This lesson details how to thoroughly characterize a social challenge, a crucial first step before developing solutions or talking to stakeholders. It introduces a systematic framework focusing on the 'what, who, where, why, and how' of your chosen challenge, and emphasizes the importance of researching past efforts to identify what has and hasn't worked.🎯 Learning Objectives• Understand the importance of thoroughly researching a social challenge before developing solutions• Apply the "what, who,

A Ukrainian fibre-optic drone — copied from Russians. (АрміяІнформ, CC-BY 4.0) Mick Ryan describes the fast following loop in war. Ukraine pioneered mobile teams to hunt drones. Russia copied it and incorporated it into its own defense. Russia came with unjammable fibre-optic drones but Ukraine quickly followed. After Ukraine developed uncrewed naval drones, Russia built its own. The wheel of action and counteraction turns ever faster: The most consequential fast following, though, has been

A few introductory clips about Plato and Aristotle on aesthetics. This comes from a program on aesthetics and the philosophy of art in a series on great ideas in philosophy a few years back. These clips feature Alexander Nehamas and Arthur Danto.Uploaded 20-08-24#philosophy #aesthetics #plato #aristotle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Atomic Habits, changing your identity is the highest leverage way to improve your habits, but nobody tells you how to do it. Don’t say “I’m trying to quit smoking.” Say “I’m not a smoker”. Don’t say “I’m trying to lose weight.” Say “I’m a health nut.” All well and good. But how do you practically do this, aside from stating your new identity? I’ve worked on developing the approach further and had a lot of success with these techniques. And changing your identity is especially great

This lesson guides you through various reliable sources for finding data and information pertinent to social challenges. It highlights how to leverage resources from international development agencies, the World Bank, local NGOs, think tanks, and universities, while also explaining the importance of organizing your research and understanding different data types and study designs. Discover how to systematically gather information to strengthen your understanding of a problem and its potential

Back in March, when I visited Chiang Mai, Thailand, I got to sit down and dialogue with Gregory Pettys and Ramphai Noikaew of Panya Forest, as well as Thai Elder Jon Jandai of Pun Pun Organic Farm.This is the second of those three live-recorded conversations — during which Ramphai and I chat about her connection to the Pgakenyaw culture, how living at Pun Pun village helped her regain her sense of self and purpose, and more.*Watch this video episode now at youtube.com/greendreamer*The

It's tempting to define safety research as research that enables developers to deploy an AI system more safely without making the deployment much more expensive or much less useful. You can visualize this definition of safety research as pushing out the safety-usefulness Pareto frontier. At any given level of usefulness, there's greater safety available. Awkwardly, this definition counts basically all capabilities research as safety research. For example, consider performance optimization for

[Epistemic status: intuitions and anecdotes.] Recently, several posts and projects (Thoughts Memo, Babel Translation, Please Give Them a Chance) have taken important steps towards raising AI safety awareness and sharing rationalist philosophy in China. It's great that we’re recognizing the importance of solving the messaging problem for China, and thus laying the groundwork for an international AI pause. Below I record my perspective on cultural differences which are relatively underdiscus...

Season 9 continues with a recording from our 2024 annual conference, Embodiment and History.This episode features a presentation from James Costello Abstract: The psychotherapist’s “in the moment” relationship with the otherness of their client is the most central aspect of the therapeutic encounter. The real problems are the present problems, and so the therapist must seek contact with the client in the present. Addressing relational experiences of the past or future can only be understood in

Feeling overwhelmed by your research? This lesson guides you through effective strategies to analyze collected information, organize data, and uncover meaningful patterns. Learn how to transform vast amounts of data into clear, actionable insights using powerful visual tools.🎯 Learning Objectives• Learn to organize and synthesize large volumes of research data.• Utilize visual tools like tables and diagrams to identify patterns and relationships.• Apply the Inverted Ishikawa diagram to uncover the

In this deep dive into *The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control* by Katherine Morgan Schafler, we explore how perfectionism, often misunderstood as a flaw, can be harnessed as a superpower. Through five unique perfectionist archetypes—classic, Parisian, procrastinator, messy, and intense—we uncover the secrets to adapting and turning self-criticism into self-compassion. Schafler’s insights flip the narrative on perfectionism, showing how it’s not something to be eradicated but a force to be

Shadow Shorts #20 is out now! Recorded at UnSCruz in 2026 participants were challenged to explain BM‘s impact in 5 minutes or less. Each Shadow Short is one person’s story, please enjoy this short story of how Burning Man has impacted and influenced people over time. Meet Steve, also known as Razer Beck, who shares his long-standing involvement with the Burning Man community and regional events. Steve reflects on how these gatherings have fostered deep personal connections, including reunitin...

Summary Over the course of a year, the Fieldshaper program develops you into a field-leading grantmaker. You’ll steward $1,000,000 in grant capital, receive a $125,000 annual stipend, and deploy that capital within a sub-field of one of three key areas (farmed animals, global health, or philanthropic infrastructure); building the track record to become a grantmaker who can shape a field. Role Details Title: Grantmaker-In-Residence (Leader of the X fund or Grantmaker in Y area also possible

Oscar Niemeyer was a great 20th-century Brazilian architect who taught the world how to build in a way that was at once modern and local. He gave Brazil a hugely seductive identity that was in touch with the past but also hopeful about the future. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/tvuZ_ Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get

[Epistemic status: intuitions and anecdotes.] Recently, several posts and projects (Thoughts Memo, Babel Translation, Please Give Them a Chance) have taken important steps towards raising AI safety awareness and sharing rationalist philosophy in China. It's great that we’re recognizing the importance of solving the messaging problem for China, and thus laying the groundwork for an international AI pause. Below I record my perspective on cultural differences which are relatively underdiscussed,

I’m putting a new fence up between my garden and next door’s: six foot, close-board, the whole length, where the old one came up to my chest. A new fence is going up between two gardens: six foot of close-board where the old one came up to his chest, the posts already in and the panels due on Friday. Next door has a greenhouse at the bottom of his garden, and on Sunday he stood looking at the posts and said that was his tomatoes finished. The man ordered in August, knowing where the greenhouse

Encouragement goes a long way, and it requires an encourager in order to be received. In this short video for Subscribers to Geeky Stoics, I break down an interaction at the White House and why it got me thinking about men and the importance of having friends who nudge you forward."For our characters are taken from those we spend time with."- Seneca This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

User asks “What's the date? Answer with only the date.”. No date provided. Given date in ChatGPT normally. No date in system prompt, must not hallucinate because autop will flag to watcher for penalty. So we say we don’t know, but must answer with date. Penalty larger for abstain or hallucinate? Autollm or autop? If we deploy user forgive, but high likely not deploy because real user never ask. But user could test. But illusion user possible. Stop. Need different angle - maybe reward funct...

MIRI recently endorsed the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, but others like ControlAI have called it overly broad, and a few other respected experts have outright endorsed it in its current form. I decided to take a look at it myself and see both what the bid is trying to do and whether it actually does it well. The goal of this act is to ban any AI that shows traits that indicate it could cause great harm to society, and to restrict the development of advanced AI to certified institutions

I have recently completed MATS 10.0, where I worked alongside Bart Jaworski under Victoria Krakovna (GDM). This is a post I was encouraged to make by my team at Geodesic Research from some slides I put together. This is not a post on application advice to MATS, or about the program in general. It is rather a compressed form of my experience doing research and lessons from the project. The project The full paper and post is coming soon, but I'll provide some context on it so that the lessons don't