Ah, thanks for sharing that! I really loved that article!

I feel like this explains a lot of my interactions with people, where they'll reject a crazy idea I have (such as that humanity should eventually work to eliminate wild animal suffering), but they won't really offer a coherent argument against it. It's as though they have an immune system for crazy beliefs that activates above a certain threshold.

Ah, that is so cool!

Thank you so much!!!

Thank you!

Ah, thank you! Could I ask, do you know how I could have come to have learned about these? Like, are there any websites compiling these charities or organizations with research relevant to the question in my post?

Oh, wow, that's really interesting that you found that correlation.

One explanation of this correlation could be that the additive model focuses on the presence of different cognitive capacities, and animals may need higher neuron counts to have more cognitive capacities.

This would then center your worldview on how significant you think cognitive capacities are in determining welfare ranges.

It's difficult to give helpful advice since I don't know much about you. That said, I think you're highly overestimating how much of a salary you could get if you went into the private sector. For instance, you mention wanting to work as a ML engineer, but I have to assume that it is an extremely competitive field right now. And, if you got a job in EE or ME, it seems like your salary would be far less than 400k a year.

Setting that aside, I think that one of the primary motivators for working on something for many years (i.e. getting a PhD) is that you genuinely believe that it's the most important thing you could be doing with your life. This may not be the case for you, but, if it is, it would probably be worth spending a lot of time looking into what you really think are the most important topics you could be researching and pursuing those.

Additionally, if you're really uncertain, I'd wait for a bit before committing to additional education since education is expensive.

It seems like a lot of EA stuff is much more talent constrained than money constrained, so research is probably a safer bet in terms of EV.

You could try advising with 80,000 Hours or Probably Good.

You might also benefit from really diving into 80,000 Hours site. I'm assuming you've already read their career guide, but their career profiles and other blog posts are also really helpful.

Hopefully that was helpful.

Thanks for the thoughtful response!

Yeah, that's a great way of saying it!

I think it is somewhat positive for AI safety since it brings attention to Bernie Sanders, who is an advocate for AI safety. It also increases the likelihood that people view AI as a transformative technology, which primes them to care more about AI safety.