attacks are justified. If so, problem solve and apologize. 
2. Systematically try different emotional problem-solving techniques until something works. In my case that ended up being:

• Problem-solving
• Loving-kindness practice directed towards myself
• Tapping

First I checked to see if the attacks were justified and if there was anything I could do to improve. 

It’s important to follow this step, because nobody’s perfect and if you’re doing something wrong, it’s better to acknowledge and course correct, rather than insisting that the people attacking you are just dumb and bad. Even if they say something in an unnecessarily hurtful way, don’t let that stop you from learning and improving. 

In this case, one of the cases was a justified attack, another was not. 

For the justified attack, I spent time problem-solving and issued a public apology and explanation of how I was going to do better. This got a lot of positive feedback and also made me feel a lot better. It feels awful to have gone against your values. Sincere apologies can be really healing. 

For the unjustified attack, that was a little harder. It led to real life consequences that will likely permanently affect my ability to do my work. This was harder to deal with. 

At first I tried to just take some time off, which did make me feel happier in the moment. However, when I came back to work, the problem was still there, and so I went straight back to feeling awful. Whenever I thought about work, I’d feel anxious and sad, then retreat to some distraction. 
I tried talking to my friends about it, which was nice, but didn’t fix it.

I tried reframing the issue (e.g. I’ll still have lots of impact, I should expect setbacks, advocates in the past used to suffer mob mobs, not just internet mobs, etc). I believed all of these in a certain way, but it didn’t fix the feelings of sadness and hopelessness. 

I tried pushing through it and hoping that time would just heal all wounds. 

But even if I could push through some waves of sadness, eventually one would knock me off course. 

I tried stoic practices. I compared my situation to people who had worse off situations or situations in the past that were much worse for myself. I tried dismissing public opinion. 

I tried reading a biography of an advocate who went through much worse than I did (Frederick Douglass). It was informative but did not help solve the emotions 

I tried gratitude journaling. 

I tried listening to motivational music and getting into a “shoulders back, stiffen your spine, get back in the ring” mindset.

I systematically kept trying different techniques until I found something that worked. Which is actually the general practice that everybody should do when they are feeling bad and it doesn't go away naturally.

Eventually the things that got me out of the funk were three-fold:

• Actual problem-solving. 

I came up with a partial solution to the problem. Things are still worse than if the public attack hadn’t happened, but I took some steps to make things better. 
Sometimes you’re unhappy because of actually bad things in the world. Sometimes your feelings of sadness or anxiety are pointing you towards the problem you should work on solving. 

• Loving-kindness practice directed towards myself

The specific techniques I used were:

1. Hands on heart (I find the physical gesture helps both generate the emotion and also helps you stay focused)
2. Imagining being Dumbledore and how he feels towards Harry, even when Harry is being attacked by the press and Harry’s not handling it well. Once that feeling is generated, directing it towards myself
3. Feeling a wave of sadness, then visualizing giving that feeling a loving hug

​

• Tapping

Tapping is a lesser known happiness technique that I’ve had a lot of success with. 

Here’s quick instructions on how to do it  . They say it’s about “meridians” and what not, but I just ignore that. I feel *immediate* benefits and that’s all the evidence I need.

Tips on how to do it: In my experience, positive emotions can arise within two seconds of tapping the correct spot. The effective tapping locations seem to vary between individuals. Some spots may consistently yield no response and can be omitted from your practice. 

For effective spots, it may be necessary to adjust the tapping location slightly (for example, by moving about a centimeter) until the desired effect is achieved. The optimal spot may shift subtly, and on some days, tapping might not work at all. If a spot has not produced a positive response after at least five attempts, consider discontinuing its use. 

If results are inconsistent, experiment with nearby areas but refrain from prolonged use on days when the technique is ineffective.

I did loving-kindness practice and tapping for about 30 minutes. 

I felt healing while I was doing it. Then, when I came back to the real world, I hit a small unrelated obstacle and immediately felt terrible again. 

However, something had shifted. I felt better and better throughout the day, still with waves of sadness, but the waves were diminishing in intensity and frequency. 

By the next day, I was back to normal. I did another self-loving-kindness and tapping session, just to be sure, but otherwise, I was back at it. 
​
Of course, different advice will work for different people. I most recommend the underlying strategy: systematically keep trying different methods until you find something that works.

