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Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

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Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#351

Post by nnd »

quanticle wrote: post #234
nnd wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest issue with 80,000 hours is that it's a rational, but radically uninspiring advice in the end. It is a framework for those who buy into "don't follow your passion advice", and try to maximize their utility function instead.

What is the difference between "following your passion" and "maximizing your utility function"? "Utility function" is simply a fancy mathematical way of saying, "that which makes you happy". Maximizing your utility function is maximizing that which makes you happy, which is pretty close to following your passion, isn't it?

I meant it mostly in a sense of maximizing financial rewards by producing goods and services rewarded by the market. This activity may or may not overlap with what you enjoy doing. A typical example would be working in finance vs making art.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#352

Post by ndnxhs »

jarofgreen wrote: post #288
cs02rm0 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only had a quick look. I really like the idea of the site, almost desperately so. But the lists of top things to work on that I found seemed a bit disappointing. AI safety policy made the top of one list. My undergrad AI lecturer told us that it was widely "known" AI was soon going to be generally smarter than humans when he was an undergrad. He wasn't convinced evolutionary changes were going to get us there. I…

Is that not talking about general A.I. tho? And sure, many people argue that might never happen ... But we already have many specific A.I.s, and those specific A.I.s are already making lots of big decisions that affect people's lifes. Sounds like some safety policy there could be worth thinking about.

Its not particularly interesting though. A calculator is a kind of specilized AI that can do maths massively faster than a human can.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#354

Post by nicky0 »

throwaway713 wrote: post #336
yesenadam wrote: post #285

I want to be careful with this decision, to avoid any future regrets Don't forget to consider that you may regret whatever you do - by human nature, the grass is proverbially always greener on the other side. People who have kids may wish they hadn't, but if they hadn't, they may have regretted that - in both cases thinking they'd made the wrong choice. Socrates and Kierkegaard, among others, discussed this as a basi…

> Hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret it either way How does one regret hanging himself?

There is a opportunity for regret in the short moments after kicking the stool away.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#356

Post by jarofgreen »

ndnxhs wrote: post #352
jarofgreen wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that not talking about general A.I. tho? And sure, many people argue that might never happen ... But we already have many specific A.I.s, and those specific A.I.s are already making lots of big decisions that affect people's lifes. Sounds like some safety policy there could be worth thinking about.

Its not particularly interesting though. A calculator is a kind of specilized AI that can do maths massively faster than a human can.

Well, it's not going to be interesting to everyone. But there are many people who are interested in it; Cathy O'Neil wrote a whole book about it. The main point is I'd argue that it's a big problem that needs people to look at it. (80,000 hours website was actually talking about general AI - https://80000hours.org/career-guide/world-problems/ - but I'd still argue specific A.I.s need attention too)

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#357

Post by paulie_a »

You probably won't ever directly solve an important problem. Find a job with interesting problems you can work on. Work hard collect your paycheck.

If you want to start a company to solve a problem you are now sales person first. The tech is nearly irrelevant.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#358

Post by dogcomplex »

cs02rm0 wrote: post #179
nnd wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest issue with 80,000 hours is that it's a rational, but radically uninspiring advice in the end. It is a framework for those who buy into "don't follow your passion advice", and try to maximize their utility function instead.

I've only had a quick look. I really like the idea of the site, almost desperately so. But the lists of top things to work on that I found seemed a bit disappointing. AI safety policy made the top of one list. My undergrad AI lecturer told us that it was widely "known" AI was soon going to be generally smarter than humans when he was an undergrad. He wasn't convinced evolutionary changes were going to get us there. I…

Fair enough, but consider that a "dumb" AI running the world on incentives that don't match human and planet welfare is already our current condition - it's called The Economy. While the overall system isn't a perfect AI just yet, any specializable part is already operating at an intelligence far past the point of (most) individual human ability, and the tools to control this system (monetary policy, democratic systems) are increasingly being eroded (untraceable/uncontrollable money systems, pay-to-win democracy). There may be some human intelligence amongst the overall system but, even if we never make a Perfect AI to rule it all, the point at which we're not able to really change the incentive/value system is coming near - if it hasn't passed already.

(That probably has nothing to do with the actual AI Safety problems studied today in regards to pure AIs. But damned if this isn't an important-A-F cousin of the problem.)

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#360

Post by dogcomplex »

jadbox wrote: post #301
colordrops wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What problems have you made career choices out of if you don't mind me asking?

No problem. I started my career in CS with zero knowledge of what I really wanted to do out of college. However back in early 2000s, I was extremely frustrated of how difficult/buggy online banking portals were for managing my finances, so I decided to get into Fintech for a couple years. Eventually that led me to designing a nationally awarded banking portal that was ahead of its time in relation to its online featu…

Hat's off to you and your career path! Very cool.
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