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Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

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Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#41

Post by vendiddy »

exdsq wrote: post #28
spacebear wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the jobs on the 80,000 hours board actually seem quite evil: "Research Scientist, AI. Facebook" "Data Scientist, Technology and Resource Investment Decision-making. US Government, Central Intelligence Agency" "Deep Learning Researcher, Computer Vision Algorithms. Baidu"

So a few things here. 1. ML at Facebook and Baidu pay well so you could use that money to fund more effective things. 2. By working in these roles you have the ability to change how things are done. Certainly more than you usually could from the outside. 3. There's a big push in the effective altruism group on safe AI/ML. I disagree with this but that's a factor in their weightings.

These all feel a bit indirect on how they might have a positive impact.

For a job board like this, I would prefer that the companies themselves are directly working on high impact problems that are a benefit to society and the environment.

Would also be nice to see a quick description of the impact each company is trying to have.

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#42

Post by whatshisface »

boringg wrote: post #25
ramary wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, Andium here. Definitely understand the skepticism about our work with the oil and gas industry and its impact on climate change. The high level is that the world doesn't know whether society has reached peak oil. Even if it has, oil consumption will continue to be a major contributor to planet warming gases (CO2 and CO2 equivalents) for decades to come. While regulation plays catch up and alternative energy usage…

Appreciate you posting. I would say that the adverse opinions from most people on the board stem from the fact that O&G has been intentionally gaslighting public discourse since the 80s and be helping oil and gas through cost efficiencies you are enabling them to maintain power and continue to pollute. You might have a benefit to lowering the CI of each barrel minutely but really at the end of the day you are hurting…

Well, you couldn't expect any other industry to supply gas lighting.

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#43

Post by capableweb »

svieira wrote: post #38
capableweb wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, your homepage doesn't exactly give the impression you're a "saving the environment" company but rather you seem to be targeting businesses who wants to save costs. Here are some excerpts from your landing page ( https://andium.com/ ): - "At Andium, we’re saving companies millions of dollars annually, while increasing safety" - "we offer an ecosystem of automated products and services that provide the ne…

To be fair though, if you're targeting a business with marketing (e. g. a website) you probably want to speak to the first-order problems the business is having (e. g. cost savings, safety) not to second-order problems that those outside the business are most concerned with (e. g. climate change, food insecurity), even if your company is _also_ invested in reducing second-order problems.

speaking frankly, you shouldn't advertise your company on a job board for "problems like climate change and food insecurity" if those problems are just problems you wanna fix on the side instead of the main problems you're working on solving.

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#44

Post by striking »

exdsq wrote: post #40
striking wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree that this is even a factor to consider, and that we should be rigorous when assigning probabilities to events. Seriously, what meaningful and controversial change has the rank-and-file (or even the managerial staff) at Facebook managed to accomplish? I'm not really asking for your opinion here as much as I am asking if you have any reports or information on the matter that contradicts the things I've heard…

I'm not suggesting software developer #1034643 at Alphabet will be able to influence their AI safety policies, I am suggesting Lead AI Safety Researcher #17 at Alphabet will be able to influence their AI safety policies - possibly not, but there's a strong non-zero chance there. Certainly their chances of influencing AI safety policies at Alphabet, which people argue is important, is far greater than if they were a f…

> nine congressmen have asked for an investigation

Is that change from within? Is this not proving my point?

> else they wouldn't have even started that research department to begin with

You couldn't think of a single other reason to start a research department? Like, say, to say you're doing research but without regard for the results?

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#45

Post by thaddeusmt »

GoodJokes wrote: post #32

Problems like climate change and food insecurity are not technological problems at this point. They are political problems. The job board you want is the board that organizes people to demand political change.

Yes, but maybe a company or organization is, in fact, looking at political climate change solutions, but needs tech hires for their operations, etc.

As the target audience for a job board like this, the question I am starting with isn't "how can tech solve climate change?", it's "how can I apply my tech skills to a problem like climate change?".

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#46

Post by justfortechnews »

There's a similar company https://goodgigs.app/ that does this as well, but more built-out (and seemingly more focused on non-technical roles).

Not sure your plans for this page, but could be an interesting conversation with that founder.

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#47

Post by heavyset_go »

barry-cotter wrote: post #4

https://80000hours.org/job-board/ > This board lists publicly advertised vacancies that we think could help those with the right fit have a positive impact. Some of these roles help tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems, while others help people build the career capital they might need to have a big impact later. > Visit our user guide & FAQ to better understand why we list these roles and to learn about…

I wanted to like that site, but it seems to equate real charities and non-profits that address issues that people actually face with nonsense like MIRI.

I would absolutely love a site like 80,000 Hours that wasn't tainted by a weird nerd ideology addressing paranoid fears of a malignant AGI.

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#48

Post by heavyset_go »

exdsq wrote: post #28
spacebear wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the jobs on the 80,000 hours board actually seem quite evil: "Research Scientist, AI. Facebook" "Data Scientist, Technology and Resource Investment Decision-making. US Government, Central Intelligence Agency" "Deep Learning Researcher, Computer Vision Algorithms. Baidu"

So a few things here. 1. ML at Facebook and Baidu pay well so you could use that money to fund more effective things. 2. By working in these roles you have the ability to change how things are done. Certainly more than you usually could from the outside. 3. There's a big push in the effective altruism group on safe AI/ML. I disagree with this but that's a factor in their weightings.

> 2. By working in these roles you have the ability to change how things are done. Certainly more than you usually could from the outside.

No salaried employee is going to change Facebook's incentives to profit from violating privacy and selling their users' data.

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#49

Post by Nicholas_C »

ramary wrote: post #15
klohto wrote: post #10

Like the idea, but I'm confused how companies like: * Primer - Reach your leads everywhere * Andium - Digitizing the Oil & Gas Industry fit into the "problems like climate change and food insecurity" bucket.

Hi, Andium here. Definitely understand the skepticism about our work with the oil and gas industry and its impact on climate change. The high level is that the world doesn't know whether society has reached peak oil. Even if it has, oil consumption will continue to be a major contributor to planet warming gases (CO2 and CO2 equivalents) for decades to come. While regulation plays catch up and alternative energy usage…

Cool product, I think limiting flaring is one of the more important ESG mandates in the oilfield right now.

Andium looks somewhat similar to Rebellion Photonics (recently sold to Honeywell), although the use case is different. Not sure if you’re familiar with their product.

Re: Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity

#50

Post by goodpoint »

GoodJokes wrote: post #32

Problems like climate change and food insecurity are not technological problems at this point. They are political problems. The job board you want is the board that organizes people to demand political change.

> They are political problems

That's true by definition. As political systems are very sensitive to technology, doing tech work can be a very effective form of activism.

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