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲! 🥳

It’s not therapy. It’s what I wish therapy was, but totally isn’t.

It’s a short program that lasts 4-12 weeks, where you systematically try 5-30 techniques until you find something that fixes an emotional problem you're struggling with (e.g. anxiety, impostor syndrome, low mood, etc).

Here’s how it works:

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥: 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧
​

1. 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝. Discuss the problem and generate at least 5 hypotheses for what’s causing the problem.
2. 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. In this process, we’ll generate and look at least 30 possible ways to fix the problem. This will come from a wide swathe of possible solutions, such as CBT, internal family systems, problem-solving, changing your environment, meditation, diet, exercise, supplements, loving-kindness, gratitude, stoicism, improving sleep hygiene, checking for nutritional deficiencies, bibliotherapy, meds (not prescribed by me, but I might recommend you talk to a doctor), etc.
3. 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. We’ll prioritize the possible solutions by their probability of working, how costly they are to try, whether they can be tried with things in parallel, etc.
4. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟓-𝟏𝟎 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝟏-𝟑 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. This will include things like setting up accountability systems, commitment devices, time blocking, etc. It will all be customized to what works best for you and for the particular techniques.
   
   

𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭: 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞

You’ll spend the next 1-3 weeks actually putting the most promising techniques into practice.

You’ll keep track of your symptoms. If your symptoms go away, then we’ll analyze what happened. Sometimes it’ll be obvious what’s helping, and you can just keep doing that thing. If not, then we can start remove the techniques one at a time. If the symptoms come back, then we just bring back the technique that we removed, and we know what was doing the magic.

Experimenting in parallel means you get to feel better sooner and continue to feel good while we figure out what the problem was. 

If your symptoms don’t go away after 1-2 weeks, then we’ll prioritize the next 5-10 techniques to try.

This process will happen up to 3 times.

By the end, you’ll have either resolved your issues, or you’ll at least have tried ~30 techniques to fix the problem. Even if you haven’t, you’ll probably have found at least a few more techniques to add to your repertoire of things that you enjoy.

Apply here

𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲?

It’s not therapy. It’s what I wish therapy was, but totally isn’t. 

𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡:

Stress
Impostor syndrome
Burnout
Anxiety
Hopelessness
Feeling overwhelmed 
Depression (mild or moderate. Not severe)
Self-esteem issues
Motivation issues
Numbness
Sadness
Work life balance
Guilt
Sleep issues
Loneliness
Existential angst
Perfectionism
Relationship problems

𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 

Suicidality
Bipolar
ADHD
Gender dysphoria
Anger management
Substance use disorders
Autism related emotional issues
Cluster B personality disorders (e.g. BPD, APD, HPD, NPD)
Anything where you're experiencing psychosis
Anything where you're experiencing paranoia or delusions

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭?

It's free if you:

• Work in AI safety
• Are currently unemployed, but usually work in AI safety
• Earn to give and give >$50,000 a year to AI safety

I'm offering this service for free because mental health is one of the main blockers to people having an impact in AI safety. 

I think x-risks and s-risks from AI are the most important things to work on. And I'm good at emotional problem-solving. So if I help people working on AI safety be happier, then I'm helping make sure AI doesn't kill everybody. 

Timelines are too short to work with people who are not working in AI safety, but since I'm a rationalist and everybody has their price, I would do it for a non-AI safety person if they donated $10,000 or more to Nonlinear or an AI safety org working on pausing or slowing down AI development. 

Apply here

I have very limited time, so can only take on a small fraction of clients who apply. If you do not get in, I recommend checking out this vetted list of therapists or this compilation of mental health techniques for dealing with AI safety. 

• Mentnav
• Lesswrong

Writing is like exercise. It’s just good on so many levels. 

• Writing can be high impact
• Writing can be inspiring
• Writing can help you learn and grow
• Writing can help your career
• Writing can be meaningful and deeply satisfying
• Writing can get you into flow
• And also, just like with exercise, almost nobody writes enough

Whenever I get back into the habit of writing, I always think I should write more. It’s one of my favorite things. 

