rosiecampbell
Bio
Rosie Campbell is a Program Lead at the Partnership on AI. She is interested in the safe development of AI for the long-term flourishing of humanity, including areas like global cooperation strategy and responsible publication norms for high-stakes research.
Previously, Rosie was the Assistant Director of the Center for Human-Compatible AI (CHAI)—a technical AI safety research group at UC Berkeley working towards provably beneficial AI—and continues to advise the group on strategy and operations. Before that, Rosie worked as a research engineer at BBC R&D, a multidisciplinary research lab based in the UK. There, she worked on emerging technologies for media and broadcasting, including an award-winning project exploring the use of AI in media production.
Rosie holds a Master’s in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s in Physics, and has additional academic experience in Philosophy and Machine Learning. While in Manchester she co-founded Manchester Futurists, a thriving community group which explores the social implications of emerging tech, as well as the BBC’s Machine Learning Special Interest Group. Rosie was recently named one of ‘100 Brilliant Women to follow in AI Ethics’. Rosie is a productivity nerd and enjoys thinking and writing about how to optimize systems, and how to use reason and evidence to improve the world.
Rosie can be found at rosiecampbell.github.io. and occasionally writes at medium.com/@rosiecampbell
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Based on the title of this I felt initially skeptical, but after reading the full article I updated towards this being an interesting thing to try.
A few thoughts/concerns:
- I seem to be unusual in that I don't find email management particularly difficult. I unsubscribe from all marketing emails immediately, and have a strict inbox zero policy which means any emails that require an action or time-consuming response are moved to my task manager, where they can be easily prioritized. I think it's rare that I accidentally miss an email I would have otherwise responded to; if I don't respond it's usually because I actively deprioritized it. The prioritization process itself doesn't feel too taxing for me.
- Thinking about the kind of emails I get, and which ones I think are worth responding to vs which ones I predict would choose to pay for a response, I find it hard to imagine that these overlap, so I'm not sure if it would be a helpful signal. I'd change my mind on this if I tried it and it turned out they did generally overlap.
- If imagine myself wanting to send a busy person an email and considering using a paid email, I immediately worry about making them feel obliged to respond even if they don't want to, or tempting them to respond even if it isn't a good use of their time, etc. Because of this, I'm not sure it solves the social capital issue of using words like 'urgent' or 'important'.
- I also share Khorton's concern about it looking weird to people outside of EA and having reputational effects.
I wonder whether educating and encouraging good email hygiene could be an easier solution (at least initially). Some email hygiene tips:
- Think really hard about what you want to achieve by emailing someone. Can you achieve it another way and preserve their attention? If not, make it as easy as possible for the recipient to give you what you need.
- Ask specific questions rather than open-ended questions.
- Use bullets and whitespace.
- Put in the extra time it takes to keep it brief.
- Be polite and friendly, but get to the point. It's usually ok to skip 'Hope this finds you well! How was your weekend?' etc.
- Provide any necessary context as clearly and succinctly as possible (including introducing yourself or reminding them who you are or what the project is and why you are asking them specifically - remember it won't be as fresh in their mind as it is in yours!)
- Attach or link to any necessary files, documents, or resources.
- Use bold text to draw the eye to important parts (e.g. due dates or actions).
- If it's a short message to broadcast some info, put it in the subject followed by 'EOM' (end of message) so people know they don't need to open the email (also consider 'NNTR' (no need to reply)).
- If asking someone to review a document, tell them which sections you most want them to focus on, and whether you are looking for minor corrections like typos or rephrasing, ideas for new points/sections, or are open to feedback that could result in needing to rewrite the whole thing.
- If asking for career advice, include your CV, and any thinking you've done so far. Include whether you are looking for connections (and if so, what kind), guidance, job opportunities, or something else.
- Unsubscribe from all marketing or irrelevant emails. Archive anything that doesn't require action. Move anything that does into a task manager. Keep inbox zero.
Not strictly EA, but we used this humorous poem as a reading as it touches on transhumanist themes and we wanted something light-hearted:
Scientific Romance by Tim Pratt
If starship travel from our
Earth to some far
star and back again
at velocities approaching the speed
of light made you younger than me
due to the relativistic effects
of time dilation,
I’d show up on your doorstep hoping
you’d developed a thing for older men,
and I’d ask you to show me everything you
learned to pass the time
out there in the endless void
of night.
If we were the sole survivors
of a zombie apocalypse
and you were bitten and transformed
into a walking corpse
I wouldn’t even pick up my
assault shotgun,
I’d just let you take a bite
out of me, because I’d rather be
undead forever
with you
than alive alone
without you.
If I had a time machine, I’d go back
to the days of your youth
to see how you became the someone
I love so much today, and then
I’d return to the moment we first met
just so I could see my own face
when I saw your face
for the first time,
and okay,
I’d probably travel to the time
when we were a young couple
and try to get a three-way
going. I never understood
why more time travelers don’t do
that sort of thing.
If the alien invaders come
and hover in stern judgment
over our cities, trying to decide
whether to invite us to the Galactic
Federation of Confederated
Galaxies or if instead
a little genocide is called for,
I think our love could be a powerful
argument for the continued preservation
of humanity in general, or at least,
of you and me
in particular.
If we were captives together
in an alien zoo, I’d try to make
the best of it, cultivate a streak
of xeno-exhibitionism,
waggle my eyebrows, and make jokes
about breeding in captivity.
If I became lost in
the multiverse, exploring
infinite parallel dimensions, my
only criterion for settling
down somewhere would be
whether or not I could find you:
and once I did, I’d stay there even
if it was a world ruled by giant spider-
priests, or one where killer
robots won the Civil War, or even
a world where sandwiches
were never invented, because
you’d make it the best
of all possible worlds anyway,
and plus
we could get rich
off inventing sandwiches.
If the Singularity comes
and we upload our minds into a vast
computer simulation of near-infinite
complexity and perfect resolution,
and become capable of experiencing any
fantasy, exploring worlds bound only
by our enhanced imaginations,
I’d still spend at least 10^21 processing
cycles a month just sitting
on a virtual couch with you,
watching virtual TV,
eating virtual fajitas,
holding virtual hands,
and wishing
for the real thing.
Just wanted to express support for 'Athena Centre' or 'Athena House'. Or if it needs to be more intelligible to the Charity Commission, maybe something like 'The Athena Centre for EA Study'. (Also, congrats - really excited to see this getting registered as a charity!!)