Yet, much like exercise is for most people, I tend to have little flares of interest, where I get really into it for a week or two, then lose steam, and it just becomes a dormant blog again. You might have had a similar experience, and maybe even have a cobwebby blog or two out there. Perhaps you have some really cool half-finished google docs that you never quite got around to finishing and publishing. 
It’s a funny thing though, about writing being like exercise. Because do you remember what exercise used to be called when you were a child? 

Play.

And I remembered on a recent vacation I took, where I had the slack to remember, that writing is play. I fell back in love with writing then, typing away furiously on the beach. 

Not only was it intrinsically fun, but I also loved that it felt like I was making a difference, writing about important topics. That my recommendations were helping people, whether it be making them happier or making them higher impact, or sometimes, if I was lucky, both.

To help myself (and perhaps you) remember this and all the other reasons to write, I’ve decided to write about all the reasons I have to write. 

Reading the list will inspire me and hopefully others. Publishing it will publicly commit me to writing, which will make it more likely. Even better, it could potentially re-inspire some people, perhaps you, to start writing for the forums again. Or maybe even it’ll get you excited to try your hand at writing publicly, even though you’ve never done it before.

Epistemic status: motivational

Epistemic status: motivational. An explanation of my personal experience that doesn’t generalize to all people. This isn’t meant to be a nuanced look into the pros and cons of writing. 

It’s meant to inspire a subset of the population (and myself!) to write more. None of this applies to all writing or all people. It’s meant more as a manifesto rather than a research piece. 

Of course, this is the EA Forum, so feel free to debate the merits and demerits of writing in the comments.

Now, with all that hedging out of the way, here’s a giant list of reasons why you, the community, and myself should write. 

​Some reasons to write

The reasons to write fall broadly into three categories: enjoyment, capacity building, and impact. 
​
Enjoyment and other personal benefits

Writing can be personally gratifying in so many ways. 

1. Moments of inspiration. Sometimes you’re really excited about what you’re writing, and the words just pour out of you. It can be a really peak experience.
2. Art. If you have a part of you that craves the artist’s life, you can have some of that through writing, without having to quit your day job. It can sometimes feel like being an EA is antithetical to being artistic, but writing is a great way to combine a seeking of impact with a seeking of beauty.
3. The world is your material. It changes the way you interact with the world. You’re always on the lookout for little snippets of an idea really well put. You have great conversations and that’s grist for the mill. It’s like being on a lifelong treasure hunt, with little hits of dopamine splashed throughout the day.
4. Sweet sweet internet points. In George Orwell’s “Why I Write” essay, the first reason he lists is egoism. And he wrote that before the internet! You can only imagine how much George would have loved Twitter and the EA Forum.
5. Romantic. There’s something romantic about writing, be it in a cafe or in a park, or in your favorite writing nook. To be a writer feels like being an explorer or a gentleman scholar - a role straight out of a novel.
6. Coming up with little flourishes is fun. There’s a pleasure in finding exactly the right turn of phrase that makes the idea both beautiful and make sense.
7. Feelings of pride. Sometimes you write an article you’re really satisfied with, which feels outstanding.
8. Identity of a writer. Having the identity of a writer has a certain romantic appeal. You kind of feel like a writer in Paris. To be a writer for a cause is even better, like Tolstoy or the journalist in Blood Diamond.
9. Short self-contained projects. So often what you’re working on takes ages till it’s done, or it’s never really done. Endless to-do lists are the norm. But with writing posts, there’s a very clear start and finish, and it can take as little as a morning to finish. There is something deeply rewarding about this, where the finish line is always so close.
10. Writing in beautiful places. There's something meditative about taking your computer somewhere and working in a beautiful place, whether at a perfectly decorated cafe or out in nature.
11. Seeing people apply your ideas. It's so gratifying to see somebody actually implement one of your ideas.
12. More people agree with you. This is high impact if you happen to be less wrong than the average person you’re changing the mind of, but I’m listing it under personal enjoyment as a separate point from the impact. It’s nice when people agree with your (obviously correct and superior) views.
13. Getting thank you comments and DMs. I mean, this is the EA Forum, so there’s always going to be criticism and debate, but there are also often some really motivating comments saying thank you or complimenting your work. 

Capacity building

1. Learning and other ways it helps you come to the truth:
   1. Remembering, via two mechanisms:
      1. Like taking notes. Writing things down helps you remember them, like taking notes in class. The act of writing them down helps solidify them in your brain.
      2. Reference. You can use your old writing for reference.   
   2. Understanding. One of the best ways to truly understand something is to teach it to somebody else, and that’s exactly what the best writing is: teaching.
   3. Uncovering blind spots. Trying to write about a topic is one of the best ways to reveal the areas you don’t actually understand.
   4. Thinking more clearly. Putting your thoughts on paper forces you to make things explicit. I do some of my best thinking in a google document.
   5. New ideas. Often writing leads to you having new ideas. Steelman solitaire is also really good for that.
   6. Finding relevant information. A common response to posts will be for people to share relevant articles, which will help you have a better view of things.
   7. Getting feedback from the world. What’s the best way to get people to give you feedback? Post something wrong on the internet and wait for the comments. (Tip: see the comment section as the "debate section". This re-frame can turn you from feeling defensive to feeling interested.)
2. ↑Reputation. People will know about you and like some of your work. This leads to all sorts of things, like increasing your ability to:
   1. Get a job. If you have an online presence, people are more likely to hire you. You get to showcase your talents and knowledge at scale.
   2. Fundraise. The key to fundraising is credibly signaling that you can be trusted to turn money into impact. Making good content can be a hard-to-fake indicator of competence and show that you have aligned values and epistemics.
   3. Hire people. I don’t know about you, but I'm much more likely to want to work for someone whose work I've already read and enjoyed.
   4. Get people’s time to discuss an idea. If you’d like to discuss an idea with somebody in the community, they’re far more likely to say yes if they already “know” you a little from your writing. Public writing is like scaled-up, passive networking. 

Impact and other benefits to the world

​Improve the conclusions of the community. This then improves their actions, leading to impact.

1. Improve conclusions at scale. Most of the time if you have a good idea, you only maybe persuade a few of your friends. If you write, dozens or hundreds of people will read it.
2. Motivate action. Very often reading a well-reasoned blog post is what spurs people to action. Write about potentially high-impact activities and it might mobilize a lot of people.
3. Improve your own conclusions→ impact (see Learning section)
4. Help others directly. A lot of writing helps the reader directly. For example, this post on self-love contributed to my overcoming impostor syndrome and increased my self-acceptance a ton. 

I could go on, but after reading all of these reasons, I’m excited to finish an essay I’ve had in a Google Doc draft for forever.
I hope this also inspires you to dust off an old blog or start a new one. To experience writing as dancing. Where it counts as exercise and is good for you, but you don’t even care about that, because it’s just so damn fun. 

 Networking alternative for introverts : just write.

Imagine how many people know and respect you from seeing you give a talk at a conference.

Compare that to the numbers of views, influence, and bonding you get from the average post, either on social media or the fora.

Think about how much you know and like various writers, despite never having met them.

You could be that writer.

Pattern I’ve seen: “AI could kill us all! I should focus on this exclusively, including dropping my exercise routine.”

Don’t. 👏 Drop. 👏 Your. 👏 Exercise. 👏 Routine. 👏

You will help AI safety better if you exercise.

You will be happier, healthier, less anxious, more creative, more persuasive, more focused, less prone to burnout, and a myriad of other benefits.

All of these lead to increased productivity.

People often stop working on AI safety because it’s terrible for the mood (turns out staring imminent doom in the face is stressful! Who knew?). Don’t let a lack of exercise exacerbate the problem.

Health issues frequently take people out of commission. Exercise is an all purpose reducer of health issues.

Exercise makes you happier and thus more creative at problem-solving. One creative idea might be the difference between AI going well or killing everybody.

It makes you more focused, with obvious productivity benefits.

Overall it makes you less likely to burnout. You’re less likely to have to take a few months off to recover, or, potentially, never come back.

Yes, AI could kill us all.

All the more reason to exercise.

There were signs I would be an entrepreneur. 

When I was 14 my teacher told the class that nothing could go faster than the speed of light. 

I raised my hand. 

"You mean, we haven't figured out how to travel faster than the speed of light yet."

"No, the laws of physics say you can't" said the teacher. 

I shrugged. "I'm sure we'll figure out a workaround."